Tennis Training Myths – Always Rush the Net in Doubles

Tennis players that do not know how to volley well due to their limited tennis training tend to Serve and Volley or Rush the Net too much in Doubles. If you are not making any of your volleys at the net it would be much better to stay in the back court instead of constantly charging into the net to be denied the point. It seems obvious that you would want to play tennis in a way that give you the best chance to win, but we do not always keep track of the percentages out there on the court. This is why a lot of coaches keep track of the percentages for the players. My tennis tip is to evaluate your skills and performance and make changes to your game plan based on the percentages.

Is Always Rush the Net in Doubles a Real Myth?

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This is not a true tennis training myth because it is based on the skill level of the player. For some tennis players, rushing the net as much as possible in doubles makes a lot of sense. We just need to evaluate ours own skills and success with various tennis tactics to determine what approach to take when playing tennis. So, if your volley is your best tennis shot, you need to be at the net more than if your volley never goes back over the net at all. Next, you need to work as a team to keep the open areas of the court covered as well. Court positioning when playing doubles is not as obvious as you would think. The best doubles configuration is both tennis players at the net if you both can volley well. The next best configuration is both players back. If one of you cannot volley, you should both stay back more often instead of rushing to the net and losing boat loads of points.

Doubles Configuration Special Case

Now, for the special case. What if one you has no ground strokes and the other has no volley? Well, you are in trouble, so you will have to do the best you can with what you have. Just keep in mind that you want to play tennis using your strengths against your opponent(s). Keep track of where you are doing well on the court, and spend time in that area of the court as much as possible. Also, if you are missing either a solid volley or groundstrokes, you can just get some tennis training in that area instead of working around this limitation, and put it behind you.

Why Both Up or Both Back when Playing Doubles?

The one up and one back position give your opponents too much open tennis court to angle the ball off when they are at the net. It also allows them to overpower you or your partner that is standing close to the net all alone. It is better to move around the tennis court as a team. Be like a backboard at the net if you are both up, or be like a backboard at the baseline when you are both back. Remember, you only need to get the ball in the court one more time than your opponent(s) to win the point in singles or doubles.

Now Go Rush the Net in Doubles!

It can be very effective to Serve and Volley in Doubles, but just make sure that you can volley well enough to keep the percentages in your favor. Otherwise, play in the back court with your partner more often which will increase the amount of pressure on your opponents because you will be cutting down on the number of errors at the net. I am putting together some training videos that will allow me to show you graphically the various doubles angles, and this tennis training will help you to better understand why this is true. For now, just remember to play using your strengths because it will give you the best chance to win the point and ultimately the match.

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