ATP Pro Doubles Insights

I got the opportunity to meet professional tennis players Rajeev Ram and Eric Butorac at the SAP Open in San Jose last night, where they are the #2 seeded team. They were gracious enough to share some info about their lives as professional tennis players.

Here are some tidbits I picked up:

- Rajeev first started playing tennis in the Cupertino area at the age of four.

- Rajeev turned down Eric's suggestions to play together as regular partners a couple of times, until they won a couple of tournaments together, at which point he finally relented.

- I asked what they thought of the current scoring system in doubles, where they play no-ad and a tie-breaker for the third set. They said they would prefer playing it out, but they understood why it's done that way. It encourages more singles players to play doubles. Since Rajeev plays singles as well, he appreciates that he knows he won't have a three hour doubles match the day before an important singles match. Eric suggested that maybe they could keep the tie-breaker for the third set, but get rid of the no-ad scoring.

- I asked them if they incorporate any strategies or techniques that they pick up from watching other players. They said that they definitely will pick up things that they see work against other teams in order to exploit their weaknesses, but they won't really alter their game much, since they know what their own strengths are at this point.

- I also asked them if they practice much together. They said they try to set aside time to practice at least a little at each tournament before their matches, but with their schedules it's tough to practice together a lot. Rajeev has to balance his singles and doubles practice as well.

Eric and Rajeev were both extremely nice and patient with my questions... even enthusiastic. They are playing in the semis at the SAP Open tomorrow night. I'll be rooting for them tomorrow and in the future.