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.

Video with Sam Querrey

The American Express booth in the Smash Zone at the US Open this year let you "Play a Pro" and get integrated into a video with either Sam Querrey or Caroline Wozniacki. Here's the video they took of me:

[10/4/2011 Unfortunately, it looks like the videos are no longer available so I've removed the link from this post]

Nick's blog about life on the ATP Tour

Nick Fustar has started a blog about life on the ATP Tour. He blogs about his travels coaching ATP player Michael McClune. You can check it out here: Nick's Blog from the ATP tour.

Follow the ball to cover the angles

From 2008 Pacific Life Open

In doubles, you need to cover the easiest and most obvious shots in order to make your opponent's job tougher. In order to do this, you should shift your position with the ball. If the ball is on the right side of the court, you should favor the right side. If the ball is on the left side, you should favor the left side.

You can see from the picture above, where Robert Lindstedt and Richard Gasquet (near side) are playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Sebastien Grosjean, the ball has gone to the right side of the court and Lindstedt has shifted almost all the way to the middle of the court. Normally, Tsonga would volley down the middle, but since both Lindstedt and Gasquet are "pinching" the middle, he has to change to a riskier shot... in this case a crosscourt touch volley.

Lindstedt is anticipating the shot as you can see -- he has already lifted his left leg and started to move to cover the angle.

By following the ball, you too can force your opponents to try for more difficult shots and be in position put the point away.

Cover the line when at the net

When you approach the net in singles, you usually want to cover the down the line shots first and be ready to cover the crosscourt. In this picture, it's easy to see that Roddick isn't very natural at covering the net and Murray has a wide opening for the down the line passing shot.

Roddick should be at least a full step closer to the line. His right foot should be where his left foot is. This would narrow the angle Murray has for his passing shot, but still put Roddick in a position to cover the cross court. Since down the line passing shots have a shorter distance to travel, they get by you faster, and you don't have as much time to cut them off. Crosscourts, on the other hand, have a greater distance to travel allowing you a fraction more time, and you can cut them off by taking a diagonal path toward the net.

In any case, it's pretty clear in this picture that Roddick is over-compensating for the crosscourt, and is basically giving up the down the line pass, making it an easy pass for someone like Andy Murray.

Target Your Toss for a Consistent Serve

Pick a spot and toss the ball to the target Hosted on Zooomr

One of the keys to a consistent serve is a consistent toss. There are a couple of simple reasons for that. First, for every location the toss goes, that's a slightly different serve you have to execute. Second, if you don't have control of your toss, you're adjusting your motion in mid-stroke to accommodate your toss.

If you are able to toss the ball accurately to a target location, you'll be able to execute the same stroke every time. By being able to use the same stroke, the repetition will give you more confidence in your serve and the muscle memory will help you successfully execute it in pressure situations. So many people just toss the ball up any old place and go chase it, and they wonder why their serve is so inconsistent.

If you watch the pros, the best servers always know exactly where they are tossing the ball, so they execute their serve with the intention of making contact with the ball in a particular spot. Sure, there are some adjustments for things like the wind, but for the most part, they know where the ball is going to be when they swing. In fact, many pros look up to the target even before they toss the ball, as you see Vania King doing above during a first round mixed doubles match at the 2006 US Open.

When you practice your toss, aim for a target in the air, and catch the ball rather than chasing it if it's out of the target area. As you get used to your toss being where you expect it, you'll notice your serve getting more consistent.

One final note is that this tip isn't to say that you should always toss the ball to the same spot. While it's good to place your toss in the same spot for disguise, while you are learning different serves you'll find that different serves are easier with different toss locations. So as long as your toss is consistent for that particular serve, you'll be able to hit the serve with confidence!

Prince Of Tennis Episode 1 Part 1

If you like Japanese anime and tennis, check out the Prince of Tennis. It's in Japanese, but has English subtitles. It's very popular in Japan. It's also available as a comic book (manga). You can find it on overstock.com.