As children play more singles tournaments and face tougher competition, doubles can become an afterthought. I understand the temptation to dismiss doubles. There are only so many hours in a week and so much to already work on, so why concentrate on anything other than singles?
To me, this is a big mistake. Doubles is an incredibly valuable part of our sport, it can teach children many lessons—and also make them much better singles players. I would encourage any child to keep playing doubles. It will add to their skill set and make them more complete tennis players. Doubles reinforces fundamentals, helps players understand strategy, and teaches leadership and emotional control.
Let’s look at tennis skills first. No matter how well you hit from the baseline, at some point in a singles career you’re going to have to become more comfortable in the forecourt. Doubles forces you to hit a wider variety of shots than you would hit in singles, such as half volleys, drop volleys, reflex volleys, overheads and lobs. Your improvisation skills will improve dramatically.
Doubles stresses different and important aspects of the shots you use most often in singles. Serving—and especially serve placement—is at a premium in doubles. A big serve is not always best, because you’re trying to follow it to the net and need time to do it. Each return of serve is important because it’s difficult to break serve against two opponents.
Doubles returns must also be precise and purposeful. There are no opportunities to float a return back into play to start a rally. If opponents start to poach, you need to be able to return to different sides of the court effectively.
