You don't have to look far to realize the many benefits of team tennis

Throughout her tennis career, long after her days at the University of Florida and sometimes an ocean away from her native United States, Lisa Raymond would occasionally hear a shout in the crowd that inspired a surge of pride: “Go Gators!”

“I’m forever a Florida Gator,” says the 11-time doubles Grand Slam champion, who helped her school win its first NCAA national team tennis championship, in 1992. “The six of us will always have that memory.”

Part of tennis’ appeal is metaphorical: You are alone on the court, forced to rely on your wits, will and guile to solve problems in real time. The compelling narratives and rivalries this construct creates—throughout matches, tournaments and careers—hammers home the dominant perception of tennis as an individual sport.

But it also disregards an aspect of the game that is present, if not prevalent, at all levels: tennis as a team sport. Doubles, itself a team endeavor, is the format of choice for a substantial percentage of recreational players. More than 330,000 adults participate in USTA leagues alone; college tennis, Davis Cup, Fed Cup, World TeamTennis and the Olympics draw hordes of players in or aspiring to reach the professional ranks.

And yet, singles and team tennis are often regarded as different pursuits, when in reality, team play offers a useful counterbalance to the less virtuous aspects of singles. Playing solo can be a lonely enterprise that breeds frustration, self-loathing, selfishness and burnout. For players at risk for those psychic pains, some time on a team may be just what the doctor ordered.

Cesar Andrade, Director of Operations of Tennis Innovators Academy in White Plains, NY, which fields a junior team tennis squad with players as young as 7 years old, says that in a team environment, “kids are less prone to getting down on themselves.”

“I could see how it would help,” says Raymond of junior team tennis. “Part of the reason I had such longevity [she retired in 2015 at age 42] is that I had a great old-school coach. He didn’t say, ‘You’re going to play 100 times a day.’ He wanted me to have friends, to have fun.

“I’ve been around juniors, been to academies—it’s become such a business that these kids are getting pushed and not enjoying themselves.”

Similarly, college tennis offers a yin to the yang of individual sport, allowing players an opportunity to reap the rewards of belonging to and working for something greater than themselves.

American James Blake, who reached No. 4 in the world in singles as a professional, played tennis for his high-school team in Fairfield, CT, and then for Harvard before turning pro. In college, he relished having his teammates playing on nearby courts, often within sight of each other. It allowed him to take strength and solace from the fact that, if he was down in his match, he could see that a teammate was up in his.

Blake also advocates team scenarios for young professional players for whom the first baby steps on tour can be crushingly isolating.

“It makes a difference,” says Blake. “Younger players are on their own. They don’t have a full-time coach or staff like a Top 10 player does.”

Even those Top Tenners find plenty to love about the team format. When U.S. Davis Cup captain Jim Courier runs into the man who once captained him, Tom Gullikson, they still talk about a particular win, over a young Marat Safin in 1998.

“[Safin] was playing lights out tennis,” remembers Courier, who lost the first set 6–0. “I was getting smoked. On changeovers, we discussed different tactical moves. The first didn’t work; the second did. It was the most extreme change I’d ever made: I went to slicing everything. I became a junk-ball player and it ended up working. I wouldn’t have figured that one out myself.”

Courier says that being able to share an experience with another person also intensifies and sweetens memories.

“It was a battle that we went through together,” says Courier. “It was exhilarating to win from a place of despair.”

Raymond, who spent 137 weeks at No. 1 in doubles, says that she loved “having common goals, working together, partnership.” Even in the relatively low-pressure environs of World TeamTennis, she enjoyed striving for “something bigger than yourself.” It’s why she considers her 2012 mixed doubles bronze-medal Olympics showing with Mike Bryan, “probably my biggest memory.”

Somewhat counterintuitively, Raymond thrived on the added pressure of having teammates and the desire to do her part.

“That’s what makes champions stand out,” she says. “To come up with the goods, rise to the occasion, with a doubles partner and teammates helping me cross the finish line.”

Blake cautions against trying to adjust one’s natural style, even when others’ fortunes are tied to your result.

“We all miss once in a while,” Blake says. “The hardest thing is to do things that are not in your nature. You have to know it’s going to hurt your game.”

The larger message is that regardless of who you’re playing for, every match still comes down to one player against another.

“Some people carry it well, some people carry it less well,” says Courier. “It can be an opportunity or a burden. That’s the exciting part about it.”

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