How well do you know your doubles partner?
In this episode, I speak with Jorge Capestany in great depth about this question. Jorge is one of the top tennis coaches in the US and one of only ten people in the world who are Master Professionals for the USPTA and PTR. He’s coached tennis for decades and thinks that understanding your partner might be the most important factor in winning matches for adult tennis players.
We cover 20 questions that you should know about your doubles partner, what your “traffic patterns” should be in between points, and a lot of doubles strategy. Jorge is also well-known for his tennis drills, so we discuss his favorite doubles drills and games as well.
This episode is a little different because I’ve never talked about team chemistry this much before, but it was eye-opening for me and will be for you too.
Interview Notes from this Podcast
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- Visit Jorge’s website: capestanytennis.com
- Download & Print the 20 Questions for Doubles Partners
- Watch the Doubles Partner Mojo Video
- Jorge is the manager at the tennis center at Hope College in Michigan
- Jorge is the director of the PTM program at Hope
- He was born in Havana, Cuba and moved with his family to Hudsonville, Michigan
- Jorge played at Ramblewood Tennis Club under Don Dickenson
- Don got the coaching job at Grand Valley State where Jorge played tennis for one year
- After college, he became the director at Ramblewood
- Performance Psychologist, Dr. Jim Loehr, had a big influence on Jorge’s coaching
- The Cuban Davis Cup makes a great 4-player drill or doubles tournament to hit nearly 10x more volleys (200/hour)
- Volley Technique Videos
- Jorge’s favorites
- Tennis book: The Inner Game of Tennis*
- Non-tennis book: Leading with Character by Dr. Jim Loehr*
- Tournament: Wimbledon and US Open
This podcast was super useful. Right after listening my partner and I printed the 20 Questions and completed them and exchanged them.
Also the next day when we played a match we followed the partners mojo rules for partners interaction between points. Easy to adapt and that routine immediately made us feel and look better.
Also we tried the Cuban Davis cup drill. We usually stay at the baseline and then charge the net, sometime getting lobbed. So it’s important to learn how to volley from the service line.
Glad it helped Guy!
Great points about the drill.
Keeping your volleys deep and to the weaker side can help the opponents not lob as easily.