• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Tennis Tribe Logo

Tennis Tribe

Tennis Gear Reviews, Doubles Lessons, & Tour News

  • Gear Reviews
    • All Gear Reviews
    • Tennis Racquets
      • Best Racquets Overall
      • Beginner Racquets
      • Intermediate Racquets
      • Advanced Racquets
      • How To Choose A Racquet
    • On-Court Gear
      • Shoes
      • Bags
      • Skirts
      • Dresses
      • Shorts
      • Sunglasses
      • Socks
      • Elbow Braces
    • Tennis Equipment
      • Strings
      • Ball Machines
      • Tennis Balls
      • Ball Hoppers
      • Overgrips
      • Training Aids
  • Doubles Strategy
    • Podcast
    • Lessons
    • Products: Ebooks & Courses
    • Newsletter
    • ATP/WTA Scouting & Strategy Analysis
  • Pro Tour
    • Tournaments
    • Pro Doubles News
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • About
    • Contact
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Strategy Episode: Serve Team Adjustments & Maximizing Practice Time: Podcast 031

Will Boucek · August 19, 2022

Find out how one adjustment on my serve helped me beat a player I always struggled to win against. I’ll show you my thought process behind each decision I made that lead me to this new, winning serve strategy.

Then I’ll discuss another match I played recently where I cracked my racquet. My partner and I got demolished 6-0, 6-2. In this case, I had been on vacation for two weeks previously and only had one week to prepare. Needless to say, I didn’t prepare properly. I’ll talk about what went wrong, and what I would do differently next time.

Cracked tennis racquet
My racquet after it was violently banged on the court for not cooperating.

Ebook: Serve Strategy for Doubles

Ebook: Comprehensive 55-page guide to serve strategy for doubles players

Learn to hide your weaknesses, force return errors, and create game plans with your doubles partner to hold serve more easily.

learn MORE

Interview Notes from this Podcast

*To help support The Tennis Tribe & provide more free content like this, we may earn a percentage of purchases through the links below. See our affiliate page for more info.

  • Previous strategy episode: 3 Doubles Strategy Stories from Real Matches
  • Learn the variables to adjust in episode 14: Creating a Gameplan & Making In-Match Adjustments
  • Interview with Jorge Capestany
    • The Cuban Davis Cup Drill maximizes touches from the net & baseline.
  • The Romanian Davis Cup Drill helps with volleys.
  • Interview with Steve Smith
  • The Shadow Doubles Drill will help you win the crosscourt battle in doubles.

About Will Boucek

Will Boucek is the Founder & CEO of Tennis Tribe. With over two decades of experience playing & coaching tennis, Will now works as a doubles strategy analyst for ATP & WTA tour players and coaches. Will helps tennis players at every level play better doubles through smarter strategy. He also has expertise in tennis racquets & gear, testing the latest products from Wilson, Babolat, Head, Prince, and other tennis brands.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. SamS says

    October 1, 2021 at 6:35 pm

    Great content. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Will Boucek says

      October 6, 2021 at 7:38 pm

      Thanks Sam! hope it helps you on the court 😉

      Reply
  2. Mason says

    October 4, 2021 at 3:57 pm

    Will,

    Thanks for the latest podcast. I was especially interested in your serve adjustments to the returner who crowded the box, as it reminded me of a match I played this weekend. However, I was the box crowder on the receiving end of someone who served a high, deep bouncer into my body.

    Like your opponent, I like to crowd the box, take the serve early, and return deep. My initial approach, as the deuce returner, was to shuffle left and hit a high forehand crosscourt. Unfortunately for me, my opponent’s serve, in addition to bouncing high, also seemed to slide right, which I did not expect – I do not even know what one calls such a serve. I repeatedly found myself reaching to return which resulted in a very ugly collection of miss hits and frame shots. Ugh!

    I thought, maybe I could try to take the ball even earlier. Nope – I whiffed.

    My only option was to retreat to the baseline, and I did. I surrendered space and time, but at least I was able to put the ball back in play. We still lost, but 6-4 in the second, instead of 6-1 in the first.

    I suppose mine is more of a return adjustment story, but one that validates your serve adjustment – It is truly difficult to crowd a deep high bouncing serve.

    Reply
    • Will Boucek says

      October 6, 2021 at 7:36 pm

      Great points Mason and it sounds like you made the right adjustments. When facing players who have a big kick serve, you’ll always have to either step in or step back. No way to know which is best without testing each one out 🙂

      Thanks for the comment!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar


Your style and advice worked where hours of private lessons with coaches have not in the past.

- Cindy L. 3.5 player from Atlanta
Get Your Free Doubles Tips & Strategies

Review Tennis Gear. Learn Doubles Strategy. Follow The Pro Tour.

  • Tennis Gear Reviews
  • Doubles Lessons
  • Doubles Strategy Products
  • Pro Doubles News
  • Tribe Talk Tennis Blog

Doubles Only Tennis Podcast logo

Become a smarter doubles player with expert tips & strategy. Learn from ATP & WTA Coaches and Players.

Listen Here


Most Popular Lessons

  • Doubles Strategy: A Complete Guide
  • How To Be A Good Doubles Partner (& What To NOT Say!)
  • 7 Tips For Poaching In Doubles
  • The 3 Step Volley Checklist [Volleys Made Simple]

Featured Product

Ebook: 25 winning doubles tactics
 

Ebook: 25 Winning Doubles Tactics

Follow Tennis Tribe

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

FREE 20-page guide - Learn 3 doubles tactics to force errors and get more easy volleys! Download

Tennis Tribe

Copyright © 2023 | The Tennis Tribe

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Affiliate Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy