Language Matters:
Building Doubles Partnerships
While tennis singles is solitary, doubles offers a unique opportunity: the presence of a partner who can help lift our game. Unfortunately, partners often bring each other down, making it feel as if it’s three against one on the court. Usually we deflate our partners unintentionally–when our shoulders slump after a lost game, we may not be aware of the debilitating effect of our negative body language on our partner’s feelings; when we yell, “C’mon, let’s go. No more unforced errors!” We may not grasp that this is often received as judgment instead of encouragement; even silence may be mistaken—when we don’t say a word, a partner with bruised feelings may interpret this as a sullen expression of lost faith.
Let’s face it: maintaining positive communication during the challenges of match play is difficult. Some difficulty may be purely temperamental–one player might like to talk between points, needing conversation to settle down, while her partner finds talking disruptive of her concentration. Another player might think about changes in tactics, while her partner doesn’t like to think at all; she “just wants to play.” (Such pairs probably aren’t destined to become famous doubles partnerships. 😀 ) Still, even when you have a partner you really like who likes to play with you, knowing what to say and when to say it can be tricky.
At the most fundamental level, there are two things I want to communicate to my partner. First, if I’m screwing up when he’s playing well, I am not going to quit–ever. I’m going to hang in the match and try to play out of my slump; he can count on it. Second, if he’s playing badly, I’ve got his back—always. I know he won’t quit; I believe in him, even when we lose. When doubles partners establish these fundamental feelings, an enduring trust emerges that enables them to steer through the complexities of doubles communication successfully.
Take Personal Responsibility
It’s easy to give high-fives and smiles to your partner when you’re kicking butt; it’s when things get tight or you’re behind that positive communication is needed most. The first step is to take individual responsibility for the fact that your team is behind. That principle may seem contrived if your partner has just double-faulted the game away and all you’ve done is stand there at net without hitting a ball; however, things will turn around only if your team improves, and you’re both part of it. If in any way your partner senses you are blaming him for the current deficit, you are ruining your team’s chances of playing your best–not him because of his mistakes, but you because of your attitude. Even if the unforced errors on returns and blown overheads that form the proximate cause of your team’s problems are not your own mistakes, it is still your job as a doubles partner to create a positive climate that helps both of you play your best. Just as a singles player must take full responsibility for a loss, a doubles team must consider themselves a single unit; to do this, each player must first take full individual responsibility to give her best, both in shot-making and in partner support.
Don’t Blame Your Partner for your team’s problems.
Do Know Your Partner well enough to understand how you can be of help to her when she’s playing badly. Everyone’s different–she might want silence, a pat on the back, or a joke to break the tension. (Remember to let her know what you need too, what helps and what doesn’t. How is she supposed to know unless you tell her? ) The single most important thing to know about your partner and for her to know about you is how you both can be encouraging during down times in a match.
When players trust and understand each other enough to develop a successful doubles partnership, answers to a whole range of questions begin to present themselves. For example, what information do we cover after the warm-up and before the match begins? What do we talk about on changeovers? What key words does each of us best respond to when we need to recover lost focus? Who is most comfortable being team leader and suggesting tactical changes or point-by-point risk taking?
Body Language Speaks Volumes
Human beings are wonderfully expressive creatures, and not just through words. Our faces and bodies communicate feelings too, and often it’s a frustrated sidelong glance, frown or shrug that precedes our shouting, “Dude, do you know how bad your game sucks today?” Often these head shakes, OMG eye rolls, teeth grindings and frustrated foot stomps emerge when we’re trying hard not to say anything. Poker players call these physical expressions “tells,” because they convey feelings we don’t actually want to disclose.
As doubles partners the only feelings we want to express are the will to play our best and the positive belief that we can. It’s not always easy to do, especially when we’ve lost the first set and are down a break in the second.
Nevertheless, where’s the fun in giving up? Why give our opponents the pleasure of watching us crumble? When we’re discouraged, we express negative feelings to our doubles partners because in our minds the loss is already a foregone conclusion; we act out with negative body language not only because we’re frustrated with our team’s level of play, but also because we’re trying to soften the blow of impending defeat. Don’t go there–hang in. It’s a tennis match, and anything can happen before the last ball bounces twice. If we leave the match mentally and show dejection physically, we deny our doubles team the chances we deserve.
Instead, Go For It. If we go for it and lose, hey—at least we gave it our collective best shot. Plus, it was a good workout. And tennis is recreation, right? It’s a game we play for fun.
Don’t communicate anything negative, ever. No frowns, no slumping shoulders, no head shaking, no pouting, no whining.
Do project positive body language. Keep your head high; stay on your toes; smile at your partner; give her high fives. Above all, enjoy—you and your partner are playing tennis, not working it.
What We Say/What Our Partner Hears
If our doubles partner hears our words but latches onto their implication–imagined or otherwise–he may understand something completely different from what we intend. For example, our partner is missing his first serves; we want to encourage him, so we say, “Just get your first serve in, bro–we’ll be fine.” We think we’re emphasizing, “We’ll be fine,” but our partner thinks, “Great—I’m playing like crap, and now my partner treats me like a moron. I know I’m missing my first serve; I know I gotta get it in. Tell me something I don’t know, jerk.”
Here’s the key to good verbal communication with our doubles partner: there is only one point of view–the team’s–and only one pronoun to express it: “we.” For example, your partner is making a ton of unforced errors off her return. You say, “Dang, we’re definitely playing nervous tennis so far. What do you think? Should we try two-back receiving to open up the whole court for our returns? I’ll go with whatever you feel.” You’ve included yourself in the problem. You’ve asked about a solution rather than trying to dictate one. You’ve let your partner know that you trust her opinion–Excellent.
Don’t blame, give unsolicited advice, state the obvious, go silent, groan, sigh, or say anything that isn’t positive.
Do think and speak from the team’s point of view–if you have a suggestion, use the word “we” to express it. Ask your partner’s opinion regarding strategy. It takes practice to master, but an inclusive, “we are one team” approach is the time-tested best way to communicate with our doubles partner.
If We Must Overrule Our Partner
You’re the returner’s partner; he calls a serve out that you see hit the line. You’re suddenly conflicted, caught between loyalty to your partner and commitment to deep tennis ethics. Do you overrule him, which makes him seem like a cheater? Do you say nothing, which avoids upsetting your partner but steals a serve from your opponents? This can be a fragile moment for your doubles partnership. The bottom line is that within in the adversarial structure of a tennis match, the most important commitment we share with our opponents is a collective promise to honor the rules of the game. Violate them, and we turn sport into blood feud. Here’s what to do in this situation: quietly let your partner know you saw the ball differently; let him tell your opponents that by the rules the point belongs to them. (If doubles partners disagree on a call, the point automatically goes to the opponents.)
Don’t cheat, for any reason, ever.
Do overrule to uphold honest play, but find a way not to embarrass your partner. Make the overrule a team decision and statement.
Communicate Early, Often, and Well
Consider the differences between professional and recreational doubles teams. Certainly, professionals pound the ball the ball perfectly, while recreational players don’t. The most obvious other difference is in communication–professional doubles teams talk on every point. At the end of each point, the players meet and give each other a high five or fist bump, even if/especially if they’re just lost the point. This may seem perfunctory, even meaningless, but it’s not. Touch reconnects; it supports teamwork. After the high five, professional doubles teams talk. Servers discuss where the serve is going and whether they will poach; receivers talk about where to aim the return and whether to follow their return to the net.
By contrast, most recreational doubles players and, unfortunately, a whole lot of college doubles teams, barely talk at all. If you’ve played against a team that actively communicates while you and your partner don’t say a word, your silence seems jarringly loud. The other team seems engaged, even conspiratorial. Your team looks like two separate individuals who have no clue how to act like partners. To encourage close communication, I coach my team players who call poaches on the serve not to use hand signals. I want them to talk, to stay physically close, to connect with each other before and after every point of the doubles match.
- Don’t say hello to your partner when you step on the court and then say nothing else besides the score until the match is finished.
- Don’t talk only on big points or only when you change strategy–infrequent communication can create more pressure for you and also tip your hand to your opponents.
- Do build a routine of talking between points. Besides the additional closeness your team will feel, you’ll be surprised how sharp your thinking stays if you’re creating a plan for every point.
When it comes down to it, if we’re not communicating with our partner, we’re simply not playing doubles. Talking with our doubles partner does take practice, and it involves the risk of exposing our vulnerability—for example, letting a partner know what helps and what doesn’t help when we’re down. It also involves listening skill, which is especially tough to employ when the pressure of match play forces us so far inside ourselves that we think only about our own games. Still, constant, conscious communication with our doubles partner is an investment whose upside potential is an exponentially richer experience of playing our best tennis with someone else right beside us. As the old saying goes, “A joy shared is a joy squared.”