Mental And Tactical Differences Between Tennis Singles And Doubles
I read through your Strategy Encyclopedia and found some very useful information. I watched the Agassi-Federer final from 2005.
I thought it was a great match but did notice how much they use very basic strategies.
The three most useful pieces of advice were:
1) Always defend deep to the middle. I had never thought about doing that but it worked very well. Playing to the middle is a great strategy in order to keep the angles closed and keeping others from abusing you by opening the court.
Yes, but be careful with the word “always”. 
Agassi and Federer used that a lot, but they also defended cross court. Nadal often defends down the line against Federer to avoid his forehand…
2) Return in the direction of your follow through. The most eye opening was that the best backhand return on the deuce side is toward the backhand of your opponent (all righties).
I watched a bunch of clips from Agassi who is hailed as possibly the best returner of all times. He always, always seems to hit very high percentage returns. Rarely did he seem to go for bad shots on this return. Obviously, he lost many matches to Sampras but playing lower percentages would have been worse.
Yes, you can think about it a little bit but eventually it will become automatic…
3) Never take big risks on shots by going for the lines. Go for spots that are well inside the lines.
Yes, the “spread” is too big to go for the line.
So here is my question.
I have an issue when I play singles in which I toggle between risking too much and playing too conservatively. When I play sets I tend to hold back too much and not go for my shots. I almost feel like there is too much thinking going on when I play singles.
I am thinking about where to hit and what to do so much that I get in my own way. Yesterday, the same thing happened. I played singles and was so conservative that my opponent just moved me from corner to corner.
When I play well I tend to go for my shots a little more. I really like coming to the net but have to be careful as I am not tall (5′7″) and don’t have particularly long arms. After getting wiped off by my opponent in singles we then played doubles.
I had a weak teammate but we lost 6-2 and I feel like I was the best doubles player out there even though the other team won. I also LOVE to chip and charge or to hit high returns and come in behind them. I played doubles only for about 5 years with excellent doubles players and think I have become a very decent doubles players.
I am not a big poacher but I just attack the net relentlessly and basically take over the low middle part of the court. I basically hit up the middle until I get an opening and then hit a winner. It is all instinctive no thinking.
I know when to switch, when to cover for my opponent, when to run back, and where to serve (up the middle). The strategy is so clear in these cases and the points so quick that I have no time to think. A few weeks ago I played a doubles match against the best teams in our league and nearly won.
So my question is how do I turn my doubles mentality into a winning singles mentality? My sense is that singles is about creating openings to hit a safe winner while making sure that your opponent does not do the same thing to you.
The main difference is that in doubles you have less options so it’s easier to decide. It’s also much more clear when you are in defense and when you are attacking.
In singles, there are many more neutral ball exchanges where you are not in defense but not really attacking. The game of singles is more about hurting your opponent than killing him.
So not thinking about winners, but thinking about forcing your opponent into uncomfortable situations from which he’ll either miss or give you a short ball which you can attack.
You may be too passive because you don’t see a clear opening for an attack and then you just play the ball back and wait for another opportunity. The problem with that is that your ball is too slow and your opponent can take the initiative in the point.
Don’t think about playing the ball back, think about hurting your opponent in any way - either moving him or playing faster. If that’s not possible, then you must think about NEUTRALIZING - preventing the attack from your opponent.
The ball must then be deep and FAST enough so that the opponent doesn’t have enough time to set up. The more time he has, the more accurate he can play.
So you need to take time away from him and give yourself more time. You take time away with faster shots and making him move (so he doesn’t have the time to set-up). You give yourself time by playing the ball deep so that it will travel longer to you when your opponent hits it.
One other thing - to avoid thinking on court, think off court.
Decide now, when you are not on the court, which is the best shot in typical situations - when you have a short ball, when you rally from the baseline, when you defend. Once that situation happens in the match, you won’t think about it, the answer will already be stored in your memory.
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