Essential Tennis - Lessons and Instruction for Passionate Players

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Essential Tennis - Lessons and Instruction for Passionate Players

Most net players in doubles are in the wrong position. Not a little wrong. Completely wrong.

Here's the thing: one side of a doubles court is 1,404 square feet. You have two players to cover it. Something always has to be left uncovered. That's just physics and geometry, and you cannot change it no matter how good you are.

The question is what you choose to leave open. And most players are making the worst possible choice.

When you hug the alley at the net, you are choosing to defend the hardest shot your opponent can hit: a ball aimed at a narrow, low-percentage corridor over the highest part of the net. Meanwhile, you have left the middle of the court completely unguarded. The middle is the shortest path over the net, the widest target on the court, and where most shots naturally want to go. You are defending the shot that almost never comes. You are giving away the one that very often will.

I know your partner has been telling you to cover the alley. I know it feels like the smart, responsible move. Here's the problem: your partner is wrong. I have had this exact conversation on a court with players for over 20 years, and the realization always lands the same way. You can watch it hit them in real time.

Here's what the right position looks like. As a net player, your job is to own the middle. Step toward the center service line, not away from it. From there, you take away the shot the baseline player most wants to hit and force them to aim at the alley instead. Make them beat you with their hardest shot, not hand them their easiest one.

Red is where most players are standing. Green is where you need to be.

Full explanation in this lesson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDCjP...

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 35

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Essential Tennis - Lessons and Instruction for Passionate Players

Competitive adult players COMPLETELY miss this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLnTL...

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 11

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Essential Tennis - Lessons and Instruction for Passionate Players

The fact that you got beat down the alley is NOT the problem.

The fact that you're embarrassed about it is.

Every doubles player I've ever coached has been there. Your partner gives you the look... The one that says: "Why did you go??"

Here's what they're missing. Getting beat down the alley means your opponent noticed you. They changed their target, took a lower-percentage shot, and made a decision under pressure they wouldn't have made otherwise. You made that happen.

That's your JOB!

And now the game really starts. Because once they're going line, you can fake. They'll aim for the alley and you'll be standing there waiting. Once the fake starts working, you poach right into the middle and they won't know what's coming.

None of that is available to you if you never go.

The player who never gets beat down the alley isn't playing smart doubles. They're playing scared doubles. Guarding the alley, protecting themselves from their partner's judgment, watching ball after ball drift through the center of the court.

THAT is what should embarrass you.

Roger Federer won 54% of his points across his entire career. One extra point in every twenty-five gave him everything he ever won. That is the only edge you need, and you start building it the moment you decide to go.

Full lesson here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPKnF...

3 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 45

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Essential Tennis - Lessons and Instruction for Passionate Players

You've been poaching WRONG! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPKnF...

1 month ago | [YT] | 19

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Essential Tennis - Lessons and Instruction for Passionate Players

Fix the #1 mistake in Doubles TODAY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ELnQ...

1 month ago | [YT] | 21

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Essential Tennis - Lessons and Instruction for Passionate Players

Tomorrow (Saturday) at 10am EST I'm dropping something I've been wanting to make for a long time...

You asked for the fix!

So in tomorrow's video I'm breaking down the exact drills I use in my doubles strategy camps to eliminate the #1 doubles mistake once and for all.

Not tips. Not reminders.

Training Drills. The kind that actually rewire your bad habits so your body does the right thing automatically, even in the middle of a real point.

Here's what we're covering:

✅ The two net positions every doubles player needs to master
✅ Why your offensive position is probably set up wrong right now
✅ Why your defensive position isn't doing what you think it is
✅ The transition drill that ties it all together
✅ A THIRD position that changes everything once you've got the first two locked in

If you watched the last video and recognized yourself in any of those examples then tomorrow's lesson is exactly for you.

Here's the link if you haven't seen it yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDCjP...

See you Saturday at 10am EST!