Four Lessons From The US Open And My NYC Doubles Camp

Hey everyone, on today's episode I'm going to share four things I learned from watching matches at this year's US Open as well as my New York City doubles camp. So let's get started. Last week, I was up in New York for my doubles camp, and in my downtime, I always head over to Flushing Meadows to watch practices and a few matches if I can. Every time I watch a practice up close, I learn something new. And every time I host a doubles camp, I see interesting things and struggles for my players.

that also helped me become a better coach and better understand how I can help you all. So with that being said, here are four things I learned, remembered, or want you to focus on moving forward. The first thing.

Most offense in singles and doubles starts with two shots, the first serve and the second serve return. When I was out watching the pros, most of their force errors are simply from a great serve, and most of their ground stroke winners are off a plus one where the returner gives them something weak.

On the flip side, especially when you watch the women's matches at the Open, so many forcing shots and plus on winners come after they've attacked a second serve return. They start up in the court, shorten their swing, and try to rush their server into a mistake or a short ball opportunity.

And the funny thing is, I saw the exact same thing at my doubles camp. When my better players hit a great first serve, they were able to play offense on their first ball and get the net player involved. And when there was a second serve, the returning team was able to step up and play offense.

Many players want to play more offensively, but they think that means just ripping random ground strokes. But the reality is a vast majority of offense originates from a great first serve or attacking a second serve with your return.

So if you're already a solid player and want to add some offense to your game, the two shots you should prioritize are your first serve and the second serve return. The second thing I want you to remember is almost everyone who plays tennis isn't happy with how they're hitting the ball. I watched pros practice when I was on site and they were almost all frustrated, rolling eyes, gesturing to coaches, which by the way, if I was a coach there, would drive me insane.

There are a few outliers like Al Graz and Paolini who seem like they're always happy. But by and large, pros and amateurs are always trying to tame the level right above where they currently are. 3-5s aren't happy with their shots. They want to hit the ball like a 4-0.

And guess what? 4-0s aren't happy either. They want to hit like a 4-5. And the player who's 100 in the world isn't happy. He wants to play like a top 50 guy. And I guarantee Tommy Paul isn't happy at 15 in the world. He wants to be challenging center and Alcaraz. It's the nature of our sport. We are all high achievers and always looking to level up. So the first thing we need to do is understand this weird dilemma. It's okay to want to level up consistently and always be reaching.

But the reality is you from two years ago would probably die to hit the ball how you're hitting it today. And you've probably already won a match that you said would make you happy and you're already over it. This will probably be the cheesiest thing I've ever said on the podcast. But you win at the game of tennis when you truly just enjoy playing and the improvement process. Every day you can run around with some friends, do something athletic, and push yourself.

It's a blessing. And while striving to be better is also rewarding, try not to get too bogged down being disappointed that you aren't leveling up every week. Before we get in the third lesson today, I want to remind you guys I'm giving away that ADV backpack on the first of every month. I shipped a beautiful backpack to our first winter while I was in New York, and everyone in my camp got a backpack as part of the gift bag.

They're sleek, durable, and have tons of storage. I actually put the New Balance shoebox in each backpack, and you couldn't even tell it was in there. So if you want to win that backpack, sign up for my newsletter, and I'll be drawing one email address at random each month for 2025. Worst case scenario is you get an email from me once a month with more useful tips to dominate your tennis game. Best case, you get that same tip and I'm shipping you a backpack.

All right, so the third point I want to bring up, it goes a little bit with point number two, and I'm reminded this at every camp I run, is how hard most players are on themselves. Coco Gauff is a two-time major champion at the age of 21. She's three in the world.

and she can't stop double faulting. Francis Tiafoe just lost in straight sets in the third round. Pros are missing all types of shots and losing to players ranked lower than them all the time and struggling throughout the course of the year. But if you have a bad few games or a rough week of tennis, it seems like you think that's abnormal and unacceptable. Unfortunately, it's just part of the game.

I've noticed in some of my camps when players struggle with poaching at first or they can't master the drill on the first try, I see a little frustration or a lack of confidence. The reality is that struggle is so normal. And if you can view struggle as a necessary part of the process, you'll relax more, you'll enjoy yourself more, and you'll improve at the optimal rate. If you put pressure on yourself to be perfect and you're not allowed to make silly mistakes,

and you can never lose to someone worse than you, you'll be full of tension, you'll play worse, and you'll get stuck in an improvement plateau. And the last point I want to bring up is double specific, and I ask it at all my camps. It's a logical loophole, and it makes no sense to me.

I asked my players a few questions, and I'm going to ask you now, and I want you to answer in your car, home, or wherever you're listening. When you're at the net and doubles, do you want the ball? Hopefully, that answer is yes. And if it's not, then you should probably move back to the baseline.

Hopefully you are at the net to get as many balls as possible and play offense when you get them. Now most players in my camps raise their hand and say they want the ball. The next question, what percentage of your shots do your opponents usually hit cross court? Take a second and say a number out loud to yourself now. Most players in my camp say somewhere between 75% and 90%, and I would agree with them on that number. Now the final question, what percentage of points do you poach on?

This is where the players in my camp start to smirk because they know I've walked them right into a trap. Their answer is usually around 10% of the time. So here's the illogical tactics that I can't wrap my mind around. You want the ball at the net. You know the ball is going cross court about 80% of the time, but you only choose to poach and go get it 10% of the time. When I played, I'll bet I poached about 50% of the time, and my opponents probably hit 60% of their shots cross court.

So moral of the story, poach more. If you don't know if your opponent is going to hit down the line or cross court, guess cross court. It's probably where they're going about 80% of the time. I want to thank the 15 legends who attended my doubles camp this past weekend. It was so great to meet all of them. Two of them were returning players. They worked so hard. They were so coachable and they improved a ton.

I'm finalizing my Indian Wells and Charleston camps for next spring and will open registration on my newsletter first in a few weeks. So again, make sure you're signed up for that. The link is in the show notes. I have a lot of returning players from last year coming back to Indian Wells. So I expect all 48 spots to fill up very quickly. So you'll want to get a head start by signing up for that newsletter. And last but not least, I want to thank all of you who continue to listen to the podcast.

I had a bunch of players come up and stop me at the Open who were loyal listeners, and I still can't believe it. I know you guys have so many things you can do with your free time, so I'm honored you choose to spend 30 minutes a week with me. Thanks again for listening. I hope you just improved at tennis without even hitting a ball.