Rajeev Ram: How To String For Different Conditions And Covering The Chip Lob

Hey everyone, before we get started, here's how my online coaching works. Players send me videos of their stroke, their match play, their positioning, and their decision making, and I give them personalized feedback along with a clear plan to improve over the course of an entire month. Essentially, I'm your personal doubles coach all month long for less than the cost of a single private lesson.

We already have over fifty players improving their games inside the program, and I'd love to help you out too. You can find the link in the show notes. On today's episode, we welcome back my good friend, two-time Olympic silver medalist, three-time US Open champion, and former World Number One Rajiv Ram back to the

We discuss how the Clay at Rolling Garros is different from everywhere else, how he strings his racket to suit new conditions, and how he covers the chip lob. So sit back, relax, and prepare to become a smarter tennis player. All right, Rajiv, welcome back to the podcast. I'm very happy to be here. Thanks a lot.

Of course you are. Um, so you just got done with the French. And we grew up playing supernationals on hard true. That's a big thing in the US. There's a lot of players in the US that have never experienced true European red clay. There's also listeners in Europe who would know that. What are the differences between those two surfaces, those two different types of clay in terms of how it impacts you on the court?

Well that's a good question. I I feel like the the European clay, first of all, it's it's like a finer texture. It's not as sort of grainy and and and sort of granular, I guess, is the best word I can I can say as the hard true. The other thing I would say is that

The hard true seems to be very similar in terms of basic texture and speed and and playability wherever you go, but the clay is different like the clay in Paris is different to the clay in Madrid, which is different to the clay in Rome, which is different to the clay in Barcelona. It's sort of more like what we would consider when we go from hardcourt to hardcourt, there's slightly different surfaces and conditions. I I I found that

the green clay, let's call it, is a little bit more similar, you know, place to place. I I guess makes sense, right?'Cause it's synthetic and this is a natural material and all that. So I I would say those those things for sure. Um I think the movement is a little bit more for me at least a little easier on the red clay than it is on the on the green clay. I I I can't even really tell you why. I just feel like I I slip around a little bit more on the green stuff than I do on the red clay. But

Yeah. Is there anything you do specifically for that? I was gonna ask you later, but just the movement on clay because when you're at the net, uh maybe it's net or a baseline, I'm not sure which one would impact you more, but I would feel like with all the quick movements you wanna be balanced up there, you wanna be in position.

And yet if you're leaning the wrong way and then you slip, like that's a major issue. So is there anything you do specifically with your footwork or balance to adjust to the clay?

Yeah, great question. So for me, I feel like because I'm not that natural or I'm not natural at all on it, like especially against some of my competitors who grew up on the stuff.

I feel like I actually do the best when I pick up my feet a little bit more. I make sure to actually like take proper steps because it's pretty easy on the clay because you can slide for me to overslide and to not, you know, then I end up taking steps that don't put me in the right position to hit shots like I would want to because that, you know, doesn't quite end up in the same

I don't know how to say it, but I don't I'm actually not in the same like body position because I'm not taking the correct step. So it's a really important thing for me, whether I'm at the baseline or the net to make sure I pick up my feet and I actually take proper steps because it's easy to not do that.

Do you ever think about w one thing that at least I felt was like keeping my head centered. So a lot of times if I was, you know, kinda leaning on my right leg a little bit and then the ball went left, that's when my foot would give out and so

I grew up training on hardcore. My last two years in juniors, maybe I played on clay more, and that was one of the things that my coach used to always stress with me was like when I'm moving around I always gotta keep this head kinda in the center of my body or else I'm going down, basically.

Yeah, totally. I think as soon as you get a little bit of tilt, I think you have a really tough time recovering from that or just maybe keeping your balance. And I think that's one of the reasons why it's so beneficial for players to play on clay, because you learn how to be balanced and then you can transfer that to other surfaces like hardcore where

Maybe you get away with more of the sort of, you know, sloppy footwork or or a little bit less good balance, but if you can train it on clay, it becomes innate and I think your footwork just becomes better for it. You mentioned that the the the clay at Rolling Garros is different than Madrid than Rome.

I guess first question would be so so what is that play like? Like what what is specific about the Rolling Garrett's clay? Does it play faster? Does it play stickier? Is your like you said, the movement might be a little bit easier? Like what is it about that clay that stands out in its y unique kind of aspect?

Yeah, I mean for me they do look, maintaining a clay court is not an easy job and I think everywhere else, you know, they do an amazing job but What they do at Rolling Garros to make those chords play like they are is is like a it's like a work of art. I mean, truly it is. So I think the thing that sticks out for me the most and probably the reason I like playing there out of you know, anywhere else on clay is just the fact that the bounces are truer. I mean

I think it's maybe a little faster. I think the the speed of the court is super weather dependent and we can talk about that because this year was kind of, you know, a a crazy one in terms of the heat. But I think Just just the you know, the the quality and the the pureness of the courts there make it so much easier for me to play on them as opposed to maybe some of the other places where they're still awfully good, but you just get, you know, a few more bad bounces.

Okay, so I live in Charleston, the south. I used to live in Durham, Raleigh Chapel Hill, that area. We've played tennis in Florida. I I say that like in the summer, it's just hot everywhere. Yeah. Like honestly, it just heat is different.

When I saw center cramping up, everyone talked about how hot it was over there and they said it was like ninety degrees. Yeah. My my jump reaction was like, That's really not that bad. Like have you played, you know, Boys Fourteens Nationals in Fort Lauderdale in in July? Like Remember that or San Antonio where we used to play for that?

Right, exactly. But like I kept people see he and people say like how hot it was, the heat. So how exactly hot was it and how would you compare it to the US like in the middle of the summer when we know we're cooking?

Yeah, okay, look. So if you're comparing it to the US, it's it was definitely not that hot or compare it to the US. I would even say we were fortunate. I was fortunate enough to play the Olympics in Paris a couple of years ago, which was in August, which is right after Wimbledon. That was some of the hottest I've ever been. Um so it was it was interesting for me because

like playing in Paris this year felt condition wise very similar to how the Olympics felt a couple of years ago because it was a little bit later, right? It was about a month and a half later than than the French Open. But if you're comparing it to what it is in the summer in the US, no, it's not that hot. But I think what's really difficult is that when it comes time to Cincinnati or the US Open or whatever, you've you've acclimatized to that, right?

And I think you expect it to be hot when you go to the US in the summer or when we went to Florida in the you know, in the fourteen hundreds or Texas or whatever. When you come to Paris in in May, you just don't expect it and you've not prepared for it. So I don't think it's so much the heat itself, it's more of like what you've done leading up to it and your expectation going into it.

You mentioned that uh it was crazy in terms of temperature and that it plays differently. I'd love to know how much I mean I guess you're saying it played similar to to when you were in the Olympics, but when it's that hot. What does that do to the overall conditions? What does that do to overall tactics? How does that impact the match? Yeah, f so it makes it to me feel like almost like you're playing in altitude a little bit. I mean the ball really flies a lot more, it bounces way higher.

It's um it's just so lively through the air. And I think it also dries the court out a little bit, which on a clay court, the the drier it is, the faster it'll play, right? The wetter it is, the more you, you know, it's soggy and damp and cold. It'll be it'll play slower off the bounce. All of that is to say it it benefits players who play more like I do, a little bit more aggressively and try to come forward and I think it's no

no mystery that I probably played my best tennis at Roland Garros at the Olympics, which happened to be the hottest I've ever seen at there. So I think um it makes it easier to play that style of tennis and I think it makes it tougher to play sort of the the more counter punching style tennis, which is generally pretty useful in clay court. Is there anything that you did with racket tension here? If you know that it's jumping, do you adjust that at all?

Yeah, I adjust my racket tension a lot. I probably adjust my racket tension more than most players. Um I I'm I can go up or down about ten pounds depending on conditions, which is a lot. Um and this was the tightest I've ever been on a clay court. I think I was I was up to like forty eight pounds in the main, which is s doesn't seem crazy tight to you know when we were kids, but it's pretty tight for me these days and um

There were times at the French when it was cold and rainy, which I would have been, you know, in the thirties. So yeah. I think that will surprise most people. Like I I feel like yeah, I feel like the standard US junior adult I mean, when we grew up, I I was string of mine at sixty one and I know that was middle of the pack. I I was gonna say I I remember I tell the people all all the time I was drinking mine at sixty nine, sixty seven when I was a a kid, in a small little racket, you know?

That that's by the way, that's that's why. But now I feel like there's a lot of people who are like, Oh, low fifties, mid fifties, which I I think is very, very tight on the pro tour. You're saying you strung it tight. I was expecting to hear like a sixty. Yeah. And you say forty eight, so What is the benefit? I'm assuming you kind of swim around in the low forties to mid forties a lot. Yeah. What is the what is the benefit of stringing around there?

Yeah, I mean m sorta I I sort of live in that yeah, mid forties, high forties range on a on a hard court and then on a clay court I'd be a little bit less. Actually, surprisingly enough on a grass court I'm I'm closer to where I am on a clay court just because the uh

the balls are quite heavy that we play with on the grass and I f and I find that, you know, again, quite often the conditions are a little bit chillier ho over here in England. Um but sorry, what was your question? I totally forgot what you said. The question was just what are the benefits of Oh yeah. Being in that mid forties. Yeah, so I think I mean one thing is the balls that we play with on tour are quite heavy as you know, in general. So I think

you know, allowing the racket to do a little bit more for you is useful. And I think the courts are also quite slow on a regular basis, especially compared to when we were growing up talking about stringing in the sixties, right? So I think um if you can control it and if you can have the sort of ability to not feel like the ball is just gonna get away from you, the the lower tension you can play with is actually better. And I I think that would probably have been the case.

Even when we were kids too, it was just that that was, you know, the tension we could control was in the mid sixties. And it's just I think um the conditions have changed and sort of dictated the fact that that number is now lower. Yannick's uh sent me a racket probably like a year ago and it just came pre strung. So I don't even know what it was strung at originally. And it sits in the trunk of my car for a year in the summer, in the cold, whatever. Yeah, it just gets

t take it on planes and obvious I don't hit a ton, so it's not like I'm breaking that string. And so people will ask me like, Well what what does that racket strung at when I do a video? And I'm like, at this point, like maybe in the twenties, but yeah, what I have felt is when it's super loose like that, I can hit up on the ball

Yeah. I just kinda aim short. So I'm trying to clear the net and then I'm trying to rip up and hit on the service line and then that looseness in the string I feel like just kind of sends it into that three quarter depth. Do you feel that too a little bit? Totally. I I think a better question is actually like what is it strung with? Because I feel like with some of this poly string

I mean I I I don't even know that I could string it loose enough to make it unplayable because it just feels like the ball sort of the bottom drops out of the ball at some point. So to your point, you brush up on it, land it short, it it

probably not gonna go along just with the amount of spin you can create without having, you know, too much difficulty. Again, like, you know, back in the day we would never play w it probably wasn't a string, right? You'd play with something that didn't have that sort of characteristic.

Um but I I just think, you know, with the with the polyester string and with the way that it you know, how much spin you can put on the ball, you string it as loose as you want. I d I don't even think it'll make a difference. Are there any tactics serve or return or just general philosophies? You said when it plays faster, obviously it favors a player like you. Is there anything that you see doubles players doing more in those fast? Like if you said

Hey, we serve T more, we poach more, we stay more, we play I more. Is there anything like that that comes out when it's hotter and faster like that?

I think I think, you know, the players that sort of are more confident in their serves, I think it helps them'cause you if you hit if it's a fast condition where it you know, ball bouncing high, if you hit a good spot by spot I mean T or wide on either side and you make the opponent stretch.

I feel like it's really hard to control that ball. And so like if you're confident with the serve and you can hit, you know, decent spots on your serve, I think that's pretty useful. I also feel like a lot of players go to the chip lob return just to kind of get the ball in the court because again if

Even if it's a serve that's into your body, if it's kind of, you know, shoulder height or above, it's pretty tough to get that one, you know, down and and um by the net guy. So um I think uh you know starting the point all of a sudden the chip lob becomes a little bit more of a useful tactic.

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Use my link in the show notes for an additional 10% off and make sure you check it out today before time runs out. I would love to know how you approach it both as the server and the net player. So a returner chip lobs you. You're obviously very close to the net, you're pinching, you're looking for something.

As the net player, number one, how do you handle that? Are you bailing on that pretty quickly, sliding over and assuming that your server's gonna come up and try to attack that? Are you gonna give it a look first to see if you can get an overhead? Like how do you approach that as a net player? Yeah.

So I think that's very set or very different depending on your skill set and your your abilities, right? I think um For me, uh someone who's probably not the most athletically gifted person, I'm having a tendency to let that one go. But You you know, if it goes up over my head and it and the the one thing is is you need to kinda understand this before you even go out on the court because this causes so much confusion if you don't know whose ball it is or w how you're gonna play it or

whatever else. So like for me, if the ball goes up, unless it's absolutely you know, it's gonna land inside the service box, I'm probably gonna let it go. But that being said, I wanna make sure that if it doesn't go up and it's within my zone, I'm I'm gonna do the best that I can to knock it off.'Cause I feel like you gotta give and take a little bit there. You gotta make it so where if the ball does come at you and they don't lob it, you're gonna be

You know, right on it from the start. Um, I think some other guys who are more athletic will have a you know, tendency to go get that ball and and hit a great overhead. So let's say like your uh your partner's serving in the deuce and they're chip lobbing a fair amount and they're doing a decent job, so it's gonna be tough for you. Do you talk about where he's gonna take that first ball? Like hey, let's say

He's a right hander, so it'd either be like a backhand swing volley or he's gonna run around and crack a forehand and you go, Hey, are you gonna rip this down the line to the baseliner? Is that a conversation that happens or are you just kind of reacting to what he's feeling in the moment? No, absolutely that's a conversation that happens because me as the net player who's scooting over, I want to know where that ball is likely gonna go so I can position myself in the right spot to kind of

be offensive, even though they've gotten the point started, we still want to be an offensive position. I think one of the things in doubles, you know, as the person who's not hit the ball, you can still be either offense or defense depending on where you position yourself. So if I know my partner's gonna hit it

you know, through the middle, let's say we're playing, you know, uh y you said the Deuce court, so the Deuce court player's a right hander, we're probably gonna target his backhand a little bit more, which is the middle of the court, which means I'm gonna be more in the middle of the court to try and, you know, be offensive on that next ball. Um, I think that's a huge part of it. The other thing is is if you know a person's gonna lob a lot

you know, we would do things like maybe poach a bit more. So like, you know, they're gonna you know, if you're playing regular, they're gonna lob it over the net guy. But if you do a called poach, all of a sudden my server is now in a better position. Maybe he can it a a s a forehand volley, maybe he can hit an overhead on it, something like that. So something just to sort of not make it so easy for the the returner just to lob over the net guy.

Would you ever adjust your starting position as a net guy if you go look half the time they're chip lobbing me? Yeah. And they're okay. They're not great. Is there any time where you almost at the net would just anticipate that and be like, you know what, if he rips a return cross or at me, like I'm not gonna be in my normal position, but I'm also gonna be better prepared for that love? I'm gonna give you an example here because I'm gonna say this now because this player just retired.

Um but Jamie Murray had one of the best chip lobs I ever played against in the Deuce court. And what made him so difficult to deal with was that if the ball bounced, meaning if he hit his chip lob and it bounced, he was all over the net and he was probably One of the best, if not the best, I played, you know, kind of putting away that next ball. So when I would play him, regardless of who was serving, I would say, Okay, I'm gonna basically just completely cover this lob.

If he gets it by me, maybe the ball goes through the middle, some of the things that you talk about quite often and we both agree that you shouldn't do, in this specific situation, I would let those balls go, let my server hit maybe what's more difficult volley because

Jamie was significantly better at the net than he was at the baseline. So even if he knocked that ball through, we felt like hitting it back to him and playing the point that way would be a better situation than us chasing back a lob with now him at the net and us at the back with him Basically being a magician up there. So um in that specific example, yeah, I would play further back to cover the lob and make sure that if the ball went up I I went and got it before it bounced.

I would love to know in terms of maybe not pro tennis, but what you would think for the other ninety-nine point nine percent of us. One thing I've always said is, you know, if you're practicing doubles returns, people ask me for tactics or what they should do.

If I rip a beautiful return over the center net tape and I'm playing a decent five oh, five five and they're poaching, there's a chance they could actually hit a good volley on that. Like they still probably will struggle if I hit a really quality return, but they have a chance at it.

I've always thought the lob or that bunt return is my favorite because I'm like, I don't have to worry about what they're doing. And if I do execute that to the highest of my level, let's say in the back three, four feet of the court. They're not hitting an overhead. They're still deeper in the court, so even if they rip it like I have a little bit of time, I feel like it's almost unstoppable. Where would you rank that chip lob in terms of where you need to be practicing that should you already

Master your top spin returns and then go to the chip lob. Should you start with that in your back pocket and then learn how to have how to hit faster? Like where would that rank for you?

Well, I think that's one of the beautiful things about doubles is I think the return there's so much more variety. So I wouldn't necessarily rate like one return over the other. I think it's like

No, I have to get quite good at all of these shots, the down the line return, the cross court return, and the lob return. And I think, you know, sometimes And I've been just as guilty of this as anybody is you just sort of like, oh, hit a few lobs maybe when the server's warming up or you you don't really like, you know, okay, I'm gonna settle in here and make you know, ten, fifteen, twenty of these and I'm gonna hit'em.

just exactly how I want them. Height control. I think a big thing of the chip lob is is the height control. Sometimes if it goes too high, you know, the player can have time to go back and get it. Sometimes sort of the low, fast one is a a better play because you can get it to bounce, you know, before the uh you know, bounce before the the opponent plays the ball. So I think like really dialing in, it's not

just a lob, right? It's it's an actual lob with intention and and practicing it like that. So I don't know if there's an order, but I definitely feel like sometimes it just gets lost in the shuffle a bit of how important it is to be specific there. You played uh with Ben Kate at the French. He's a younger player. You are no longer a younger player. I am no longer a younger player. That is correct. Maybe Yeah.

Hey, that's that's just a fact. Um, my question is what you're kind of watching him experience a lot of these things for the first time. He's just getting going in the game. What is something you know now or you do now that you wish you knew when you were his age back in the day? That's a great question. It was funny. This so this was this French Open was his first grand slam, and they gave me a little

plaque um before the tournament started saying it was my twentieth French Open. And so it was a it was it was to your point it was w about as opposite of career ends as you can get. Um I think the one thing I would say And and he actually is a great example. He does this really well, is that I think th the situation is very

awing, you know, you see these tournaments on TV, you get to play there and it's like and I think he was that a little bit, but I never one time felt like he was awed or or sort of intimidated by the opponent. And even if he was, he he didn't show it, you know? And I think, um You know, if there's something and maybe this is just learnt or innate, I don't know, but like uh uh you know, if if I could go back to being, you know, maybe not that young, but younger

just sort of like knowing or or believing that my game I didn't have to overplay, you know, it was it was good enough to maybe not win, but it's certainly good enough to hang and and be you know, be in there with a shot. And I think um

He was a really he impressed me with that. It didn't it didn't feel like the moment got to him. I felt like, you know, he did a great job of sort of taking in the surroundings and it was a little bit overwhelming, but like the moment of playing the tennis match didn't get to him, which I was really impressed with. Do you have any advice for that for for people in general where you're going to a bigger court or you have more people watching or

this match has a bigger name or a bigger value on it. Like you said, and you show up and you go, Wow, I'm playing at the French Open. This is always my dream. Or I'm playing in the US T A finals or I'm playing in front of all these people and that moment sometimes gets the players and they definitely play worse. Is there anything you do to kind of center yourself and just try to play that normal stuff that you talk about?

Yeah, you know, for me for a long time I tried to be like oh it's just a tennis match and it's just the same court and it's just the same ball and uh The reality is it's not, you know, like it's it's just not that. It's you know, when you play on been lucky enough to play on Arthur Ash Stadium and it's like I've seen this court on T V, I've, you know, I've been at the top of the nosebleeds watching, I'm sure with you, you know, watching

whoever when we were there for the juniors and all that. And it's like this is this is not a normal match. It's so I think I did a lot better with it when I sort of accepted the fact that this isn't your everyday practice, this isn't your everyday deal. This is something special. This is something new. And it's like

accept that and and let's deal with the fact that that's the case as opposed to just trying to say, Oh no, it's just tennis, it's just a thing, you know, it's just a match. It's just the same, you know, yeah, the lines are the same and the ball's the same and all that, but it it's not the same. And so I think um

you know, for me, not running away from the fact that it is different and there are going to be feelings that you don't normally feel in practice, there are going to be different things and saying, I'm okay because I'm I've prepared for this, I'm ready for it, I can handle whatever comes at me and I'm I I'm confident in my own ability to handle, you know, stressful situations. I think that's the way I deal with it best as opposed to just trying to run away from it.

We're transitioning from clay to grass. Yep. Uh the little detective over here sees the entry list for Queens and you have an interesting partnership coming up. I'd love for you to share that. Yeah, yeah. Uh was really fortunate and uh and happy to get a call from my old friend Joe Salisbury that he was uh looking for a partner for the grass and uh was more than happy to oblige. Um

Yeah, look, I I I don't know really what to say. It's sort of still kind of, you know, sinking in, but I mean, I was really fortunate to be part of a a partnership that was six years long and more successful than I could have ever dreamed of. And I think um

the fact that we get to play a little bit more together, however long that may or la may or may not last. Um, but especially, you know, here in in England at Wimbledon and the few events before, you know, Joe being from London and and all that, um, you know, before you know, before I

I I finish off my career whenever that might be. It it's just gonna be awesome. So gonna enjoy every moment of that. And uh you know, we're lucky to be great friends still, maybe even better friends now than we were when we played and uh so really excited to do that.

Well, I'm pumped for you. I can't wait to watch that. That's super exciting. Um we've I've again, whenever you're on, I always learn like five new things and I already know you. Like you've probably already told me these things, so I'm probably just remembering. Um but hopefully people got a lot out of it and looking forward to watching on the grass. Yeah man, thanks a lot.

All right, I want to thank Rajiv for joining the show today. He's going to be coming on a few times throughout the course of the year to drop his wisdom for everyone. He's such an intelligent player and overall a great guy that I learned from every time we talk.

You can pick and choose what nugget he gave today that's most valuable, but the overall vibe every time I talk to him is nothing is left to chance. He has a plan for how he's going to string his racket based on the conditions. He has a plan for the opponent's return. He has a plan for playing a big moment.

Nothing is by accident, nothing is random. That's how a champion thinks, and the beauty is it's one of the few things you can learn to do just as well as a former world number one. As always, thanks again for listening. I hope you just improved at tennis without even hitting a.