Nate Lammons Interview: ATP Doubles Changes, Serve Drills, Offseason Plans, & More

He's definitely been the best , best resource I've I've had by far .

I know he's not always that way with other players . I know Jackson uses him as well and Jackson tends to be a little more technical with his analysis of misses and matches . So when they chat it's definitely more technical and with me it's , you know , a little bit of of a lot of things .

But as far as individual lessons , I can't really think of one in particular . But I think the the overall sort of mindfulness and focus on on process has been the biggest from him .

I think he's been with me the whole way when I was not so great and when I've had my highs and lows , and I think he's really kept me kind of focused on that improvement and sort of that constant process .

I think we went away from those losses really not happy with the performance we brought to the table and I think , less so on the results and more of just kind of what we were able to do on our side of the net we weren't super happy with .

And so when we got back to the quarters this year and to be honest it was kind of our mindset the whole U S open was , um , you know , I think we we had had a good summer , so we had strung together a couple wins over the summer , and so we went into US Open and while we did have some points potentially coming off , I think we went into it basically

not even thinking about that pressure , because we had been able to string together some good results over the summer . And , admittedly , if you look at our US Open journey there this year , the first two rounds were very , very close . You know , the first round we played two Americans and we had a battle that went deep into the third and second round .

We played a couple of Frenchies and it was the same way . And I think definitely by the time we got out of the second round we're like , hey , we're playing with house money here .

You know we maybe didn't play our best or our cleanest , but you know , here we are , we're still here , and you know it's two S open , it's our home slam , um , you know , at that point we were playing Joe and Raj , who , who , uh , hadn't really lost there in New York for a while . Um , so we were able to go into that match with no pressure .

Luckily we played well . It was kind of tough condition that day , with some sun , and you know I'm pretty pumped to get to have played two matches there on Louis Pretty sweet stadium , and I think we were kind of just soaking in the moment . I think it allowed us to bring out some great tennis .

And I think in the previous two quarters that we had played while our opponents did play well in both of them , I think you know , we allowed a little bit of the moment .

And wanting to , you know , wanting to advance , wanting to get these bigger point totals , all those things really you know , wanting to advance , wanting to get these bigger point totals , all those things really , you know , let that affect us , whether we acknowledge them or not at the time .

And I think it definitely took us sort of vocalizing that and saying , hey , okay , this is why these two didn't go our way , um , or a big reason , why not the entire reason ?

But , um , I think for us this year in the quarter we were we , you know , we were much more level-headed and and I think that that really showed we were level-headed to start and our opponents gave us a little bit of a lead early and allowed us to settle in even more .

Um , and I think , yeah , it was really just a mindset thing , because I don't know that the to me , I think the strokes and and all that , yeah , there's been some minor adjustments , but I think , uh , just sort of the calm um was the biggest difference maker that's interesting to hear because I I've talked with um .

And I was talking with the coach and he said um , we kind of agreed on like you've got to lose that match to ultimately beat him later on . Like You've got to get through that experience to win later on . It's very rare do you get to that stage and then you win the first time out . You've got to learn how to deal with all that stuff .

Yeah , there's some points that you can extend . You know , you get in , you can get into these points where you're kind of throwing up a lot of lobs and it's hard to finish it . Um , I wouldn't say that that makes or breaks a match , though , but there are here and there some some you know chances to extend a point that you wouldn't get normally .

So I think to me that's a real easy one , especially if you say , just on the sides which I think they they did at a lot of the tournaments I think that's a no brainer , just cause I think too . I mean , if you have to leave the game , you know there's no really another sport where if you leave the game you can't come right back in .

So I think that's that's kind of a no brainer . Um , the change over time I don't mind the idea of changing the time . I think they need to play around with just how much time you get a little bit more .

Um , I , I know in DC there there were some complaints cause it was really hot there and um , especially early on , we , by the time we got to the chair , sat down , uh , and took a sip . We were already getting time called on us which , um , I don't know , it feels like you're sort of accelerating the match .

So much to the point where there's less strategy and more , just okay , go right as as fast as you can to the next point . Um , but I do . I can also appreciate that a lot of doubles points are super short . So you know , from a efficient time use standpoint , I get it .

You know we want to give the fans as much actual tennis as possible and that is a good way to do it . Um , the mics , the mics a tricky one for me , because the at least what they trialed in DC was fairly bulky . Um the mic itself was fine , um , cause I had practiced in it one day . The mic itself was fine , but the sort of receiver receiver .

The receiver was pretty bulky and and what we use to sort of strap it onto us was was not super comfortable . Um , so if , if we can find a mic situation that's a little less , you know , cumbersome than I think I'm on board with that .

Um , you know , I don't know that I'll personally provide a whole lot of content with what I'm saying on court , but you know , that's that's fine . I mean , that's up to the viewer , I guess , to appreciate or not .

I mean there's no other sport where you have to wait around and I would imagine it like limits the growth of the sport a little bit as well . If somebody is new to professional tennis and they go to a tournament for the first time and they have to sit and wait for a changeover outside , it's like what are we doing here ?

Like I paid for this ticket , why can't I go in ? Yeah , exactly , exactly . That's strange

. So y'all got back from the ATP finals recently . Y'all were alternates for the second year in a row . Talk about that experience , what that's like . And then also , what do you need to ? What do you feel like you need to work on this off season or going into next year to get over that next hump and make that final eight ?

You know it was motivating last year and I would say it's definitely frustrating both years is sort of sitting there watching Um , obviously , being in that position means we had a great year , so we're sort of choosing to focus on that instead , um , and ultimately , I feel like the tour finals is , is it's kind of , it's a reward , I guess , for having a great

year . Less so , um , like the goal itself , if that makes sense , um , I think , especially because it's an additional point that you can add to your , to your ranking breakdown , I think it really plays out more like yes , okay , if you have a great year , you get rewarded with this additional opportunity for board , for points and money .

Um , but I think for us , like we really want to , you know , we'd love to win a slam , slam , and I think that would be kind of the that . That to us , that's the ultimate goal and I think , obviously , if we win a slam , we're probably going to be entering , so it'll be a nice , uh , nice bonus at the end .

Um , as far as things to work on , um , you know , I think a lot of it for us is just being a little bit more well-rounded . I think we've . We have shown progress , um , already , but I think for us we're we started continuing that work .

I mean we're a big serving team , um , you know , we we can be streaky , returning , kind of a slashing team and we're just , you know , kind of continue to work on , you know , just being a little more solid away from the serve and return , basically make our opponents work a little bit more .

We're pretty dangerous , pretty athletic , and I think that allows us to win from defense sometimes . But I think it's kind of in that neutral place when the point started and I think both of us can be be a little bit better .

And I think that's really the difference that I see between between us and the and the top teams is they're able to do it a little more consistently than we are .

Do you like use analytics or is this like a feel thing for you , like I feel like I'm returning better than I was six months ago ? Like how do you monitor that progress ?

Um , and I know his player , Austin um , has sort of looked into that and and is and is finding that data Um , and I know his player , Austin um , has sort of looked into that and and is and is finding that data .

Um , I'm not sure exactly where he didn't share that information , but , uh , I think , um , there is definitely something to be learned from that . I know , I think I'd I'd really like to see some of that type of information .

Um , I don't know how easily it would be to get , say , return stats or serve stats , but I think there are glaring holes that you see when numbers like that come out , and I think that is something that singles players have access to right now already through the tour , and I think , the software is on its way to working for doubles as well , but I don't know

that it's as available to us , but it's definitely something we'd be interested in learning about .

Just , I think , partly because if we're serving full all the time it's pretty tough to return and so it's not necessarily the most constructive practice , at least that type of thing , I would say , occasionally we put out actual targets to aim at . But that's the exception , I think , for us .

Both of us are very confident in our serve and just going out and you know , kind of every day , definitely every week , before kind of tournaments get kicked up , is , you know , hit first and second to both spots , kind of both body spots , you know , really confirm that we have them on the day and on the week and we both call things very aggressively in

matches and I think we've had the ability of you know success , I guess in some crunch moments serving well and serving to smaller targets , and I think that that type of success kind of builds over time . So we , we trust it . We trust it in kind of all moments .

Um , yeah , but yeah , I mean , maybe that's something we should work in more Um , it definitely couldn't hurt . Um , but yeah , I feel like we , we have a pretty good sense of when we've , when we fit the target properly , and when we haven't .

And I think I think for us , both of us are pretty , um , naturally hard on ourselves , if that makes sense . So I think , um , that's , that's really it . I mean , and also too , I think limited reps , or limited reps isn't the right way to say it , but you know you said 20 minutes .

But let's say we're going to go out and serve , let's say we're going to hit five to the target , and because there's a limited number , you know we're not sort of endlessly serving , where we're making sure that , okay , we're hitting five reps to this spot and like they kind of better be good because we're only hitting five to that spot . If that makes sense .

I think the danger , the danger of of serving especially cause it's you don't need somebody else there is that you can go and just do it sort of endlessly , and I think that leads to kind of wasted reps because they're not fully focused . Um , I think for us that's the biggest thing , Um , but it's , it's funny .

You mentioned that Cause even when we play practice sets , it's not really the same as match pressure , right I mean , because you're kind of just playing , you're practicing , sure , but it's kind of fun .

So , yeah , in those moments sometimes we put little things on the line , like we'll put some push-ups or we'll put a coffee or dinner on the line , nothing crazy , um , but it is a challenge . That's something that we struggle with too , just kind of trying our best to simulate match match pressure . It's .

And then when you say five to a spot , does it mean you have to land five good ones to the spot or just five attempts ?

So I I usually would go , I would hit the kick serve , whichever side that is so widen , the ad , t and the deuce .

I hit the kick first and I'd hit like kind of a kick toss , but hit a slider the other way , and then I would hit , hit a body , kind of nasty body , with the second and then do that process both sides with the second and then do first . And it's fairly similar .

I would say with first I start T both sides , start T both sides , then go wide and into the bodies , um , and I think um , occasionally though there's there's an element of okay , I want to make it a little more realistic in a way , and I want to say , okay , I'm going to do first , second , and a lot of this is what we'll do when we do serve them at

each other , so we can practice . Return is , if the first serve is missed , then I will play the second and usually those are still to the same spot , at least to give our partner a chance to to play a point . But I would say those are the two scenarios that I use the most , for sure , okay .

Or do you go T deuce , wide , deuce , t add and then go back to deuce for wide , or do you go t deuce , wide deuce ?

Um , to be honest , maybe that's something I could get better at , because they are subtle , like sort of the two body sides . Um , when Jackson is involved , I would say I'd serve the majority to him in the ad .

Um , get him his reps and then I'll do the deuce , and he's usually either kind of waiting or he's doing the ad because he would be doing the opposite for me . Um , yeah , so we can both kind of do the opposite end at the same time okay , got it .

One thing somebody told me is that the Bryans talked about how it was an advantage for them early in the season because these other teams were still trying to , like , figure out their chemistry , but then later in the season they had kind of developed that chemistry and figured things out . Do you feel like that's the case , or is it different for y'all ?

What do you think ?

We have a pretty good idea of how each other play and , it is true , by the end of the year , assuming those same teams stick together , they will have had a great , great chance to develop . You know just as much and have a great idea of each other on the court .

Unfortunately , there's an added element of okay , it's , the start of the season might not be as grooved . You know , I think there's . There's an element of that . I know historically haven't been a great starter of the of the season and I tend to play my best tennis towards the back end . Yeah , some of that could be .

Yeah , it's just being match fit and having to play a ton of matches together . Some of it is a surface thing . You know , come like March , april , things start to move to clay and you know that's an area that Jackson and I are still working on .

But I would say that , as far as like team chemistry , it's absolutely the case that start of the year is the chance for the established teams to to do something that the other teams are still kind of searching for um , so I want to move into the off season .

I've heard other players talk about in the past like they take a week or two off , then they work on fitness , then they start hitting more balls , then they start matches . How does that look like for you ?

. Um , last year I did I want to say the off season was right around six weeks and I did two weeks away from tennis .

Um , still , I guess working out at is sort of at my leisure , but not , I wouldn't say anything tennis specific really Um , then the next two weeks getting back into into playing , um , definitely that third , that third week was kind of just just sort of hit the ball around a little bit , don't , don't , uh , don't go crazy , kind of ease the body back in .

But definitely ramped up the I would say , court specific type fitness and movement . Um , I think that fourth week I met with Jackson somewhere and we did a training block together . So it would have been , you know , kind of ramp up the , the tennis , the actual court work , um , and less gym work probably .

And then , given that it's the holiday season , it it's uh , you know , there's definitely some off time in those last couple of weeks , kind of spent with family . Um , you know , and it's sort of , I would say , try to maintain the level of sharpness that I would have gotten from those first few training weeks , um , but also try to maximize the time at home .

The uh , the tricky thing with such a short off season is , uh , it can be difficult to reset mentally and because it is , it is a lot of time on the road the vast majority of the year . So I think this year is is a little different for me . It's kind of about the same time . I want to say it's about six weeks .

Um , I think this week , this year I'm maybe prioritizing more just the freshness aspect of it .

Um , you know , and I think so the first it's , it's similar though in that two weeks , two weeks full full stop , probably on the tennis side , um , I might get on court a little bit tail end of next week and and you know , just sort of kind of start tickling around , nothing , nothing crazy .

Um , then that third week there's a couple smaller things that like sort of technique wise that I'm wanting to to kind of bring in next year , and so I'll spend a lot of time on that .

It's less , less um physical , I guess , and more just real , intentional um , as well as some court work that week , um , and then kind of the last two weeks , um really being the only ones that I try to ramp it up and hit a ton of balls , um really with the main goal of being as like physically fresh and mentally like excited to get back out there .

Um , you know , it's it's a long season , obviously , and I think I I've definitely struggled at moments just kind of maintaining that balance between physical freshness and also just like mental drive , cause it it does beat you down , kind of working and working all the time .

Those top doubles teams are still having to play you know a lot of the 250s and 500s and things like that , Whereas in singles , you know a lot of the top singles players only have to play 10 , not 10 , like 15 , 20 tournaments a year .

I think I've always been someone who played a lot of tournaments and that kind of helped me , you know , kind of stay sharp . But you know , maybe , maybe that is something to play around with , trying to rein it in , try to play a few fewer weeks . But , like Austin said , it is tough .

You know , I think if you look at the way the points distribute out , that on the double side someone of equal ranking to someone on the single side , the double side would have quite a few more points .

Several other players as well .

Um , now there's a great gym and and physio facility in in-house , um , so it's great to be able to do all of that in one spot , um , and then you , you add to that the players . Like you said , you've got got austin here . Uh , you're , john was around . I don't see him picking up a tennis racket too often anymore . But there's also Hans Hock is around .

He and Austin actually share a coach , so he's here . And luckily , you get to use the SMU guys quite a bit . They're usually pretty happy to have us and so I think it's a good opportunity for everyone involved . And , like you said , yeah , jackson's nearby for everyone involved .

Um , and like you said , yeah , jackson's nearby , um , there's a few other guys in texas kind of roaming around um , here in dallas , josh , he's another guy . A couple smu grads are out there . So when they pop back , um get to use them too . So I mean there's , there's someone , oh , mitch , mitch kruger as well .

Oh yeah , that's right , he doesn't like to to practice doubles , probably all that much . We're maybe not the best practice for him , but uh , but we get out there with him here and there and I think , um , while it's also , while it's great for practice , it's also great kind of for you know kind of a a semi team atmosphere , if that makes sense .

You know there's a , there's a crew of Dallas guys and we all like to see each other do well , um , so all that you know kind of plays in the . It's a great place to base , for sure .

Um , I feel like it's not in the middle of nowhere , but the match I played in Dubai there was nobody really watching us , uh , so it kind of felt like the middle of nowhere for us . It's really far from home , um , and no one was watching . Um , and obviously the two 50 in Dallas is amazing .

Uh , pretty good atmosphere every time , even if you know the bells and whistles of the tournament aren't there . Gosh , that's tough

. I think if I could consider the 250 something of a home event , so if it's here in the States , probably I would probably play the 250 because I would feel like the crowd was cheering for me , at least part of it , whereas 250 kind of anywhere else I feel like I'd be probably the enemy of the crowd was cheering for me , at least part of it .

Um , whereas 250 kind of anywhere else I feel like I'd be the probably the enemy of the crowd . So I'd probably take the 500 .

So makes sense , makes sense um , so I had two people ask about , uh , y'all's outfits . So one question is who decides the outfits ? And another question was where did you get the gear y'all were wearing in Miami , I believe it was .

One of them was a shirt , lit or a sleeveless , sleeveless white shirt and like a flowery shirt , and the other one was , um gosh , I think we wore the yellow shorts or something . It's a long time ago . It feels like a long time ago , but all of it , all of it's there online with Sigrun . They make great stuff . We're super comfortable and they support .

They support us as well as a couple of American , other American doubles guys , so it's cool that to be a part of that team as well . As far as who picks the colors , I leave that up to Jackson . I guess I don't care how I look , and so Jackson's much better at looking sharp and keeping us put together , so I just defer to his judgment .

So I think for me , I really just kind of focus on the target that I want to hit my volley at and I'm kind of okay if the guy makes a good move or the girl makes a good move and gets to it .

So I think for me that's the biggest is , you know , kind of focus on making a great hit and covering your place , you know , getting to the spot , and if someone has a great return or they make a good move , anything like that , then you kind of live with that . It's . It's not always easy to control that , I think .

Um , for me at least personally , if I , if I kind of wait and see what my opponents are doing and then look it's kind of a similar thing on the return but if I , if I'm waiting , looking at my opponents trying to hit it around them , I usually don't hit the ball very well , so I usually just focus on hitting a good shot , and if they're there , they're

there .

So Jackson and I play a lot of eye formation , especially this year we did , and I find that out of eye it's . It's very tough for the , the returners partner , even if they're up at the net , to cover . If , if you hit a decent line line volley , if that makes sense , like you you're serving .

So in this picture , whoever's serving here to Jackson , if they're coming in and covering line and they just hit a volley back towards Jackson , you can tell how far away I am . It would almost be impossible for me to reach that .

Maybe that's an error in my positioning , to be honest , looking at that , but I think so you're saying the server hits it here , it's back towards jackson , back towards jackson yeah , okay , or I'm sorry the server's partner goes back towards jackson okay no , no , the server the server are you ? are you right about the server's partner ?

Obviously , some of that depends and actually the scenario I'm playing around with is standing a little closer and I think depending where you stand as a service partner , that really dictates what your opportunities are as the volleyer .

For anyone who watched a lot of Turin , a lot of these teams are standing super , super close to the net and from that position you're able to finish basically in both directions with either volley , and so your , your possibilities are open .

I think the traditional kind of maybe more old school servers partner is a little bit further back , and so if you're that far back it becomes much harder to cut off these angles or create these angles and that kind of linear volley . It becomes more the play . So I mean , for me I'm kind of in between , to be honest .

I'm trying to kind of find the right grain there in my case .

So that that is something at times you're thinking about .

Well , thanks a ton for coming on , um , I'm sure we will uh do it again at some point in 2025 . Any um final uh , final advice for the audience or anything you want to leave everyone with .