Angela Kulikov Interview: On Net Skills, Dealing with Injury, & Doubles Strategy
Angela Kulikov is a WTA doubles player with a career-high ranking of 57 in the world. She played college tennis at USC where she was the #1 doubles player in the country. She joins me from California as she rehabs an ankle injury.


We discussed her wide array of hobbies including flag football, coaching tennis, and now, golf. She shares her path to becoming a professional tennis player and how she’s dealt with injuries, using them to reset and propel her game forward.
You’ll learn:
- How Angela improved her game during COVID.
- Why she and her partner, Sophie Chang, play two-back on her 2nd serve.
- The “contingency” or “sparkle” serve play.
- How she thinks about using different serve formations.
- A serve and volley drill that helps with timing the first volley.
- The Reuleaux Triangle framework to follow at the net.
- Angela’s GAT method for decision-making during points (this is at the very end).
Finally, she shares a few book recommendations, her favorite tournament, and how to make doubles more popular.
Angela has a great doubles mind and we’ll plan on a round two with her to discuss the psychology of doubles (she has a master’s degree in applied psychology). Hopefully, we’ll see her back on court soon.
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Interview Notes from this Podcast
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- Follow Angela: Twitter | Instagram
- Learn more about Angela
- Angela played college tennis at USC
- Her coach is David Schwarz
- Angela’s Favorites
- Tennis Book: Open by Andre Agassi*
- Non-Tennis Books: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green*, and The Sniper’s Mind by David Amerland*
- Tournament: Wimbledon
- Mentioned in this episode:
- Sophie Chang Interview
- Doubles Reuleaux Triangle
