Battling Trolls: Doubles Strategy Lessons from the Depths of My Instagram & Facebook Comments

The other night I scrolled through a backlog of 100+ Facebook and Instagram comments, trying to react and reply to as many as possible. The comments are mostly from video lessons I’ve posted over the last month or so.

I noticed three types of comments.

1. ~80% of comments expressed gratitude about how the lesson was helpful or people tagging their doubles partner.
2. ~10% of comments included follow-up questions about the lesson.
3. ~10% of comments from people explaining to me how the ATP or WTA player in the video is a dumb player or how my video is “pointless”.

For this doubles lesson, I want to focus on the last 10%… the TROLLS 🧌

Here are a few of my favorite examples:

So neither Ram nor Salisbury follow it to the net, and Salisbury then dumps a forehand into net. An utterly pointless video…😂

Terrible 2nd shot from the server..and the server’s team net player looked back instead of keeping her eyes on the opposing net player…and consider–when playing against a team with a lefty on the deuce side–play Aussie when serving to the ad side, negating the lefty’s advantage to poach–she (the lefty) can be taken out of the point…dumb tennis on the part of the serve team

Idea is good, volley is too short. Rules is out of court on short angle or deep!! Middle or backhand!

The problem with comments like this isn’t that they’re wrong or they’re being annoying “know-it-all” trolls. I like engaging with constructive feedback on these platforms.

The problem is that these players or oftentimes coaches, are either miss the big picture or follow overly simplistic rules that dumb down doubles strategy. They take one single point during a match about which they have very little context and make sweeping claims about what the player is doing wrong. Or they try to fit some blanket statement onto a complex point.

The reality is, good doubles strategy is nuanced and complex. There are tons of “what if’s”. If you don’t have all the information, you’re guessing.

In a sure-to-fail effort to tame the trolls, I thought I would post each comment here and share thoughtful feedback on why I disagree.

Lesson #1: Should you follow the lob to the net?

You’ll learn that the problem with trolls who try to coach through social media comments is that they think everyone should play doubles the same way. That doesn’t make any sense when you realize each player has different strengths, weaknesses, and skill sets.

It’s smarter to match up your strengths vs the opponents’ weaknesses than play the same way every time. This requires some slightly complex problem-solving ability that the trolls either lack or are too lazy to exercise.

Here’s the first video.

Here’s the comment.

So Michael thinks Ram or Salisbury should follow the ball into the net, presumably because, as many coaches teach, you should always follow your lob to the net.

There are several problems here. First, as I pointed out in my reply, ATP players often don’t follow the lob into the net because they’re still on defense even after a good lob. Moving forward into the net is an offensive move, and it’s especially difficult to hit an offensive lob at the ATP level because their movement and overheads are so damn good.

But should club players follow the lob into the net?

The answer is, of course, it depends. Here are a few things to consider.

• How likely is the opponent to lob you back? A lob is often met with another lob so if you move forward, how will you cover that lob? It’s often best to stay back and have your net player squeeze the middle or poach if the opponents are good lobbers.
• How good are you at the net vs the baseline? This isn’t 1990 where you have to get to the net to win in doubles. Even Louis Cayer, possibly the best doubles coach on the planet, doesn’t teach all his players to get to the net. The game has changed.

Often it’s great to get to the net in doubles after a good lob but don’t force the issue. There are plenty of scenarios where it’s better to stay back.

In regards to Michael’s observation that Joe Salisbury missed an easy forehand, no comment is needed. Joe makes that forehand 9/10 times and that wasn’t the point of the video.

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Lesson #2: Understanding strategy based on the context of the match

Your strategy within a given point is dependent on the context of the match as a whole. This lesson will explain why.

Here’s the video.

And the comment.

There’s a lot to unpack here from Rob.

Claim #1: “Terrible 2nd shot from the server.”

There are a few things Rob should know from the video.

• The server hit a serve +1 backhand from the ad side.
• She was off-camera behind the baseline.
• She hit this backhand crosscourt, about three feet over the net.

So with that information, was it a terrible shot?

A backhand from behind the baseline in ad should typically go crosscourt. Three feet of net clearance is pretty good from that deep in the court. I think the answer is no… it was not a terrible shot.

What Rob probably does not know from the video.

• This is a 2nd serve.
• Elise Mertens is the returner. She’s one of the best returners on the WTA doubles tour.
• How often has the returner’s partner poached throughout the match?
• The score.

On 2nd serves, you’re often defending at the WTA level, especially when facing a returner like Elise Mertens. Defense generally should go crosscourt, which this shot does.

Also, if the opponent hadn’t poached the entire match in this scenario and the crosscourt backhand defense was working, then it was a good shot but a better poach by the opponent. Time to adjust.

Often, you hit a good shot or play a good point and still lose. This is hard for many club-level players to wrap their minds around, especially trolls. Focus on doing the right things and you should be happy to win 55% of points during the match. That means you’re losing 9/20!

Claim #2: “the server’s team net player looked back instead of keeping her eyes on the opposing net player”

I agree with Rob.

This is a singles player so it’s not surprising to see her looking back. If she had kept her eyes forward, she’d have seen the returner’s partner poaching and could have backed up to defend.

Claim #3: “When playing against a team with a lefty on the deuce side–play Aussie when serving to the ad side, negating the lefty’s advantage to poach–she (the lefty) can be taken out of the point…dumb tennis on the part of the serve team”

Setting aside the fact that WTA doubles teams don’t really use Aussie formation, Rob makes this seem like the obvious solution based on video from one point out of 100+ during this match.

Remember though, he didn’t know that this was a 2nd serve. To run Australian formation on a 2nd serve at most levels is not a good strategy. Australian formation should only be used in offensive situations.

By giving your opponent a down-the-line return, you’ll create a shorter distance for her to hit through the court AND a longer distance for you to run down the return as the server. Forcing her to return crosscourt gives you more time to prepare for a serve plus one shot which the server actually does a good job of here. It’s simply a good move at the net by Ellen Perez.

Next time she’s in that situation, she might consider a lob down the line to negate the Ellen Perez poach.

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Rob might have a good tactic for a 1st serve situation, although they’d run I-formation and have the net player shift left. However, he doesn’t know how good Mertens is at returning against I-formation vs regular. It might still be a bad tactic.

Lastly, using Aussie formation does not negate the opposing net player’s ability to poach. Poaching during a down-the-line rally is common at the pro level and probably happened throughout this match.

Doubles is very situational and matchup-dependent. It’s not safe to assume you know the best strategy for any given point without more context of the players and match situation.

Lesson #3: Should you volley deep or short, middle or angle?

Here’s video number three.

And the comment from Bill.

This is a question I get a lot and honestly, I think too much emphasis is put on it.

At most levels, probably yours included, you don’t have good enough volleys to control if you hit short, deep, middle, or angle. If you pick a target too close to the baseline or sideline, or try to hit a fancy dropshot, you’ll miss.

Priority #1 at the net… don’t miss!

Put another way, we don’t go to the net to hit winners, we go to the net to force errors. Just choose a big target, get forward, and make the baseline player beat you.

That said, here’s how I think about it for the pro players that I work with. There are several philosophies.

• Volley low and short. You’ll make the opponents have to lift the ball up creating an easier volley for you or your partner. It’s also hard to lob accurately when running forward for a low ball. Also, many of the ATP & WTA players have massive groundstrokes from the baseline when balanced and that’s where they’re most comfortable, so why would you give them that?
• Volley deep. This will push the opponent back and give you more time to react to their shot, making for an easier volley. You’ll also have more time to cover a lob since they’re further back in the court.
• Angle the volley. Angles will get the opponent off the court and open up the court for your next shot. You might also hit more winners by using angles.

So which one do I like best? All of them.

It totally depends on the matchup and scenario. This is why I can’t stand when students are taught to “always volley deep” or “always volley at the other net player.” IT DEPENDS!!!

In the video above, Demi Schuurs hits a lower short volley that Samsonova has to run forward to get. She hits a forehand from below her knees so she does have to lift it a bit.

An angle probably wouldn’t work here because Demi hits the first volley from just inside the service line. Too much risk.

A deep volley into the corner at Samsonova’s feet might have been a good play as well. But again, I care more about you making the volley and getting forward than finding the perfect target.

Shoutout to all the trolls who made this possible. I love you all and hope everyone learned something from these three doubles lessons!