Paul McNamee is one of the best doubles players AND doubles coaches of all time. He has four men’s doubles major titles, plus a Wimbledon mixed title. Today, he’s best known for being the mastermind coach behind one of the best and most entertaining doubles players in today’s game, Hsieh Su-wei.
Paul joined me as the grass court season was just getting started. We chatted about his career, doubles strategy, and of course, Su-wei.
- How does Paul create a game plan for Hsieh with new doubles partners?
- Why he switched from a one to a two-handed backhand during his career (he’s the only pro player to do this successfully)
- How often Hsieh breaks her strings – funny story 🤣
- The different roles Hsieh has played during her most recent major titles – French Open (Wang), Wimbledon (Strycova), Australian Open (Mertens)
There are few people on the planet with as much doubles knowledge as Paul, so this is an episode you might listen to more than once. You’ll learn something new every time.
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Interview Notes from this Podcast
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- Follow Paul: Twitter | Instagram
- Learn more about Paul:
- Paul has coached Hsieh Su-wei for over 10 years and has helped her win seven women’s grand slam titles and one mixed.
- He’s helped Hsieh to game plan with different partners, winning majors in women’s doubles with: Peng Shuai (Wimbledon), Barbora Strycova (Wimbledon 2x), Elise Mertens (Wimbledon, AO), and Wang Xinyu (French Open).
- He was the tournament director for the Australian Open for 12 years, and helped start the Hopman Cup.
- He won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Martina Navratilova.
Can you help me understand why Paul prefers deferring when team won the toss? Thanks.
Hey Jack, it seems like this is only the case if you have a strong preference on who you want to serve first on your team and which side they serve on. In Hsieh/Mertens case, they like Mertens to serve first. If she only wants to serve from a particular side, then by deferring, they can guarantee she serves from her side in one of the first two games. In my opinion, most teams should choose to serve first if you don’t care which side you serve from or who serves first.
hope that helps