Choosing a Doubles Partner
There are mental,emotional and physical personality traits to consider when choosing a doubles partner. Combining them together with your traits could result in a good or bad doubles combination.
Mental
Does your partner plan the points out or do they prefer to react to the situation. If you are a planner and treat the match as you would a chess game, you might prefer a player of the same mentality. If you don’t like to overthink your strategy and prefer to ‘ad-lib’ or ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ you probably would not like to have your partner analyze each point or game and pre-plan.
Emotional
Does your partner keep everything inside, does not want to be interrupted during the match and plays point after point without talking or discussing what is happening? Or, does your partner talk incessantly and interrupt your train of thought. Communication is key in good doubles. That doesn’t mean you should have a partner that never talks or one that never stops talking. It simply means you should feel comfortable with each others approach and find a common ground.
Physical
Does your partner cover the whole court, including your side? Or, do they constantly shout, “yours’ and want you to cover the whole court. Again, there is no right or wrong, but foot speed and movement is a big part of the game and you need to agree on what to cover. There is not a lot of time during the point to communicate so much of this has to be intrinsic to each players interpretation of what is happening on the court. The physical attributes of each player must be taken into account also. One players ability to serve big and another’s to return big would determine who serves first in the set(s) and which side to return serve from when the other team is serving.
Conclusion
In choosing a partner take into account the mental, emotional, and physical attributes of your ‘would be’ partner. Play a set or two together to see how you get along. You may find you match up on paper, but the chemistry isn’t there on court. Sometimes the most unlikely player ends up being the one you play best as a team with.
What has been your experience.
