Woodbridge encourages players to compete in doubles, makes McEnroe example
The former world No. 1 doubles player Todd Woodbridge encouraged players to compete in more doubles matches also using some clear examples about the past tennis. In an interview to Tennis Head, Woodbridge said: "Even in my own career doubles came first but I had a solid singles career as well. Sam Stosur won doubles majors, before she went on to enjoy lots of success in singles. Look at young Alex de Minaur. He won the Australian Open junior doubles last year and you can see what he’s learned in doubles in the craft of his game. The same’s true of Nick Kyrgios, who won two Wimbledon junior doubles titles. It’s more of an Australian thing to make our players do that, but I always think of John McEnroe, who used to say: ‘I don’t like practising. I’d rather go and play a match.’ There’s no better way to put yourself under pressure for an hour and a half than to go and play doubles. That must be better than spending three hours just out there whacking balls.”
Woodbridge also added: “I would love to see more coaches of younger players not encouraging but making their players play more doubles. If the coach can put his players in parts of the court they don’t like, like the forecourt, they can teach them how to volley, how to create spaces. A lot of the modern coaches today don’t think that’s necessary and I think that’s where we see major holes in some of their students’ games.”
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2I0Unjp
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