Disappearing Doubles

As I make the rounds at Junior tournament events this summer, I am struck by something that I consider a tennis tragedy. Not only are tournaments struggling with declining draws (a trend across the country) but the doubles events are shrinking or being removed due to a lack of participation at an alarming rate. I have been to so many events in the past few months where doubles draws have been cancelled or are round robins with 3 or so teams. Part of my job is to work to fix this going forward (at least locally). Doubles is a crucial part of the game that needs to be celebrated and encouraged. Here are a few reasons why doubles needs to be pushed at every level:

1. It's a great way to get kids to increase their comfort level at the net. Let's face it, modern tennis for juniors revolves around who can hit 1 more shot from the baseline as hard as they can. Doubles is a great way to work on volleying ability and encourages variety as well.

2. It teaches skills that go beyond the "me first" orientation of junior tennis today. You have to be able to work together to succeed in doubles. Doubles play grows communication skills, strategy and teamwork beyond what players can develop solely on the singles court.

3. It makes the event itself more enjoyable. Doubles has the capacity to be more social than a singles match. We should be encouraging the social aspect of junior events, not putting kids into their own little bubbles where they play their singles match and go home. Let's give kids some reasons to hang out, socialize and interact in ways they otherwise might not.

4. Doubles makes players more attractive as recruits. If your player wants to move on to play after high school, they better have a good handle on doubles play. There are plenty of schools with players on their team that may never crack the singles lineup, but they are great at doubles and can give the team a chance to win that crucial college doubles point.

I don't have the answer yet for how to fix these issues. However, I am committed to working on it and to getting our local events on the upswing with participation. Hopefully by next summer, we will be talking about doubles dominating the scene again!