Welcome back to the Road to Pro!

Let's get right into it.

Here's a hard truth about doubles: so many of the points you lose as a team have nothing to do with your shots. They are about the gaps between you and your partner. The best partners aren't hitting bigger, they just know how to work together.

Here are three habits that separate the best doubles partners from the rest:

1. They move with their partner. Picture an invisible string connecting you and your partner. When your partner slides wide to chase a ball, you slide with them so that you can cover the middle they just left open. You should be moving as one unit on the court, not two individuals.

2. They don't leave the middle wide open. So many opponents target the middle, especially when they see a lack of coverage there. You should decide before the game starts who's going to cover the middle most of the time. Usually, this means the player whose forehand is in the middle is the one who gets the majority of middle balls. When you establish this ahead of time, it kills the "I thought you had it" freeze.

3. They communicate with each other. Talk to your partner every single point. Call out "mine," "yours," "out," "back," and "switch," and reset together after each point. Quiet teams get picked apart by teams that communicate. The more you talk, the easier it is to work together on the court and avoid unnecessary mistakes or confusion.

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I challenge you to pick one of these and work on it with your partner this week.

Feel free to send this to your doubles partner if this helped you!

See you in the next one.

-Shea