Customer Reviews

Stan Smith's Winning Doubles

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It's clear when reading this book that Stan put a lot of time and energy into making sure the book was filled with good information and no fluff. Many tennis books present the same things you can get from taking groups lessons from your local parks and recreation department. This book, on the other hand, contains the type of insights into doubles that you can only get from expensive private lessons from an experienced pro. It contains so many nuggets though, that there's no way you could get them all from a pro. That's why this book is great to refer back to over and over.

Stan covers the nuances of doubles, and explains in detail most situations you can expect to see in doubles. He talks about your options in each situation: the types of shots you can hit, where to hit them, the proper techinque for each type of shot, the psychology of a doubles match between you, your partner and your opponents, and explains the reasons for (and consequences of) hitting certain shots in certain situations.

I teach doubles clinics myself, and I often refer back to this book for new ideas to teach my students. It is an excellent reference for the advanced player as well as a great source for players just starting to learn doubles to get an idea of what they need to do to get to the next level.

Stan Smith was a top player so he knows what it takes to be a success. If you read this book carefully there is a ton of great tips and ideas for better play. He spends a bit of time on picking your partner - great advice take it from someone who broke all his rules and regretted it. He also discussed how to work as team from a psychological perspective. Again that is not always found elsewhere. Its usually just mechanics of tactics. I enjoyed reading his comments on improving the various basic strokes. I found his section on practicing to be spot on for doubles or singles and is a good read. On the other hand he sometimes goes from acting like the reader is a 4.5 with notes on interesting subtle points to basic mechanics at the 2.0 level. Its like he forgot the difference between those levels from his lofty position.

I do think he needed a better editor to organize his thoughts a bit better and cut out some strange tangents. He is also somewhat sexist about mixed doubles which I found surprising considering how popular it is. I figured he'd muzzle his own opinions on such things. He's an old timer. But that doesn't weaken any of the real lessons in this book.

I think you'll benefit from this book if you're > 3.0 player and have a consistent partner to practice these ideas with. I know in my club you can wind up with random players if you are in the leagues. This will not help you dig deeply into this book and its benefits. Find someone who wants to go on that learning journey with you using this book as a roadmap.

This book was absolutely terrible. Boring, stiff, way too complicated. You can totally tell this guy is no fun to play with. I didn't learn anything. Definitely not for the beginner. I also purchased Dynamite Doubles and it was great. Easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to apply. It was a great, fun read.