Second Serve Tennis

Transform Your Net Play - Don't Wait For An Invitation To The Party!

• Second Serve with Carolyn Roach & Erin Conigliaro • Episode 289

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Are you ready to transform your net play in doubles tennis? Join us for an insightful conversation with Karen Rembert, a veteran teaching professional with over three decades of coaching experience. Karen shares her wisdom on the crucial role of self-talk and confidence in becoming a dominant net player.

Karen was a National USTA Finalist in 45 Doubles, a two-time NC State 25 Doubles Champion, and ranked #11 nationally in NAIA Doubles.

If you would like to learn more about her camp please check out her facebook page at Costa Rica All Inclusive Tennis Vacations,  email her at kr.crdg@gmail.com, or listen to our episode: The Ultimate Tennis Vacation.

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Carolyn:

Hey, this is Carolyn Erin and I have a quick request for you. If you're enjoying Second Serve, please follow the show on Apple Podcasts and if you have a little more time, leave us a rating and review wherever you listen. It helps others find our show and helps us know what you like about it. Thanks, hi, this is Carolyn, and I'm here with Erin, and we really appreciate Karen Rembert being back on the show. Karen has been a teaching pro for over 30 years and played in college. We've had two other episodes with Karen where she discusses tiebreak strategy and mental tips for tiebreaks and her best advice for levels 2.5 to 4.0. But in this episode, karen gives us a few pieces of advice on net play, which is really helpful.

Erin:

So here it is. So let's talk about net play, which Karen knows watching me play is not my favorite, but I want to be a good net player. What did you tell me?

Carolyn:

You're like be you always tell it's again.

Erin:

It's back to the self-talk. I'm the best, I'm the best, I'm the best player that there is Exactly yes.

Karen:

I had to do that in college. I got to college and my net game wasn't wasn't up to par, and so my college coach was really pressing me to get up to the net. So I'd hit a winner and I'd turn to my girls. I'd be like world's greatest volleyer. That's self-talk.

Carolyn:

Yes, I'm good.

Karen:

But I do believe a lot of that is is how you were trained in your personality type and in. Again, we're not six foot three and a wingspan and speed. And if you're comfortable at the baseline, then you just need to be good at the baseline. You need to know your responsibilities as a baseliner and that is you can't make a ton of unforced errors. You need to hit the ball deep. You need to be able to lob, you need to be able to set your partner up at the net.

Karen:

But when you do those things and your partner is in control of the net, you need to get to the party. You don't need to wait for an invitation, you need to find your way in. So my two thoughts are don't wait for that invitation to get to the party and be up there to high five your partner when she hits a winner. I tend to play the baseline more. I like the baseline, but I know what my job is and when I do set my partner up, I can't stand back there and admire my handiwork. I need to. I need to get up there.

Erin:

That's not a thing?

Karen:

It's not a thing but, there's a lot of garbage that comes back Right. So my partner gets a really good ball and they barely get their racket on it and I need to be up there for that garbage. I don't need them to dribble the ball over the net and I'm back on the baseline having a cigarette break.

Karen:

I need to be up there with them. It doesn't mean I need to crash the net. It's just if my partner's hitting an overhead or they get a high volley, they feel like they're in control. I can at least get to the service line and be ready for any junk that comes back line and be ready for any junk that comes back.

Erin:

Yeah, so I want to take one step back and just say so. Karen's philosophy words, whatever she uses is when she wants you to get to the net. She says come to the party. And I told Carolyn that and Carolyn said oh, I'm a party crasher. Carolyn likes to just come in because she doesn't want to be on the baseline. Right, so she's like hit a ball party time.

Karen:

I like it, I like it. And again, that's her personality type too, right, and that's where she's most comfortable. So if I'm, if I'm playing with her as a baseliner, I'm super happy to see that.

Erin:

Right, oh, she's my favorite part. She's my favorite net partner.

Carolyn:

But I crashed the net, even when maybe I shouldn't, even when maybe.

Erin:

I shouldn't, yeah. So then this is a good question. Should I not leave the party, but should I just like be in the background of the party, like, should I come back to the service line if she's hitting the ball and going in? You know, I've got to cover. I might have to cover certain things, although she's very good at covering, you know, if someone lobs over her.

Karen:

So I think that's really situational. You do tend to see the baseliners want to try and sneak out there, but we have to remember the pressure of both players being up at the net. It makes the other team have to come up with the good shots and if you're playing an equal team that you've just been battling tie breakers with, you got to be okay with not winning every point at the net. So a lot of times somebody will say, oh, I crashed too much, I come in too much, but they're not counting, they're not taking into account all the forced errors. So you might've crashed the party two points before and they had a lob that went long and a ball that in the bottom of the net and then the third ball. You might've missed that volley and you're going, oh, I shouldn't have been up there. No, what happened? You know you're winning 66% of your points but we think, oh, because I missed that volley, then I shouldn't have been up there.

Karen:

But we all know good doubles, we need to get to the net and I think that in the women's game the difference is our height and our speed and our reach. So if you're playing a good lob team, if you're playing a team that passes well, you can win from the baseline for sure. So if you're playing a good lob team, if you're playing a team that passes well, you can win from the baseline for sure. And if you're watching the women's doubles on the French Open, they're having a lot of baseline rallies and if you notice, those girls are doing all the work. So if you're not going to be crashing the net, you've got to be willing to do a lot of work. In college, my doubles partner was very good at the net and I would be back on the baseline. I'd hit 20 balls, I'd lob, I'd drop, I'd pull and I'd set it up and my partner, susan, would put the ball away and the crowd would go crazy. For Susan, I'm like you did all the work. What's going on?

Karen:

here, and she turned to me. One day she goes you are the wind beneath my wings.

Carolyn:

I was like well, I'm so happy to be the wind beneath your wings, cause the crowd doesn't know that this bird is exhausted, like like.

Karen:

I've been running back and forth, back and forth, yeah.

Erin:

So what I actually do is cause I, you know I love the baseline and I'll actually tell my net person or my partner, I'll do all the work back here, like I'm going to set you up. And I do say, like I know, my job is to set them up. I should get more used to me also coming into the net too, because you don't want to be there hitting 20 balls, you know. But I do often say, because I don't want to be the one at the net, I say I'll be back here all day for you. You don't have to take a ball until I set you up for the perfect, you know, the perfect one, or whatever. And then, even if they hit it out, I'm like, oh, no big deal, we'll get the next, but I also need to get invited to the party. I just I know I have to. The only way for me to get better at my game is to do that Right.

Erin:

I mean, there's a lot of things that I could, that I could get better at, but that's a bit. That's a big one.

Karen:

And we talked about this the other day when we were playing for fun is we were like all right, this point. Second serve you have to go in. You don't have a choice. Or at least one point you have to serve in volley. So now that it's doubles, I know there's tri-level in singles league, but there seems to be a little bit more time for some fun. Play that practice with a purpose, and I think all of us can do it. But I do think that when we get in that comfort zone of I know I can win the point back here.

Karen:

Now you're asking me to take risk and come to the net. We need to get out of our comfort zone to be a better doubles player, because there are teams that you need to crash the net on. They might not hit the ball hard or they might have that little loopy ball that would be a perfect ball to be able to take out of the air. And I think, too, base liners don't need to forget about the swinging volley. The swinging volley is basically a groundy out of the air. So coming into midcourt and not getting pushback on the fence, yeah.

Erin:

That's my jam Because I get to hit hard and hit from the baseline.

Carolyn:

But the swinging volley is also hard, karen, it is yeah, yeah, it is, so I get to hit hard and hit from the baseline.

Erin:

But the swinging volley is also hard, karen, it is. Yeah, yeah, it is, but that's why you have to practice with a purpose.

Carolyn:

Yeah, practice with a purpose.

Karen:

Get better at it right, right, right and not be afraid of it too. I think the thing is not to beat yourself up and say you know, carolyn probably thinks like man. I wish I could stay back on the baseline and hit more groundies, you know and you're thinking, oh, I wish I could crash the net more. Yeah, so there's just so many ways to win doubles matches. Right, and be comfortable with that, but it doesn't mean you don't still need to practice those shots that you're not good at Right.

Karen:

So when you're going to drills and you're going to clinic, you don't want to win clinic, you want to practice the things you're not good at. And I think when we're playing points in clinic, we want to win clinic. So we're like well, I can just stay back here and win Instead of going. Well, I could practice some things that I'm not comfortable doing.

Carolyn:

Yeah, Okay, we're talking about playing at the net, that you should get to the net. What do you mean by play big?

Karen:

So this is probably directed more to the women you should be very active. If you're not, if you're not poaching, you're faking a poach and being a distraction. I heard a great thing the other day called uh, um, be a dad body, and that is distract, attack and defend.

Erin:

Distract attack and defend and my husband said he's got that dad.

Karen:

He's got the dad body down, which is true. So the other part of that is playing big means don't be a shrinking violet, you know, don't guard your alley because you got burned once in the second game of the first set. You know, as we know, most balls are going down the middle of the court. So if you're going to play big you need to be out there looking to cut those balls off. For women, too, that playing big is also playing tall. I'll see women letting lobs that have landed on the service line go over their head and they're shouting yours, your partner, and switching. And you need to be able to turn and, whether it's two or three shuffle steps or actually turning and running, you need to be able to cover most of most of your side with that lob, of your side with that lob. And when I see ladies the lob goes up and their first move is out of their mouth and turning their body, then I know that they're trouble. If their first move is yours, I know that I can get away with hitting weak lobs.

Karen:

So you know, I remember growing up here in Raleigh playing with a lady and it was ironic, her name was Sue Little and she was about four foot eleven but she played like Sue six foot eleven she was. She. She was just really good at turning and going back and even if she wasn't hitting a full overhead, she was going back and at least hitting a bump, bump, lob, volley back and and so her partner wasn't having to go behind her and getting the team discombobulated and it forces your opponent to hit better lobs too. Because they know that, like when I played her, I knew I had to hit a good lob to get over her head and it was almost impossible to get over her head and it was a really good lesson for me going okay, this woman is not a physical presence, but she is definitely playing big. She is, she is staying with the ball and it's not speed related, it's turn, turning and being able to turn and move.

Karen:

And I think that the two, five, three, oh, we're still worried about our that one shot that goes down the line, Even at all levels. We're worried about that shot that goes down the line. It's so. It feels so humiliating when you get passed down the line. But it's actually for me, whether I'm standing still or moving, if they hit a good shot, they hit a good shot right. But they're not doing that three out of four times when they're returning. When they're returning, they're going cross court most of the time, right. So you might see one down the line every two or three games. So it doesn't make sense, percentage-wise for us to be worried about the alley, and I'll also, you know, we know that we need to stand in the center of the box when our partner's serving, and I can tell those shrinking violets want to be near the alley, kind of out of the way and not making a presence.

Erin:

I see that a lot at 4-0, actually even at 4-0. I see people almost move into the alley and I'm like I'm never going to take that shot. I mean it's rare for me to take it, just because I usually hit a flatter ball, but I'm shocked when someone gives me, especially as a hard hitter, when someone gives me, an extra quarter of the court to hit, Like why?

Carolyn:

are they?

Erin:

covering their alley.

Carolyn:

But it is also hard because I've had my teammates say to me watch your line. Like I got beat down the line and I've had teammates say, hey, hold the line, watch that line after you already got beat, and so then it makes you kind of worry about being aggressive. Yeah, she's actually had a teammate literally tell her hold your line.

Erin:

Hold your line Because you're active, probably, and that partner in particular is a super steady baseliner. But that's not the right philosophy for Carolyn.

Carolyn:

Carolyn should get in there and crash that net.

Erin:

Be invited to the party and put the ball away. Don't listen to that partner, Carolyn. That's right.

Karen:

Don't listen to that partner. Get a new partner. She did. The answer to that is and I know, carolyn, you might not like the math on this, and Erin heard me talk about this when I'm playing doubles and I get past the line, I have almost I have like almost a file cabinet in my head and you know, if Emily passes me down the line, I'm going to say, okay, she's one for one, and if she misses the next one, she's one for two. And then if my partner tells me to watch the line, I can say, well, she's 50%, I'm in in. You know, we're deep into the second set, so I think I'm going to let her have the line. And so I have the answer. I'm like you're right, I've gotten past five out of six times. I need to watch. I need to watch my line.

Karen:

And knowing that, knowing that really helps you justify why am I moving to the middle. You know, yeah, Emily hit three great balls down the line but she missed 10. She can have the line that's hers. She can keep going for it all day, because I'm going to beat her if she does.

Carolyn:

Thanks again to Karen for coming on the podcast. We've included more information about Karen's camp in Costa Rica in our show notes. We hope you check out our website, which is SecondServePodcastcom. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.