Doubles Only Tennis Podcast

Christian Harrison Interview: Offseason Training, Partnership Adjustments, Injury Prevention, & More

• Will Boucek • Episode 267

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0:00 | 24:23

Christian Harrison is the top-ranked American player on the ATP doubles tour.  He began 2025 outside the top 80 before climbing to No. 15 in the world.

We discuss his year with fellow American Evan King and his new partnership for 2026 with Neal Skupski. You'll learn about his off-season planning, drills, and smarter training. This brief talk blends stories from Christian's season with lessons on chemistry and insights into the ATP doubles tour.

  • Key wins, narrow losses, and confidence swings across the season
  • Why margins in doubles are thinner than ever
  • Structured off-season planning
  • Exactly how Christian's day went, training with his new partner, Neal Skupski
  • Switching return sides
  • The formation of his new partnership with Skupski
  • Learning from the British system
  • What he's learned from injuries and how his training has changed
  • The case for better marketing and storytelling in pro doubles

Check out Christian on Control the Controllables with Dan Kiernan.

Learn more about Christian & follow:

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Setting The Stage: Breakout Year

SPEAKER_00

You're about to hear a brief conversation with the top American on the ATP Doubles Tour, Christian Harrison. Christian started the year in the 80s and is now number 15 in the world. He had one of the best years of anybody on the ATP Doubles Tour alongside his partner for the year, Evan King. We reflected on the year in this conversation, and then we transitioned to focusing on the off-season where he is now. He's currently training in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with his 2026 partner, Neil Skubsky. We talk about what they did that specific day, what the training session looked like. I asked him how he goes about training or planning his off-season overall. And then we discussed what adjustments he's going to need to make, transitioning from playing with Evan King, who is a lefty, where Christian returned in the ad court so that they had four hands in the middle. And then next year he'll be playing in the Dudes Court with Neil, who is an ad court returner historically. We also talked about the British tennis system a little bit and how he'll be able to take advantage of that playing alongside Neil, who is a British player. And then at the end, I asked him a few rapid-fire questions, including his favorite racket, tournament, tennis book, and then what one change he would make to the doubles tour. This is a pretty short conversation. If you want to hear more from Christian, definitely check out his podcast on control to controllables with Dan Kiernan, which I will link to in the show notes as well. But without further delay, enjoy this brief conversation, mostly focused on off-season training with Christian Harrison. Hey everyone, welcome to the show. Today we have Christian Harrison on. Christian, welcome back.

Lessons From Wins And Near-Misses

SPEAKER_01

Hey, thanks for having me on. Looking forward to talking today.

SPEAKER_00

So last time we chatted on the show was in uh Dallas, and y'all ended up winning that tournament, you and Evan, and then had a pretty big run after that and had a strong finish to the year. Um, if I had told you on January 1st, 2025, that we would be sitting here right before Christmas talking, and you would be the number 15 doubles player in the world, and you'd be training with a Grand Slam champion who will be your partner next year. What would you have said?

SPEAKER_01

We would have taken it 100%. You know, with doubles, you know, it's tough to break through, especially with the limited number of spots. Um, you know, something that obviously felt like we could do it. And then uh, you know, for Evan and I, it happened pretty quick when we started playing. Um, you know, I knew at that time that we were gonna have a good partnership and um it happened quick. And luckily we were prepared and we we took advantage and we were ready for our opportunities. But you know, that being said, gotta be happy with the progress we made and then uh excited to be sitting here in this position right now.

SPEAKER_00

What do you make of kind of the year overall? Obviously, there was um you won several tournaments together. Um, you had some some challenging tournaments as well, where you maybe lost first round when you felt like you shouldn't have. Um obviously increasing your ranking that much from the 80s up to uh top 20, top 15 is it like you said, you've got to take that. But what do you kind of attribute that to overall um for yourself and then you and Evan kind of as a as a partnership?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean it it shows that you know we had the ability to do it. It also shows that there's just a lot of good teams out there too. So you can't take it for granted. Uh, so we definitely weren't gonna do that. Um, you know, we we got some momentum, and when the margins are small and you get confidence, you know, those things can flip your way, which they were early on. And then obviously it's just, yeah, like I said, the margins are so so so thin that you know you lose a tight match here and there. You're not anything's necessarily going wrong. It's just it goes to show that just the level of everybody out there, everybody I feel like is playing doubles the right way. Everybody knows how to take away space, make you feel pressure. Um, so then sometimes it's just yeah, it's just thin margins and just being being ready. Um and you know, like I said, we we we were proud. I was proud of us for how we, you know, were able to come through and and and get into some of the positions that we were able to.

SPEAKER_00

Um you're in Baton Rouge, you're training with uh your partner to start next year, Neil Skubsky. Um I want to ask about kind of the off-season overall. Are you somebody who like sits down at the end of the year and plans out your entire off-season, or do you go kind of week by week or day by day? How do you how do you think about the off-season and how do you try to maximize that time?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, now a new partnership. You want to try to get familiar with each other. So we definitely had it planned out. You know, Neil and I, he's close here in Louisiana. He spends a lot of time in Baton Rouge. Um, I think for us, it was I was home the first portion of it. He won a lot of matches late in the year, so then he had taken a little holiday for some of the days like around the 29th. So I knew he was gonna be gone. Um, you know, then obviously I I felt like I'd already spent quite quite a few weeks at home. And so it made more sense, you know, for me to come here to Baton Rouge, uh, spend some time with him so he could also be home. And I think any partnership like that, you you you kind of do what's you know best for the team like that and um make decisions, but it is, yeah, it's planned out, and you know, you try to make pretty much just a good plan that you feel like will allow you to rest, but also be comfortable to have uh your best chance to to start um you know with with good chemistry uh playing together.

SPEAKER_00

From your last match uh in um Turin at the ATP finals, how long did you take a little bit of a vacation or did you not pick up a racket for a week? How how did that look for you?

SPEAKER_01

I didn't take a vacation or go anywhere. I just went home just because um just been gone so much throughout the year. I didn't really have anywhere that I wanted to go. I feel like we got to go to some pretty cool spots throughout the year. You know, I took about a week off. Um and then when I started back hitting again, you know, just that first week was a little bit lighter, and then I don't know. I love hitting and playing. So then I had about two easy weeks, I would say, and then uh got right back into it.

SPEAKER_00

What did uh today look like for for you and Neil? Talk about like the the details too. I like to get into kind of the the details. What time did you wake up? What would you have for breakfast? When did y'all start training? What did the day look like?

A Day In Baton Rouge Training

SPEAKER_01

Um, I was going through getting a little coffee and some breakfast, and then decided to go through delicious donuts. I was in the drive-thru line there to get a little snack, and uh somebody started honking at me and like, hey, you gotta you got a flat tire. So then I had to get out of the car and look and see that my tire was flat and I still had a couple miles to go. So I was like, all right, I'll just drive it to the courts. I'd rather deal with the flat tire there. So get there so I can get ready to practice. I strung a racket beforehand and then uh here at LSU. And then Neil and I, we had uh Danny, Danny Bryan, who's the coach, and then one of the other coaches hitting in so we could do some get four on a court and do a bunch of just different scenarios today. We were just working on a lot of it's just positioning and getting used to like how his ball is, you know, for how I need to move off when he's hitting, and vice versa. Um and we just ran through a bunch of just different scenarios with him rallying at the back, me rallying at the back, him putting pressure, um stirs and returns, um, as well as just uh a few things where we're both at the net together for when that comes up and just trying to get used to just being on the court on the same side of the net together. Um so then that's what we were pretty much trying to get as familiar with as we could right now.

SPEAKER_00

How many hours on the court today?

SPEAKER_01

We were we were on the court two and a half hours this morning, and then when we finished, we all had a team effort to change the flat tire and get the spare rental car. So then that we went and uh went back to little cafe and just hung out for a little bit, and then uh that's taking us right to here today.

SPEAKER_00

Awesome. Um, you mentioned serves and returns. You're gonna be returning from the deuce court, uh, which is a change from this year. Uh how what what adjustments will you need to make? And how do you kind of look at that?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, you know, I say I feel like everybody's gonna have at least a little bit of preference on their sides. For me, I'd always played the deuce side most of my life, you know, especially because I used to play with my brother. He always played the ad side. Um, so for me, I I would say I'm more comfortable on it because it actually took me a little bit more when I was like playing the ad side to adjust to that side. So I think for me, I'm excited to get back on the deuce side just because it was the side I've been wanting to play the most. But when you're playing with the lefty, it just makes more sense to have you know the four hands in the middle, especially with how Evan and I play. I think that suited us best. But um, you know, Neil's always played ad side, he's great over there. And then I feel like I would like to play the deuce side more often. So then that that part of it worked out well for us. So then I've been excited to take it back on on the deuce side as well.

Switching To Deuce-Side Returning

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, I imagine that's um gonna be a quick, like easy transition if that's what you've played historically. Yeah, I played it.

SPEAKER_01

I played the deuce. I played with Rajiv two tournaments last year. Actually, the first tournament that allowed Evan and I to start getting into tournaments was just because I had gotten some points with Rajiv on in Auckland where we made the finals and was on the Deuce side that week. So had a handful of tournaments last last year, and then um so yeah, definitely, definitely excited. I mean, any anytime you change something like that, it's but it's for me, like I said, I played it more often than not. So then, and I would say it's my slight preference, so then yeah, I'm happy to be to be back over there.

SPEAKER_00

How did the the partnership come about? Um, we know that Neil played with Joe Salisbury this year, they had a great year uh as well, and then Joe's taking some time off now, and of course, we wish him all the best. Um did Neil reach out to you after that, or did you reach out to Neil? What can you kind of share in terms of how the partnership was formed?

SPEAKER_01

Honestly, it's just mutual friends, probably even uh Danny. Danny Bryan was the coach at LSU. I know Danny well, and then uh one of my other buddies, Colt, they were just, you know, Neil, Neil was obviously got to the point where he was looking and people were starting to change, then it's trying to see like who's available. And you know, it's still three months left till the start of the season, you know. The next year, that's when I think guys start like looking around. Um, and then um obviously like I've known Neil well, and then Danny, who he taught he talks to all the time, kind of like reached out and just put us in contact that way, and then we just yeah, had a chat, and then um, you know, just ultimately that that's sometimes how just situations come about. But you know, there's gonna be a handful of people that are you know splitting up, looking for partner changes for various reasons, not always just because there's a problem or anything, but just um, you know, you're around each other a lot and you want to you want to spend time with with with people who you know well, and uh so sometimes it's just as simple as that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. What um what are the differences in terms of kind of playing style that you see between Evan and Neil, and then what adjustments are you gonna need to make uh do you think with your own game?

Forming The Harrison–Skupski Partnership

SPEAKER_01

Um yeah, that's what will the more that we play together the next couple weeks and start playing against teams, you'll have a better idea. But I mean, they're both such good players and they can hit from the back and both volleys so well that you know it's it's similar, just one person's right-handed, the other person's left-handed. And, you know, um, you know, so for me, I'll just the more that Neil and I play, then you know, then I think I'll have a better idea of how things how we're gonna be changing our our our points and stuff. You know, we'll still have a couple more weeks to play practices and stuff before our first tournament. But yeah, given that they both can hit from the back, and you know, it's not a change like someone serving and volume and only playing at the net where the the the setup of the points are gonna be completely different. That's also something that you look at and you're like, okay, these are like kind of could be a lot of similar scenarios to what we're coming up, especially more so on our serving side, you know, and then uh both of them great returners as well. So then um for me it's just I feel like um yeah, just the way the way they play, they're they're they I feel like the two guys that can have a great all-around game.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, for sure. They're both so good from the baseline. Um so Neil is a part of the obviously he's British, part of this British tennis system that's having so much success under Louis Kaye. Do you have an idea of how you'll get to like learn from and help like use some of the British tennis system uh for your own game?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, a little bit. You know, I just feel like they pay attention to every little detail so much, every practice. There's feedback just so much on just positioning, being in the right spot, being accountable for the mistakes you make when you're playing, you know, especially when it's positioning and things like that. I feel like they just got such a good team around them. And you know, Louis does such a good job just being involved with all the players and their partners so far from what I've seen. And lucky to have him and then Ken as well, Neil's brother, who has all the experience in the world and um get great feedback already from Ken every single day. So for me, it's you know, it's I think it's a good spot to be motivated and know that there's a great group of people there that want to help you, and it makes you want to obviously push, push as hard as you can and um, you know, try to bring the best out of each other this year.

British System Influence And Feedback

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, I think I think it's a great kind of opportunity for anybody to learn. I mean, I've just learned a ton having a lot of those British guys, including Louie, on the podcast, um, and just kind of picking their brain, you know. And I feel like if I if I were chatting with like a an up-and-coming doubles player or something and they're looking for a partner, I would almost try to encourage people to like, you know, if you can play with a British player for like a year or two and like kind of learn some of what they're doing, uh, it's a great idea, or at least kind of study what they're doing because they're obviously having so much success with I think they had like five five players in the ATP finals. Um, or maybe more than that. But anyways, it it's it's really impressive what they're doing. Um so I listened to your episode with with Dan on control the controllables, which I'll link to in the show notes for for people who want to listen. And um it's a great episode. You dove into your your family background, volataries, your your training as a junior. Um, but one of the other things y'all talked about was some of your injuries. I'm always curious when somebody has uh a history of injuries like that, and it sounds like a lot of yours were just kind of unlucky. Um, but what did you learn from that experience? And then how do you take care of your body today?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, I learned how much I love the game, you know, how hard you can really, how much you can overcome just from staying committed and not giving up, you know, and making the adjustments, whether it's like training, uh managing uh what whenever it's needed. Um for me, I never lost like just the passion for just playing and just being on the tennis court and that aspect of it. Um and then in terms of like now, you know, playing doubles, I felt like was the perfect thing for me. Like I love it. Um I yeah, I just love everything that goes into it, the matches being around, like just trying to achieve something on that side, um, you know, and then just being able to just still play and have like an athlete's lifestyle, you know, that that uh still get to play, hopefully for quite a few more years. And obviously just not pushing too hard on the days where you feel like it's not right, don't force it. And then um that's that's the biggest adjustments that I've made, you know. And then sometimes mainly training like one good session a day instead of like going two sessions on the court a day, which sometimes high risk, high reward. You know, you get you can get in good shape, you're hitting a lot of balls, but at a certain point, you know, your body's gonna say no doing that. I think that's something that a lot of guys do now where they focus on one good session, especially with how demanding everything is. Um, so I think that's allowed me to really maintain consistency in my training and then not feel like you're making progress and having to stop for a little while and then trying to pick back up on the progress you had previously made.

SPEAKER_00

Well, what about off-court training? Have you changed anything about your warm-up routine or in the gym?

Injury Lessons And Smarter Workloads

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the only thing I don't do as much of is like just too much impact training, you know, like not too much, just like sprinting, running, things, things like I'll I'll go easy, like jog and and distance sometimes, you know, just because I feel like I I like to do it and you know, it's not too much stress on my joints, but any type of like the hard landing explosive moves with like weights and stuff like that that I think pay off in turn because it helps you be like improve and be more athletic and more powerful. But with my history and everything, anytime I would try to start doing any too much explosive type stuff, especially like holding weights or too many jumping and landing, like yes, there's a lot of like good stuff sometimes so you can improve and really become more athletic doing those things, but for me, it was just outweighing, you know, like when the risk reward, you know, like this stuff can help me, but you're I feel like I was risking sometimes feeling sore the next day or maybe straining a muscle, missing four to six weeks. So I try not to take risk like that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, it's always that balance, right? And just kind of knowing your body how much you can push each day. Um, so I'm gonna move on to a couple of kind of rapid fire questions, and then we will hop off here. Um what is your favorite uh tennis racket of all time?

SPEAKER_01

The the Babylot like arrow. Like I don't know if it's like the Arrow Storm, I think. I don't even know the name of it, but I think it's the Arrow Storm because they changed the names. It's like the thin 1620 Babylot arrow.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Uh what's your favorite tournament?

SPEAKER_01

My favorite tournament is Wimbledon.

SPEAKER_00

Favorite tennis book.

SPEAKER_01

Tennis book. Um I read Sampris's book, and honestly, I can't say I read a whole lot of books, but that was one of the ones I completed, but also just because I was always Sampress like was my favorite player growing up, so I'd have to say his.

SPEAKER_00

If you could make one change to the doubles tour, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01

I don't have honestly, I just I think just let's right now. That's the only that's just in tennis in general. I don't I don't have one specific thing for the doubles tour to change other than just more marketing, maybe more marketing of teams, you know. Yeah, I think people can really bond and get behind like a team aspect of players that are playing for a little while together.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, I agree with the last one.

SPEAKER_01

Especially at the start of a season, though. Um but in terms of exposure, I mean, you market teams and who's playing with who together, then that's what I feel like people start to recognize a lot. And obviously there's some changes here and there with that, but it's gonna happen. But I think for the ones that are playing for a while together, I think that helps.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, for sure. Um yeah, I agree with you on the LUTs, and then the marketing kind of answers my next question. What request would you make uh from the tour to help make doubles more popular?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, just marketing for the for the players. Everybody, I think fans and you know, tennis fans they like to watch who they know, what they you know, what they've seen being promoted, content that they like. Um I think anything like with exposure like that brings out brings out more recognition.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, 100%. Um yeah, I feel like we've seen a little more on the double side the last few years, but hopefully that trend uh really continues. Um, Christian, well, thanks for coming on, man. Um we will hopefully chat again. Yeah, we'll hopefully chat again next year, and best of luck uh new video. Talk soon. Talk soon. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01

Hey, thanks, see you later.