Doubles Only Tennis Podcast

Dallas Open Preview, Court Surface Speed, & Tips to Improve in 2026 with Peter Lebedevs

• Will Boucek • Episode 271

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We preview the Nexo Dallas Open’s second year as an ATP 500 with tournament director Peter Lebedevs. Peter and I discuss court speed and ball consistency on tour. We also dive into what he learned in year one at the new Dallas Open facility and what changes fans can expect in 2026.

Peter is an excellent coach as well, so I asked him how he would help a club player improve their game this year.

  • How court speed is measured and targeted for fairness
  • Why balls feel different despite standardization
  • Venue upgrades that fans and players asked for
  • How to predict the Dallas Open doubles champs 😉
  • Peter is implementing a new, never-before-done, college doubles wildcard at this year's tournament
  • Early singles and doubles field highlights
  • Format experiments like US Open mixed and one-point slam
  • Actionable advice for club players on consistency and shot selection

Go to DallasOpen.com to get your tickets.

Learn more about Peter & follow:

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Setting The Stage: Dallas Open 500

SPEAKER_01

You're about to hear from Dallas Open Tournament Director Peter Lebedev. If you've listened to the podcast for a while, then you know I have Peter on every year to preview the Dallas Open, which is now a 500-level event. In this conversation, we talk about what Peter did that specific day to prepare for the tournament. So it was about three, three and a half weeks out. We talk about court speed on tour and how that's changed over time, how they measure court speed. We also discussed the new venue. So in 2025, the Dallas Open upgraded from a 250 to a 500 and they moved from SMU's facility to the Dallas Cowboys practice facility. And I was at the tournament every day last year and absolutely loved the new venue. And Peter talks about the feedback that they got as well as what changes we can expect in year two. If you are looking for a good 500 ATP tournament to go to, I can't recommend this one enough because it's so convenient to fly to DFW and to get a hotel near the tennis courts and you don't really have to travel a whole lot. You can walk uh basically everywhere. There's tons of restaurants and bars and coffee shops and all sorts of stuff in the area. Um, we talked about the 2026 player field. We talked about the doubles field, which is still uh coming together uh pretty small at this point, and then a lot of the single stars who are going to be coming to Dallas as well. We discussed the past champions on the doubles side. Uh the Dallas Open seems to be a tournament that can kind of propel teams to have a successful rest of the year, uh at least for the past several uh champions for sure. After that, we talked about the schedule for the week and then his thoughts on US Open mixed and kind of experimenting uh with different tournament formats in tennis. And then at the end, Peter's also a great tennis coach. He's coached players at all levels of the game. I asked him for his best advice for club players trying to improve their game in 2026. Um so I think you're gonna enjoy this one. You get some really good insights into uh what it takes to run a professional tennis tournament as well as a couple of tips to improve your own game. Uh so check out the Dallas Open and without further delay, enjoy this conversation with Peter Lebedevs. Hey everybody, welcome to the show. For the fourth or fifth year in a row, we've got Peter Lebedevs on to preview the Dallas Open. Peter, welcome back.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks. Well, now we've got to change the name now. It's the uh Nexo Dallas Open guys. Nexo.

SPEAKER_01

Nexo Dallas Open, new title sponsor this year. Um we are three and a half weeks away, roughly. Call it three weeks. Um, what did you do today?

A Day In The Director’s Life

SPEAKER_00

Today, confirmed a couple of guys for our um collegiate uh doubles we're doing, a couple of teams for that, as well as uh take out a few things for the for the players, work on the credentials, their hotels, and their transportation. Um, check to make sure that the court surface speed is going to be correct. That's always a question. And uh just check on our ball order to make sure the balls are getting here. That's the first few things we did, as well as a couple of sponsor activations. We've got a cool one with boss that they're looking at trying to do, and so we had to go and see if does it fit in the stadium when we rig it from the roof? Is it gonna look cool? So just an average day, three weeks out.

SPEAKER_01

How do you measure the court speed? I've never seen that before.

How Court Speed Is Measured

SPEAKER_00

It's like golf. You know how they have a stint meter? They have a same sort of a thing for tennis. Um, and the way the numbers are 40 is sort of an average speed. So if you're above 40, that's a fast court. If you're below 40, you consider it a slower court. And that's all about the um sand and the grit in the court. The trouble with a tennis court is it's you know, you've seen it done. Um, it's done by squeegee. So if the guy doesn't push down quite hard enough, that part of the court might be a little bit slower, might have a fraction more sand in it. So it's not an absolutely perfect science. And the fact that you do all the courts, even though we do them really together, one may play a fraction faster. But what we do is we go to the manufacturer, which is green set for us at the Nexo Dallas Open and say, I want it to start at 36, 37, 38, whatever number I say. And knowing that by the end of the week, it'll speed up a little bit because it's like sandpaper. So every day you use it, the sandpaper loses a little bit of the grit. I mean, it's not as dramatic as sandpaper, but that's the same concept. And then we get a daily readout from our um electronic line calling system because we don't actually have the machine to do the test. Um, and then that's that's how it's done. And look, there's a lot of debate about what tournament directors are doing with the speed of the court. Let me tell you, the the difference is we want it to be as I my goal is for the players to say it was a fair court. I don't want them to say it was fast. I don't want them to say it was slow. I want them to say it was fair. And honestly, in our years in Dallas, last year it was a baseliner in Kasparude versus big offensive player Dennis Shapovalov. Different styles playing there. Um, we had you know Riley Opelka versus Jensen Brooksby. So you get a baseliner versus a server. Um, you know, we had Tony Paul and Marcus Giron was probably the time we had the two most baseliners. And then the other year we had uh, you know, Wu Yi Bing winning it, who's an offensive baseliner. So you've, you know, I think we've achieved a fair court. You know, depending on how you play, you can win that as a baseliner or as a big server. So, you know, that's that's my goal. And when they say they're trying to slow it down to have more tennis on TV and stuff, that is 100% not true. Yeah, you know, it's just there's no I'm just in there in there, no toilet. Let's slow it down so the matches take longer, the days get longer, and people are there till three in the morning. It's not the discussion, I promise you.

SPEAKER_01

It's I feel like it's just an easy thing for people to talk about, kind of like the weather, you know?

SPEAKER_00

Like Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

If you if you like meet somebody for the first time at a tennis tournament, it's like, oh yeah, I've heard of you. How about the court speed? You know, I feel like it's just something people like to talk about. But I do feel like um I've seen those graphics where they talk about like the the court speeds are converging, which might be true. I I mean I guess they they measure it.

SPEAKER_00

It's probably true because we get yeah, we get attacked if it's too fast by the players, we get attacked if it's too slow. So in a sense, we want to put it in the middle, and then you add the ball factor in there, which the players have been talking a lot about.

SPEAKER_01

Another hot topic, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, look, just just so as you know, and I don't know if everybody knows it, they are playing with the same Dunlop ball out of the same factory, out of the same run from Dallas all the way through Miami this year. So it's the same ball at us in Del Rey, in Acapulco, in Indian Wells. Actually, I won't say Acapulco, Indian Wells, Miami, same Dunlop ball out of the same run. Now, the trouble is that ball will play differently indoors for me versus outdoor cold in um uh in Del Rey, you know, with the wind and that. Miami is different with a little bit of altitude, and then you've got the hot and humid in Miami. So the ball will play different, even though it's exactly the same ball. So you will hear complaints. Whoever, as I like to say, whoever's losing doesn't like either the speed of the court or the heaviness of the ball or whatever it may be. But we're trying to make it consistent. ATP is.

Fair Courts, Balls, And Player Feedback

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I I get that. I mean, I part of me, I mean, part of the thing that's so cool about golf, and I feel like golf should do this more, even, is like when you watch the British Open, it plays so differently than the US Open, than the Masters, and so on. And I kind of think tennis could do similar things. I don't like the idea that the courts are converging as much. Like I would love to have somebody who's just dominant on the slow red clay and then somebody who's dominant on the super fast grass, and you know, to keep that variance, but I I know it is hard for the players to maintain their health if it's changing that quickly, but I guess that's why we kind of have the seasons. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. It's interesting when you say the health. I don't know if it changes the health so much, but you know, that's why when when Borg was winning on the clay and then two and a half weeks later winning at Wimbledon, that's when Wimbledon was fast. I mean, you look at you know, the the year that Nelbandian and Hugh are in the final, there's no there's no burnt grass at the service line. They changed the um the type of grass, but a little bit more of I forget which one they put rye, I think, in it, slowed it down. Boom, all of a sudden you're having longer matches. Um, I I I agree. I enjoy look, let's know. Grass is fast, clay is slow, indoor hard should be faster. But you know, everybody sort of wants it to be, oh, I want it to be, you know, as I'm here's me saying one thing and then the other, yeah, I want it to be fair. So I've probably I don't want to, I have slowed it down. I think we know technology, we know how to slow it down and speed it up better than we did maybe, you know, 20 years ago or something. But um, yeah, I look, I I with you. Variety is a good thing, it's not necessarily great. But look, the players we got Alcaraz's center, they win on everything. It doesn't matter fast, slow, you know, they manage to do it.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, that's the truth. All right, let's stop talking about the weather. Um, let's let's move on to the venue. So this is year two at the new venue. Um, I went, I think every day last year. I I loved SMU. It was small, it was intimate, it was great. This was a huge upgrade. I thought it was I thought it was a fantastic venue with the hotels nearby. The player hotel was right there. There's restaurants and nightlife and coffee shops, right? Like it's all walking distance. Like if people want to come from a different city, they could literally Uber from the airport, stay in their hotel and have every never leave the hotel or the that area, like never have to catch an Uber anywhere. It's a hundred percent.

Variety Across Surfaces And Health

SPEAKER_00

100%. You can catch the Ulto from the airport and 17 restaurants in the area. Um, the hotel is right out the front. The players loved it. Um, Mateo Arinaldi, when he was going through, he's like, this feels like a thousand. And I said to him, I'm gonna quote you a hundred times on that, Mateo. So here's a thousand and one. Um, having all four practice courts on site, like you have it in the background there, which is fantastic. And to I think the left of that is there's the four practice courts. So you can see the guys, you're right, you're looking through the screen, you're closer there, you know, and even on a softer screen, we might get hit by a ball on the practice courts. The players are eating in the same dining room as the um Cowboys players, they love that. So, from that standpoint, it was a fantastic change. We did a fan survey afterwards and uh got some in in-person interviews from fans, non-fans sponsors. So we've done a few little things. You'll see on the umpire side, instead of having box seats, if you've been to Miami and see those big lounging reclining seats that are on the other side, we've got two rows of those. So the people said we want ultra premium, so we'll put an ultra premium in there. They loved our um uh courtside, um, no, our comfort load seats. So put another two rows of those. And you know, the the deck on top that could overlook both courts, which is uh it's right actually probably where that photo was taken from above that almost. Um that's called the Frisco Social Club. We can put some lounge chairs and things like that. So people can really relax, watch a little bit of tennis and go there. Um, from the players, we're also gonna access um the Cowboys Pit, which is another gym for them, which they are really looking forward to already, I know. And we're trying to get a few more activities for the players to do. Unfortunately, the again, the Mavs and the stars are out of town, um, so they can't do as many. I think there's one game on the Thursday before the event, but the players just absolutely, you know, they always said, hey, this is you make it as easy as you possibly can. And so we, you know, we're we're excited with uh with what it's going to be for the fans as well as the the players again.

SPEAKER_01

Um and then you also had the this would be like underneath where I'm sitting in this photo behind me, the uh it was like the Choctaw Lounge or something, or something like that going there as well.

SPEAKER_00

It's the Choctaw Lounge, which is where um all the box holders and uh nexo court side seat holders uh have their food and beverage. And legends do an amazing job. I had one gentleman say to me, Peter, I'm proud to bring my clients here. Now, this is you know so good. The cowboys way, you know, the cowboys have really gotten into the tennis, and that's the standard for them. So you're in that. And this year, right above that, there was another area, but we've actually expanded that. And so those people in the comfort loge, they'll have their own private area as well, which, you know, as you know, you're sitting in the glass, you're looking out over in the grandstand court while you're eating your dinner or lunch and having a you know drink and relaxing. So you're right there. So when Riley O'Pelka got a little fired up last year, you could have had a ringside seat right to it, which you know only happens in tennis when you're that close. I love it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, or maybe you can be the one that uh fires him up a little bit.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, he he loves a few people when they bang on the windows, that's true.

SPEAKER_01

The uh so the cool thing about that area was the uh the access to the the grandstand right there. You're you're kind of standing basically at court level, and it's just a big piece of glass separating you from the court. Uh and that was the primary doubles court, right? Being the grandstand court as well.

SPEAKER_00

It it is simply, yeah, because it's TV dictates how many singles matches I've got to have on stadium on center court, and that's sort of what it was. But and again with Davis Cup last year, which we have the same situation again. We did not have a doubles match we could put on anywhere on Monday because they're traveling from all their Davis Cup matches and they have X number of days off. So, you know, it became a doubles court to get all those matches in. Um, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday is packed with some great doubles, and you know, uh our champions even came through quallies on the Saturday and Sunday. Um, Evan and Christian.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. So I wanted to talk about the doubles field. Let's let's actually talk about um the history of the doubles champions here. So you mentioned Evan and Christian last year won, and they went on to have the best season of their careers by far. And they make the top eight, make it to the ATP finals. The year before that, Purcell and Thompson won, and they went on to uh make the Wimbledon final, win the U.S. Open. Uh the year before that, I think I think the Lamans and Withrow made the finals.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and they lost to Michael Venus and Jamie Murray. And Jamie Murray, who were who were well established. Yeah, they're up and set in a break, and then Hawkeye had a problem, and oh my gosh, changed the momentum.

SPEAKER_01

But you know, and then before that, Arevalo was uh kind of a breakout star. So you've had a lot of doubles kind of breakout stars at the Dallas Open.

Year Two At The New Venue

SPEAKER_00

We we have, and there's another little piece of trivia too. Every one of those teams, Marcello and Julien Roger, who won the first year, they did the DTA uh clinic on Tuesday. Natan Jackson won it the year two. Guess what clinic they did? The DTA clinic. Um, and the same thing with Evan and Christian last year. They won it, they did the DTA clinic. So whoever does their DTA um, you know, the Keys Tennis Center, whoever does that clinic on Tuesday, they've made the final every year. So um, but it's it's great seeing those guys come through. And you know, a bunch of those guys are college players as well. So that's a you know, booing the college um format again in another way, too.

SPEAKER_01

Um, talk about the college uh wildcard that you're giving out this year. This is something that's new. I I haven't heard of any other tournaments doing this. It sounds really cool.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, look, you know, the doubles wild card is we we want to make it valuable. You know, every tournament US Open doing the mixed doubles, Australia doing the one point, trying to do something a little different. Well, for us, it's um always giving that wild card to you know somebody good people, but not no real attraction for the fans. So I said, let's do one for college teams. So we invited four colleges, all close and all very good in Baylor, TCU, Texas AM, and SMU. They're gonna send a doubles team to us on the Saturday of Quali, so the seventh, and they'll play, you know, as two semis in a final, and we'll use the college format. So it's one set, no ad, just bang, bang, bang. And whoever wins that is gonna get a wild card into the main draw of an ATP 500 event. College coaches, of course, jumped all over because they're in town for the national indoors that week as well. So it makes sense to do that. And Grant Chen, the head coach at SMU and I sort of were talking about ways to do things and we came up with this. And I think it's great. You know, David Rodidi was so excited about it. Steve Denton, you know, AM, he was, you know, he was beside himself. Like, this is a great opportunity for his guys to get out there and do that. And now we're gonna hopefully connect with the alumni from those schools, get them to come out and see the event. I mean, qualie's day is fun day of tennis, and then if the team wins, they buy a few more tickets and we start creating that. Hey, who's my team next year? And you know, over the four or five years of us doing that, we'll really create a uh a special moment and try and grow grow from there, you know. So that's the idea.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's a cool way to integrate college tennis since, especially since so many doubles players now played college tennis, you know, it just it it kind of makes sense. Um what doubles players, doubles teams do you have on the entry list so far?

SPEAKER_00

The doubles guys don't sign up very quickly. Um JJ JJ Tracy signed up with his partner, and um Ben Shelton and Mackie McDonald have signed up, and that's it. Okay. So the guys they now they've got another 10 days before the deadline, so they're you know they're okay, but they're the only guys we got so far, so it's a little uh a little spark, but uh it always turns in you know to be a great one, obviously. And I'm pretty sure Christian will come back. I know he's playing with uh Skupsky this year. Um so they've you know he and Evan have made a change. So I think they'll I'm sure they'll be here. Um Christian want to come back and defend his points. So um, you know, I think the the doubles will all as always be be tremendous.

SPEAKER_01

And then what about uh on the single side? Who do you have um on the entry list so far?

SPEAKER_00

You know, well, look, we've we're lucky enough that all the Americans uh have come through. So we've got Taylor who's you know top 10 and Ben top 10, so that's terrific. Um Tommy and Francis, Casper's coming back again, a couple of new players. Um, Grigor Dimitrov, he's coming in. And Grigor, you know, look had he not hurt himself at Wimbledon, that could have been a whole different year for Yannick Center, as we all know, um, at that Wimbledon match. And then we've also got Seb Corter, who hasn't played in the US in many, many years in February, um, is coming in. He's his actual first ever wild card he got after winning the Australian Open Juniors was at our event when it was in New York, the New York Open. He was an 18-year-old kid right there, and uh so he got his first wild card with us. So he's coming in. Uh then you've got uh Mr. Cabelli, he is playing. So I think uh, you know, a good Italian player coming through, and then you know, another name that people know is Muranchilich. Muranchilich is coming uh to play our event. So very strong, some great names, you know, and I'm trying to always get those new Europeans to, I know they've been in Australia for six weeks, want to go home, but guys, you know, just go home for a quick break and then come to Dallas. We'll make it so easy for you.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah. Well, I I imagine the reputation of like the tournament kind of gets around the locker room, and a lot of them are gonna want to come this year after after seeing the new venue last year. Um, I was looking at the schedule earlier. You've got the all American classic on Saturday of qualifying. Uh, so that's gonna be John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, John Isner, and Sam Query playing a kind of fun double. Match.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, a bunch of competitive guys. I don't know about fun. You know, it's uh John McEnroe. You know, he as the elder statesman, he chose his partner, he chose John Isner. So uh now it's gonna be Andy and Sam against uh John and John. And you know, look, John Isner is a very good doubles play, five 1,000 doubles titles. You know, that's that's no slouch on the doubles, you know, on the doubles world. So that'll be some good uh some really good tennis for for that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's a doubles career right there. Yeah, I feel like John, yeah. John's um his game, I felt like translated well. Obviously the serve, but then like the reach at the net. And then from the baseline, though, his baseline game translated well because he just takes big cuts, you know. And it's like it you can't be looping the ball high over the net in doubles, right? It just these net players are too good. So since he's taking big cuts, he just has to land a few of them in a return game or two, and then he's got his break.

Premium Seating And Fan Upgrades

SPEAKER_00

That that's exactly right. I mean, he's he's an intimidating figure at the net. You know, people say, Oh, he's big, but yeah, he's big and get everything. So, you know, you're under pressure when you're returning, you know, his partner because he he got to the semis, I think, with um oh, who is that, the guy Schwartzman, you know, at one of the events two years ago, you know, he went to Italy. Yeah, and it's like he's he's doing that well because he can protect his serve, and John's never gonna lose his serve. So he's very, very good. As John says he's uh he's a sneaky good warm-up because he hits a good flat ball and he doesn't miss too much. He's he's a very solid doubles player. You're right. So he he acts like he's not good, and I have to keep sort of saying, Hey John, you're a very good doubles player. Don't sell yourself short, mate.

SPEAKER_01

Um so you mentioned the US Open Mixed, uh, and then you're experimenting with this this college um wild card. What were your thoughts on the US Open Mixed? Even the one-point slam that they did in Australia. It seems like there's a lot more experimenting going on uh in these tournaments.

SPEAKER_00

We have to, if we don't, we're knuckleheads. We have to change. I mean, look, I said it on your podcast three years ago. What do we need? I said a mixed doubles tournament where we get the big players playing. I didn't I didn't have Eric Bouderak's, you know, foresight to go that big, but people wanted to see it and it raised the debate. What's real singles guys or doubles guys? By the way, the girl that won it was number five in the world in singles previously. She's not a you know, she's not a double special. She she was just a really good doubles player before. But it was, to me, it was fantastic. I mean, look, the crowds were packed, they sold that thing out. I thought it was an absolute massive success. I mean, my opinion, I I had a few debates with friends online, and I don't usually like, oh, the level of tennis wasn't great. I'm like, when have you watched a first round mixed doubles match at the US Open to really know what a good level of mixed doubles is? You've watched a lot of them, you know. Uh don't tell me that there wasn't some good matches, and that excitement, I think, when one of the best ones is when you know uh Carlos ran around behind Narada Kanu to get the ball. She thought the point was over. And he got that ball. And and you know, Jack Draper was sort of was been trying to be a little nice, and you know, Jess was you know giving him a hard time in the press interview. I was like, man, this is don't let up. Um I I thought it was great, and it's only, in my opinion, only gonna get better as they keep you know uh fixing the formats and you know, everybody's got an opinion. But you know, if you're getting those top guys out there, um, I think it's gonna be fantastic. I mean, looking at Igus Shrontec, she was into that. She wanted to win that thing. And and so you mean they're competitors at heart. So personally, I thought it was great. And then the one pointer they just had in Australia, watching the guys in the locker room get that excited. I to me, that's when you know it's good. When even the guys do it all day, every day, they're sitting in there trying to watch that last point and that, you know, that sort of stuff. I I think that shows you that it's more than just you know the regular stuff. And I look, tennis has to adapt. Every sport has adapted in some way. Um, you know, we tried Netflix, didn't really work for tennis like it did other sports. So we're doing something different. And you know, those that can make major changes like the majors have done some amazing things. I don't know if you've seen the in Australia, which actually our title sponsor Nexo is doing. It's you know picked a perfect bracket for$10 million. If you can get every match right, that's a tough one.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, but you know, it's I I I I guess that's cool. Nobody's gonna get it. It's like come on.

SPEAKER_00

Does anybody ever get the uh NCAA bracket in March?

SPEAKER_01

No, nobody ever gets it. It's like it's impossible. And this is double the size of the NCA bracket. Yeah, it's 128, it's not it's not 64. So it's that doesn't make it twice as hard. That makes it like probably a million yeah, like a million times harder or something. There's there's just no chance to get it. So I mean it's cool that they're doing it, but it's like that they need to make it winnable, I in my opinion. Well, we're a little unfair.

Doubles On Grandstand And Scheduling

SPEAKER_00

It's funny you say that we're we're doing um Crest Infinity is doing a hit a ball through a target for a free car. And it's pretty funny as we're going through that, you know, if the target is X big, the insurance costs a little bit, you know, across this. If it gets two inches bigger, it costs more. And how far should we go? And you know, first was like, you know, it's gonna be a hundred feet away. I'm like, come on, we've got to bring a little closer. So we've got it, we've got it at 65 feet. So it's basically just behind the service lines, somebody can feed a ball into it to make it you're right, you want to make it attainable.

SPEAKER_01

Um I think people are bad at math though, so they don't know how unattainable a predicting a hundred and twenty-eight person draw is.

SPEAKER_00

Look, as we all know, the seeds, you know, if you want to do one just with the seeds, the seeds are guaranteed not to hold up.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah. Um last thing on the mix uh you mentioned uh Arani was top five in singles. Vavas Tori also just won a singles match against um Gabriel Diallo, I believe, who's yeah, Gabriel Diallo's coming to our event, yeah. Yeah, top 50 or 60 are a really good Canadian player. 41, actually. 41 on Amazon. 41. There you go. There you go. So he's exactly he's also playing some great singles as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I mean, you look, let's be clear, you've got to be a good player, period, and mixed doubles, regular doubles, whatever. But you know, when they say that those two were double specialists, yes, they're very, very good at doubles, but they're also very good at singles. They're very good tennis players. Exactly, exactly. Great athletes, great tennis players. But I gotta admit, I did enjoy watching Arani. She she knew where to be better than most of the girls, I think, in the whole thing. Just the positioning in the court, even if she's hitting an underhand serve, she won more points with that thing because the the guys want to rip it, and the hardest thing to do is generate pace on a no-pace ball, doesn't matter what level you are.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the singles players just don't uh don't focus on double strategy ever, which why would they? Um, I think Coco recently said like she never has really has a plan when she plays doubles, too. And she's got a doubles grand slam title with it with Tiny Akava. Um, but uh she didn't win one with Jess?

SPEAKER_00

Okay, I'll put you one more.

SPEAKER_01

They made the final or no, she made the final with uh Katie McNally at the US Open. She and Jess won I don't think they won one. Um they won a couple of Masters 1000s, though, I believe. Oh, they were tough. Um all right, so last couple of questions here. So it's early in 2026 here. A lot of uh club level doubles players listen to the podcast. How do you and you've coached players at every level of the game? Yep. If a club player came to you and said, I want to improve this year more than last year, what advice would you give them? Where would you start?

Dallas As A Doubles Springboard

SPEAKER_00

Um I'd sort of have to go watch them play. Sort of give me, I I need to understand what they do. Like, are you do you have a big forehand? Do you have no forehand? Are you fast? Sort of gonna understand their game a little bit to see where they can improve. So, okay, so if they've um if they've got good groundies, then okay, then we might work on um playing higher percentage points off the ground. If they have great volleys, figure out a way to, you know, loop and come in. I'm sort of just throwing some things out there. So understand their game a little bit, but then it it's to measure it and and look at their improvement with them by giving them not, you know, did I win or lose, but did you do that thing better? So um, you know, I always remember one of the ones uh that I like to have is is the consistency, just high percentage. How do I get better this year? Let's hit the first three balls across your body every time. And then when they walk off the court, did you hit the three across your body? Yes. Oh, great. Then you got better. And that'll win more matches because they'll be more consistent. Um, you know, so I would have a look at their game, a sort of, you know, understand the game first and then focus on what it is. But the consistency at the amateur level is still number one thing you would do. So I look at this serve. Do they miss a lot of first serves? Okay, let's try and, you know, take something off your first serve or add more spin to it, you know. So I'd look to, in some form or fashion, generally raise their consistency number one and then look at ways that they can be a little offensive depending on the game style. But number one is about consistency. You and I have talked about before, you know, when you're at the um on the ad side and doubles at the net and they hit to your back end volley, you want to hit to the open court. That's the hardest shot there is. Hit it back to them and wait till you get the ball you want to get to, which is patience, consistency. So I think, you know, my most success when my players have improved is really shot selection, is where the easiest improvement can be made because it doesn't matter how you hit it, it's about choosing the right shot more often, and they'll get better results just purely by being smarter about how they play.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I like that a lot. I uh I want to challenge people listening to go out and do that first three shots across your body. Do that for a set or a match and just see what happens. I've been really big the last year on challenging people to do one thing for an entire set. Uh, because you learn so much. So it might be people say, I want to get better at poaching, and I'm like, okay, poach on every first roll for an entire set and just see what happens. Like you're not gonna get better at poaching, poaching three times a match. Like it's just it's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00

I'm waiting, waiting for the ball. No, you you're you're exactly right. I mean, as a coach, I've said, you know, hey, serve every ball out wide this set, you know, and then so you learn first of all how to hit to serve better, you learn where the return is gonna come more often. Yeah. But it's it's so hard because we all like to win, and then you go, but if I just serve one to his backhand instead of out wide, I can win the point, coach. Yeah, stay the way.

SPEAKER_01

You have to figure out what you want to prioritize, winning or improving.

SPEAKER_00

Improving will create the wins. Ask Kurt Signetti, I think. He's uh he's probably the guy right now.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. Um, all right, Peter, this was a ton of fun. How do we get tickets to the Dallas Open and any closing uh thoughts or requests of the audience?

SPEAKER_00

Uh look, DallasOpen.com, grab uh grab some tickets out there, and I'd love everybody to come out nice and early. You know, first part of the week, you see the guys practicing on the courts and you see great tennis and really experience it. And then, you know, be sure to let us know. Get on our website on our um uh the website and give us the feedback and on the social channels, post pictures about having fun and tell us what we got to do right to improve it even again next year because that's that's how we'll get it better. So come out early, come out often, enjoy it, and then tell us what we can do better going forward.

SPEAKER_01

Awesome. Thanks a ton, Peter, for coming on again and everybody check out the Dallas Open.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks. Next to Dallas Open, we'll be there.