For the 4th year in a row, I bring Peter Lebedevs on the show to preview the Dallas Open.

The 2025 tournament is undergoing remarkable changes as it transitions to an ATP 500-level tournament, bringing in a stronger singles and doubles field. It's also moving to a larger venue at the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility in Frisco, Texas. Fans can expect world-class tennis, great food & drinks, and unique player engagement opportunities throughout the tournament.

We discuss:

• Transitioning from an ATP 250 to a 500-level tournament
• The player lineup featuring Grand Slam champions and rising stars
• Venue change to the Cowboys’ Ford Center with expanded 6,000-seat capacity
• Challenges presented by the Super Bowl overlap
• Active recruitment of players by Peter, a year-round process
• Enhanced fan experiences including a vibrant outdoor fan zone

More from this episode:

• Follow Peter on Twitter | Follow the Dallas Open on Twitter and Instagram
• Buy tickets, volunteer, or find more information about the tournament at DallasOpen.com

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• Serve Strategy 101 - Video Course

Mark Petchey is a commentator and analyst for Tennis Channel and other television networks. He is also a former top 100 singles player on the ATP Tour. He's been around this sport for decades and understands the ins and outs of the tour, TV, and doubles.

I spoke with Mark at the 2025 Australian Open, a few weeks after he sent out this tweet which created some buzz in the doubles world. I spoke with him about what he meant, and what he'd like to see change on tour for doubles. We discuss:

• Why he thinks ATP doubles isn't an exciting product.
• What changes he would like to see, including moving the net post and changing the position of the server's partner.
• How the tour is blocking doubles from growth.
• The debate of the root cause of doubles' problems... does the product or the marketing need to change? Mark and I do not agree on this but that's OK.
• and more...

This is a friendly debate that I believe needs to happen more often so that we can come to solutions and create positive change for doubles.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Tweet at me and Mark with your thoughts.
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**Other Free Doubles Content**

• Serve Strategy Cheatsheet
• Return Strategy Cheatsheet
• Serve Strategy 101 - Video Course

Calvin Betton is an ATP doubles coach. He works with Henry Patten & Harri Heliovaara who won Wimbledon in 2024, and Luke Johnson. I spoke with Calvin on the middle Sunday at the 2025 Australian Open.

Calvin shares his work over the past year with Harri and Henry, including their run at Wimbledon. He breaks down the matchups, draw, and how he scouted their round 1 opponents incognito.

After that, we dive into the growth of professional doubles. If you've listened to the podcast for a while, then you know I'm extremely passionate about this topic. We discussed:

• 2024 doubles experiments and changes
• Opinions on shot clocks and changing the product or rules
• What type of marketing and promotion is needed
• What the doubles players want and have tried doing on social media
• What's holding doubles back
• and more...

Calvin is active on Twitter and is also a host of the Tennis Unfiltered Podcast.

Listen to my interview with Harri Heliovaara about their 2024 Wimbledon Title.
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**Other Free Doubles Content**

• Serve Strategy Cheatsheet
• Return Strategy Cheatsheet
• Serve Strategy 101 - Video Course

The 2025 Australian Open is underway and this episode previews new teams and picks for the first major of the year.

I recorded this from Melbourne with Tennis Tribe beat writer, Hanlon Walsh. We review the ATP then WTA draws discussing new partnerships and making 3 picks each for the 2025 AO Champions.

I'll have more conversations with players and coaches from Melbourne over the next several weeks.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Read Hanlon's 2025 Australian Open Doubles Preview
• Podcast with Nate Lammons
• Podcast with Coach Dan Kiernan
• Podcast with Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos
• Gaby Dabrowski's announcement about her breast cancer diagnosis

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**Join the #1 Doubles Strategy Newsletter for Club Tennis Players** 

• New doubles strategy lessons weekly straight to your inbox

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Tennis Tribe Members get access to premium video lessons, a monthly member-only webinar, doubles strategy Ebooks & Courses, exclusive discounts on tennis gear, and more.

• Learn More & Sign Up Here

**Other Free Doubles Content**

• Serve Strategy Cheatsheet
• Return Strategy Cheatsheet
• Serve Strategy 101 - Video Course

To celebrate the new year, I'm re-releasing the three most popular episodes of 2024. This was the top #1 episode from 2024... enjoy!

For the strategy nerds... Jonathan Stokke joins the show for a second time as we discuss his Stokke Six. What are the Stokke Six? Simply put, they are errors to avoid that will dramatically improve your game. And I mean dramatically.

Jonathan and I could talk strategy and tactics for days. He's one of my favorite coaches because of his ability to simplify the game and help players focus on the most effective things that lead to winning tennis.

We dive deep into the most common errors:

• During the first four shots (the most important!)
• Why net errors frustrate Jonathan so much
• How to reduce your double faults
• Your one goal for the serve +1 and return +1
• Specific drills to improve the Stokke Six
• and more...

Jonathan's last episode was one of our most popular and I know this one will be as well. Listen to our first conversation here: https://www.thetennistribe.com/jonathan-stokke-interview/

• Instagram: @stokketennis
• Youtube: stokketennis
• Baseline Intelligence Podcast
• Baseline Intelligence Substack

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**Join the #1 Doubles Strategy Newsletter for Club Tennis Players** 

• New doubles strategy lessons weekly straight to your inbox

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Tennis Tribe Members get access to premium video lessons, a monthly member-only webinar, doubles strategy Ebooks & Courses, exclusive discounts on tennis gear, and more.

• Learn More & Sign Up Here

**Other Free Doubles Content**

• Serve Strategy Cheatsheet
• Return Strategy Cheatsheet
• Serve Strategy 101 - Video Course

To celebrate the new year, I'm re-releasing the three most popular episodes of 2024. This is #2...

Tony Huber is the former coach of multiple doubles world #1 players including Liezel Huber, Martina Navratilova, Cara Black, Lisa Raymond, Ai Sugiyama, Latisha Chan, and Sonia Mirza. Today he coaches adult club-level players and I absolutely love his approach to the game.

This is one of those conversations that you'll want to listen to multiple times. I believe it will change the way you practice and play. We cover:

• Tony's favorite doubles drills to help adult players better understand how points are won and lost in doubles.
• The one error you must avoid to improve.
• How to level up from 3.0/3.5 to 4.0/4.5.
• What most player get wrong about how they win or lose.
• The 3rd String Theory (this will help your volleys a ton!)
• The most important shots in doubles.
• How to captain a winning USTA team
• and more...

I expect this to be one of our most popular episodes and will have Tony on again.

Mentioned in this interview:

• Baseline Vision Camera
• The Bolt Tennis Racquet
• Australian Open & Cincinnati Open
• Pressure Tennis by Paul Wardlaw
• Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt

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**Join the #1 Doubles Strategy Newsletter for Club Tennis Players** 

• New doubles strategy lessons weekly straight to your inbox

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Tennis Tribe Members get access to premium video lessons, a monthly member-only webinar, doubles strategy Ebooks & Courses, exclusive discounts on tennis gear, and more.

• Learn More & Sign Up Here

**Other Free Doubles Content**

• Serve Strategy Cheatsheet
• Return Strategy Cheatsheet
• Serve Strategy 101 - Video Course

To celebrate the end of 2024, I'm re-releasing the three most popular episodes of the year. This is #3...

Styrling Strother is an innovative tennis coach who trains junior players and adults to transform the way they practice and think about the match court. He is a Tennis Performance Trainer (TPT) with the International Tennis Performance Association (ITPA), a PTR Professional Coach, a best-selling author, and the founder of Styrling Strother Tennis, a player development program located in Cary, North Carolina.

This episode will totally shift your practice habits, and inject fun into your doubles matches. Styrling shares some transformational ideas with me in this episode.

• Why you should NOT look at the ball after you hit.
• A new way to think about the game score that helps you maintain focus and concentration (Momentum Scoring System).
• Innovative doubles drills that will better help you win matches.
• What you should be thinking when you make an error.
• Why opponent-based thinking is the #1 thing to learn for tennis players (and why it's so hard).

We also discuss his new book, The Art of Winning Tennis, which offers strategies that change the way you see the court. I'm about halfway done with the book and it's already got me thinking about adjustments for my next match.

As we dissect the traditional practice court paradigm, you'll discover why it's critical to move beyond technique to the strategic 'where, when, and why' of each shot. You'll learn to embrace the pressure of in-match scenarios through our in-depth analysis of scoring and drill modifications that mimic match conditions.

See the show notes for this episode here: https://www.thetennistribe.com/styrling-strother-interview


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**Join the #1 Doubles Strategy Newsletter for Club Tennis Players** 

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• Learn More & Sign Up Here

**Other Free Doubles Content**

• Serve Strategy Cheatsheet
• Return Strategy Cheatsheet
• Serve Strategy 101 - Video Course

Harri Heliovaara is the 2024 Wimbledon gentlemen's doubles champion and the 2023 US Open mixed doubles champion. He's currently ranked #16 on the ATP doubles tour. Heliovaara is also one of my favorite players to watch because of his entertaining celebrations and on-court demeanor.

This interview with Harri covers his Wimbledon run, doubles changes, his story, and more.

• Why he quit professional tennis in 2013 before returning in 2017.
• How he mentally overcame being down multiple match points in the Wimbledon final.
• Serve struggles and how he's improved his 2nd serve, including specific drills.
• His experience being mic'd up in DC (video below), and what other changes he'd like to see to help make doubles more popular.
• Offseason training.
• The process of changing partners and new teams for 2025.

Learn more about Harri:

• ATP Tour Profile
• Wikipedia

Harri's Favorites:

• Tennis Book: The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
• Non-Tennis Book: The Unknown Soldier by Vaino Linna
• Tournament: Wimbledon
• Dream Mixed Doubles Partner: Anna Danilina
• Singles Player You Want to Play Doubles With: Alexander Bublik
• Off Season Hobbies: Hang out with children (1 & 3 years old); Aviation- he likes to take his daughter to the airport to watch planes landing and taking off.
• Harri's advice: Watch more doubles! 

More from this episode:

• Follow Harri on Instagram
• Harri mic'd up at the DC Open: https://youtu.be/zGmBgVPTQk8?si=z0pBm5MzD08KWNl-
• Harri's Blog: https://www.harriheliovaara.fi/

-----

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Are you using the right tennis racquet? What about strings? Jonas from Tennisnerd is one of the world's leading experts in tennis racquets and strings, having reviewed 1000s of racquets and consulted for ATP & WTA tour pros.

I first met Jonas in Austria at the Head headquarters on a trip with Tennis Warehouse to test out the new Gravity. Recently, we went to SLO California to test more gear with the TW team. I've learned a ton from Jonas and wanted to have him on so you can too. In this conversation, Jonas and I discuss the following.

• Some of the best tennis racquets on the market today for certain player types.
• The head size most club-level doubles players should be looking for.
• What gives a racquet more power, control, spin, etc.
• Why you and the professionals do not (and should not) use the same racquets - even though they look the same.
• How to start experimenting with your strings, including specific recommendations.
• and more...

Follow Tennisnerd on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Get a racquet or string consultation from Jonas here.

Shop tennis racquets at Tennis Warehouse.
Shop strings at Tennis Warehouse.

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**Join the #1 Doubles Strategy Newsletter for Club Tennis Players** 

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Tennis Tribe Members get access to premium video lessons, a monthly member-only webinar, doubles strategy Ebooks & Courses, exclusive discounts on tennis gear, and more.

• Learn More & Sign Up Here

**Other Free Doubles Content**

• Serve Strategy Cheatsheet
• Return Strategy Cheatsheet
• Serve Strategy 101 - Video Course

It's the offseason, a time to reflect and prepare for next year. How will your training or practice improve in 2025?

In this episode, I share 5 tips for improving your doubles game through more effective training this offseason.

• You cannot improve without tip #1.
• A common mistake in practice made by club-level doubles players.
• My favorite training tools (links below).
• What off-court training has helped me the most.

If you can implement these tips, you'll be a better doubles player in 2025!

My favorite training tools:

• Topspin Pro 
• Functional Tennis Saber
• Targets & Lines from Tennis Warehouse
• The Best Tennis Ball Machines

Members get discounts on all the items above except the ball machines. Become a member or sign in here.


-----

**Join the #1 Doubles Strategy Newsletter for Club Tennis Players** 

• New doubles strategy lessons weekly straight to your inbox

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Tennis Tribe Members get access to premium video lessons, a monthly member-only webinar, doubles strategy Ebooks & Courses, exclusive discounts on tennis gear, and more.

• Learn More & Sign Up Here