Trust Your Doubles Partner
Learn about the importance of trusting your partner in good times and bad. Keep that positive attitude and don't blame your partner when you lose. Win and lose as a team.
Coach: Chris Haggard, former world no.19 doubles. Won 7 ATP titles.
Bio: Turned pro in 1993. Spent 15 years on the ATP Tour. Excelled at doubles to reach career-high #19 ranking. Stayed in Top 50 for over a decade. Won 7 ATP titles. Reached SF Australian Open and QF of both US Open and Wimbledon. Career wins over Bryan Brothers, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Leander Paes, Pat Rafter, Leyton Hewitt, and Marat Safin.
Birthplace: South Africa
Residency: USA
Length: 2 min 10 sec
Theme: Emotion
Other tracks by Chris Haggard: Magical Moments, Total Awareness, Be Yourself, Prepare Like A Pro, Dealing With Stress, Building Confidence, Nadal's Attitude, Federer Mentality, Trust Your Doubles Partner, People Watching You, Mental Consistency.
You might like: Doubles Chemistry
0:01
Talking a little bit about doubles.
0:03
You know, I have a lot of experience in doubles, I played 15 years on the tour, 12 years of those were mainly doubles, I was top 20 in the world, I was top 50 for 10 years straight, which I'm proud of.
0:13
Through my journey, I had a lot of life lessons that are learned through that. But one of them which (which) I think is very relevant to everyone that plays tennis today is as trusting your partner. And, I'll give you an example.
0:24
I played with a guy Jeff Coetzee and (and) we made the semifinals Australian Open, we won Adelaide, we made the semi-final in the Australian Open. And, we had so much fun on the court together, and I totally trusted his game, you know, he had a great return of serve. And I just, even when he was missing it, I just knew when it mattered, he was going to make it so I totally believed in him. And (and) the results don't lie.
0:45
Unfortunately, what happened after the Australian Open is he got into a terrible car accident. And you know, he ended up breaking his hip, and he was out for eight or nine months. And I wasn't sure if whether ever he could play a game. But miraculously, he was able to play and we started playing again together. And, we weren't doing well straightaway. But, I think what got in the way (was) we had a different attitude toward each other, you know, we would lose matches. And, there would be a little bit of blaming, you know, if you had done this, we would have won if I had done that we would have won. And unfortunately, you know, it ended as us two separating.
1:21
Thinking back if I had that same attitude that we'd had when we (when we) had success, you know, would have been different. So, the point I'm trying to make is, you know, when you play with your partner, I want you to really trust them and don't blame them. You know, if you (if you) lose, take it on the chin and say, you know, we lost as a team. You know, too often I hear someone saying, well, I played well, but my partner let me down. I don't like that response. You know, what I really want to hear is, you know, we lost as a team, we lost. We'll do better next time. And, that's such a good lesson because you're not gonna play great and you're not gonna always play better than your partner, you know, they might have a good day, the one day and you the next. If you stick it out as a team and you take the loss as a team, you're going to have much more success.
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