LITM’s Literary Corner: Doubles Domination: The Best of the Best by Bob Allcorn

From one “court” to another “court”

August 24, 2021 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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He spent 40 years perfecting the art and science of pre-trial commercial litigation tactics and strategy – and sharing his expertise through teaching at law schools and legal institutes, lecturing to attorneys, training attorneys at the Inns of Court Foundation, writing numerous articles in legal publications and authoring an 800+ page treatise on the topic. Focusing on employing the Rules of Court and his innate sense of what moves to make and when, Bob Allcorn espoused his strategy of searching out his adverse party’s weaknesses and then focusing on those weaknesses to surgically dismantle their case.

But this expertise in tactics and strategy was not limited to litigation. In a parallel passion, Bob has also pursued the same goals in developing an expertise in the art and science of tennis – doubles, to be precise. He is a USTA Certified Umpire and has co-captained his own teams.  He has read just about every book ever written on tennis (going back to Bill Tilden’s book in 1929), watched just about every video (even VHS!) and innumerable on-line experts in the field.  He and his wife (who play mixed doubles together) have spent more than 1,200 hours taking lessons and clinics from some of the best pros around the world who specialize in doubles – and, while doing so, taking notes. 

The result?  A clear, concise, informative and instructive book just published:  “DOUBLES DOMINATION:  THE BEST OF THE BEST”

A quick read of the book demonstrates the author’s use of his litigation tactics on the tennis court. Among many other tactics: always moving forward, putting the most amount of pressure on your opponent as possible; using the “warm-up” before a match not to warm yourself up, but to analyze your opponent’s weaknesses; always taking the ball out of the air (rather than letting it bounce) to take away time and distance from your opponent; all with the goal of getting to the net, where 65 percent of all doubles points are won.

The book has received critical acclaim from many sources. It almost instantly became an Amazon “Best Seller” and was immediately named a “Best Book of the Year” by the National Senior Mens’ Tennis Association. Tennis guru Nick Bollettieri has declared it to be “quite impressive” and “highly recommends it for everyone at all levels.” Rajeev Ram, the #1 doubles player in North America, says that it is “the best and most complete doubles resource that I have ever come across – for any and all players at all levels.” He further finds the book to be “clear, concise (and) loaded with valuable tips, insights and even set plays.” 

Finally, he “wholeheartedly endorses this book… and highly recommends it to all players.” Many other pros have also given accolades to the book, as have many tennis magazines around the world. One tennis magazine says that the book “is a gift for tennis players” and declares it to be a “complete synthesis of everything that a doubles’ tennis player needs to win at all club and tournament levels.”  Another tennis magazine finds that the author has accomplished a “herculean task” by collecting and synthesizing so much valuable information from so many professionals, combining them into a “concise yet comprehensive collection of tactics, tips, pressure strategies, set plays and great ideas from the best pros in the world.” And yet another tennis magazine writes that, “Even if you apply just some of the many ideas, you will observe a dramatic improvement in your game.”

As the author has stated, “It’s great to be able to transfer one set of skills to an entirely different arena.” Based upon the number of “5 Star” reviews on Amazon and the uniformly positive reviews from pros and tennis magazines, the transfer has been a successful one.

After the review of this book by our editors, we agree with Rajeev Ram that it’s not only the best doubles book ever written but the “best doubles source out there”, and we, too, along with the others above, “whole-heartedly recommend this book to all players at all levels.” You will not be disappointed.

Allcorn (center) with tennis greats James Blake, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe and Jim Courier. 

 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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