Meet Canadian coach who transformed Britain into doubles force

Times

05-07-2025

The singles hopes may have been consigned to a sole flag bearer in both draws, but men's doubles remains a remarkable arena of national dominance.
Since 2020, at least one Briton has been crowned a grand-slam champion every year, and three of the top six seeds at Wimbledon train out of the LTA headquarters in Roehampton. Henry Patten won the Australian Open in January alongside Finland's Harri Heliovaara, Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash are aiming to complete a grass-court hat-trick, having already clinched titles at Eastbourne and the Queen's Club, while Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski are both former world No1s playing their first full season together as partners. The strength in depth is unmatched — seven of the world's top 40 are British.
The mastermind behind much of that success is Louis Cayer, a Canadian former Davis Cup coach and captain. In 2006, Judy Murray was so impressed watching one of Cayer's coaching sessions that she hired him to work with her son, Jamie. Such was his immediate impact, Roger Draper, the LTA's chief executive at the time, decided to bring Cayer in-house the following year to transform the national approach to doubles. 'Mr Draper asked me to bring two players into the top 100. I don't think there'd been one since 2000,' Cayer says. 'I said I think I can do better.'
Murray was inevitably the face of the programme and eventually won two grand-slam titles in 2016 (the Australian Open and US Open), but the cultural change was far broader. Ross Hutchins, Colin Fleming, James Auckland and Jamie Delgado all broke into the top 100.
'That was the first batch,' Cayer says. 'Then it was, let's break No50, then No20, and then Jamie became the first No1. Then, Neal and Joe became No1s in 2022. Now we have Henry [the world No3 at present] who is knocking on the door. It can go from generation to generation because all of the players use the same system.'
Patten, the defending Wimbledon champion, describes the LTA set-up, which includes a dedicated team of physios and analysts, as 'the best in the world'. 'I know lots of players are very envious, including my own doubles partner,' he says. 'I feel very honoured to have been coached by Louis for a few years now. It really is pretty easy for me because I have so many great players around me. When you see them achieving — whether it's Joe's three US Opens or Neal's Wimbledon or Jamie's multiple, multiple titles — it helps you believe you can do it.'
Patten credits those accolades to Cayer's coaching. 'If I had to pick one thing out that makes him so good, it's how quickly he sees the tiniest things that make a big difference. Other fantastic coaches can maybe spot them, but it takes them a lot longer,' he says. 'If you do five minutes on the court with Louis, he instantly sees four things. His eye for the game is like nothing I've ever seen.'
It was a bold move by the LTA to hire a leading coach to focus on doubles alone, and Cayer admits the dearth of tactical knowledge back in 2007 was striking.
'I don't know how to say it to not look rude, but they didn't know how to play doubles,' he says. 'I asked them, 'What does it take to be a top player?' They said, 'Well, you hold your serve and break once.' Well, in that case, why were they not in the top ten? The serve and return is not the big secret to doubles.'
Cayer's philosophy instead centres on the subtleties that would elude the untrained eye, particularly when it comes to the role of the non-serving or returning player.
'The position, the movement, what they should do to create mistakes by forcing people to hit low-percentage shots or to actually intercept,' he continues. 'It's more a culture of making [the opponents] lose. We're going to move a lot and mix up our play to create uncertainty. From uncertainty comes anxiety, which creates muscle tension and players start to lose their focus a bit, they get a bit angry, they play worse. It's not just making aces and hitting return winners. The players had to embrace that mentality.'
When Skupski won Wimbledon alongside the Netherlands' Wesley Koolhof in 2023, Cayer actually 'banned' him from attempting aces. 'The game plan is why we can win 52 per cent of the points,' Cayer says. 'I removed the aspect of those who are perfectionist. Roger Federer won 54 per cent of the points in all his career, so it is the marginal things to break equality.'
The results have been indisputable and although Britain's doubles players may only get a sliver of the limelight, many are enjoying lucrative careers instead of falling out of the game. Glasspool turned professional in 2015, but never played a match or earned a pound at ATP level.
The 31-year-old retired from singles in 2019, but has now made more than £1.6million in doubles. 'As a kid you never really realise there is a path in professional tennis through the doubles route,' he says. 'I think it's all down to the culture that has been created.'