Doubles Positioning

In this page I will focus on court positioning and formations for serving and returning doubles teams as well as several options available during different game situations.

Serving Team.

The server should stand approximately midway between the center of the court and the doubles sideline. Some variations may occur based on the server's personal preferences and technical strengths, as well as the game tactics. For example, a right-handed server who is serving to the deuce court may want to be closer to the center mark which allows the server a better angle to serve to the center "T".

The server'spPartner is slightly behind the midway point between the net and the service line, and should push slightly toward the center. However, this is a starting point rather than the place where the player will remain throughout the play. In other words expect this player to make ongoing adjustments.

Following are three common options for the serving team:

The doubles team can use "three strategic plays" from any of these three options in order to exploit the returning team's weaknesses. They are:

1. Poaching.
2. Faking poaching
3. Staying in the original position.

Returning Team.

In doubles, the returner should begin standing in the center of the server's possible serving angles. This gives the returner a better chance to attack the serve and, in many cases, more time to prepare to make an effective return by moving forward to contact the ball well within the court.

This a great strategy because it takes time away from the server to respond, and it facilitates the returner's transition from baseline to net.

On the first serve the returner's partner should be positioned near the service line and toward the middle of the service box.

On the second serve, the partner should move half way forward to the net to become more offense. This is a transition position, because the net player must be prepared to take advantage of an offensive opportunity if the returner hits a good return or react defensively if the returner hits a weak return. This also depends from the strength of your serving partner.

The following two options are often used by returning teams:

1. Standard. One up, one back is the starting up and from here most players typically move forward to the net after the return is hit. The intention of the returning team is to hit an effective ball that turns the defensive nature of the game into an offensive opportunity.
2. Both Back. This option is used primarily as a tactical adjustment during a match when the returning team encounters difficulty handling pace, power and placement of the serving team.

   

   Nonetheless, this option provide the returner with a bigger target area, putting more returns in play and making the serving team volley to the open court.

   This type of game lead to a change in the pace of play and it can lead the serving team to make more mistakes from the volleying position.

Each double team must decide from which side each player should return and it is based on both the technical and psychological strengths and weaknessess of boht members of the doubles team.

Variables which affect this decision include the quality of the players' returns, the strenghts' volleys from the poaching position, the groundstrokes stability after returning and finally the players' ability to handle the pressure of big points.

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