Where you stand on the doubles court really, really matters!!!

Where you stand on the court to start the point in doubles really, really matters!!!

FOCUS: Positioning of the Returner’s Partner.

The Returner’s partner is by far the most challenging position to play on the doubles court. The other three players all get to hit the ball before they do. The Returner’s Partner will often react to what somebody else has done instead of attacking themselves.

When the server is hitting their 1st serve, it is imperative to be neutral or defensive with mindset and positioning. A quality first serve will pressure the returner and bring the Server’s Partner into play.

So, let’s look at the following scenario and pinpoint why the serving team won the point.

Herbert is serving, and his partner, Mahut, is at the net. Peers is returning, and his partner, Polasek, is positioned INSIDE the service box.

This is where the percentages immediately drop for the returning team to win the point – even before the first serve has been hit. Polasek is standing in a highly aggressive position with two feet inside the service line. That’s more acceptable when facing a second serve, but it’s rolling the dice against a first serve.

Why? Reaction time.

If this first serve goes in and Peers is under pressure, Mahut will be swarming the net and looking to put the ball right at Polasek because he won’t have enough time to react to hit the ball back over the net.

Herbert makes a quality first serve out wide to Peers. Now, Peers possesses an excellent backhand return, but look how his feet are together on this occasion, and he is reaching for the ball.

He has a tough shot. How do we know? Look at Mahut at the net. He is picking up on all the same signs and knows it’s tough for Peers to beat him down the line. So he is cutting to the middle of the court early to go and put the ball away.

Source: Brain Game Tennis