From: rchen@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (chen, richard)
Subject: Re: doubles tips ?
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   
Reply-To: rchen@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 01:27:28 GMT

In article <1gkb7jINNjg8@iraul1.ira.uka.de>, voss@i40s16.ira.uka.de (Stefan Voss) writes...
>In article <78342@hydra.gatech.EDU>, gt4855a@prism.gatech.EDU (David Zobel) writes:
>|> VERY limited doubles experience.  I would GREATLY appreciate any doubles advice,
>|> especially where to stand on the court at what times.  For example, if my
> 
>O.K., here are some tips (feel free to add some):
>1. Move to the net as soon as possible. If your partner is serving and is going
>   to move to the net after the serve, your position should already be at the net.
>2. Always be on the same position as your partner. Try to avoid a situation 
>   where one player is at the net and the partner is at the base line.
>3. If you are not sure where to play the ball (cross, middle or long line), go
>   for the middle. The area between two doubles player is the weakest point.
>4. Try to have your *first* serve in the field as often as you can. A consistent
>   serve with some spin and a quick move to the net is going to give more
>   advantage than a "cannonball" serve.   
> 
I'm taking an advanced tennis class this semester at the local junior college,
and even the players who have got all their strokes down don't seem to know
how to play doubles.  So, perhaps you (the original poster) know this stuff,
but here it comes...

5.  Don't serve from near the center hash mark.  Serve from at least midway
between the hash mark and the singles side line since you have a lot of 
territory to cover.  Aces are much less important in doubles because the
serving team wins a much higher percentage of points when the first serve
goes in (since there's somebody at the net ready to put away any weak return)
compared to singles.

6.  If your opponents have weaker backhands than forehands, then get your 
serve to their backhand.  Thus if you're playing two right-handers, line up 
really wide when serving on the AD side, maybe a foot inside the singles side 
line.

7.  If your opponents have backhands as good as their forehands, serve down
the middle.  (Therefore if you're playing the standard right-hander whose
backhand is weaker than his/her forehand, really, really try to get the serve
down the middle on the deuce side; that's a tough trick since you're not 
serving from the hash mark.)  Serving down the middle is always safe because 
it's harder for the returner to go down the line, allowing your partner to be 
more aggressive on balls returned cross court.  Anytime the partner of the 
server can volley the return, the point should be over.

8.  If your partner is serving, stand right in the middle of the service box,
or maybe a half-step closer to the net.  If the server is standing as
described in #5, then if you get plunked in the back of the head, the serve
would have been wide anyway.  And don't watch your partner serve since you
need time to react without having to spin your head or body around and you 
already know which of your opponents is going to get the ball.