Doubles always is, or should be, a service battle. Service gives the attack and the net to the team serving, and that advantage should win them the game. One break through service usually settles a set in doubles. Once that is recognized, then obviously the most important shot in doubles becomes the service return: I am absolutely certain that any team that will put every service in play will win any doubles match. The average team today tries to do too much with the service return, and to follow in behind it, with the result that something like 50 per cent of their service returns are missed in the great majority of games.
If they are lucky and happen to get a streak of good shots in one game, they may get a break, but most of the time the server wins so easily that it puts no pressure on him at all. The most effective service return in doubles requires little more than control. All you should set out to do is hit the ball cross-court hard enough and sharp enough so that the net man can’t “poach” and reach it, but that is all.
Let the server make his volley if he can. Do not try for a clean winner, or for such terrific speed that the server can’t handle it, because if you do your percentage of errors will be much too high. The first great rule of good doubles is “Make ’em play it,” which means, put your service return in and start the point, put the burden back on the server. Once the service is in play, then you should go out to win at the earliest moment.
Second only to the importance of the return of the service is the use of the lob. This shot, which today is almost extinct in singles, is the favourite and, in fact, almost the only defence in doubles. Even off service you will find the lob of ten played. It should usually be tossed with a general cross-court tendency to the deep middle of the opponents’ court in defence. This type of lob may have a tendency to make the other team uncertain which of the two players should handle it, whereas the straight shot should always be handled by the man over whose head the toss is made. The lob should always be smashed in the air if it is possible to reach. Do not drop it, and smash it off the bounce, since,
1. It is harder to time.
2. It drives you farther back into your court.
3. It gives you less angle.
4. It gives your opponents the chance to take the net away from you.
5. It leaves your partner alone at the net.
In doubles, the lob-volley, made when all four men are close in at the net, is a very valuable variation of the volley. It should be played sparingly, sine e it must have a surprise element to win, and unless it wins outright it is fatal, since it is just a setup for a kill.
Never forget that doubles is a team game. Every time you hit the ball, you must take into consideration not only your position but also that of your partner. You cannot afford to play a shot that may save you if by so doing you put your partner in an untenable position. Doubles position is largely one of mutual understanding. There are a few general rules for teamwork that can be learned, but on any individual point they may have to be thrown away, and one of the men must call on that peculiar thing known as “anticipation” to save the situation. Here are a few generalities:
1. A doubles team works as a unit but not quite on a line. The player on the side with the ball in front of him is a few feet closer to the net and directly in front of the ball in play while his partner covers the centre of the court from a point about two feet deeper. Should the next shot to them go back to the other side of the court, then the man who was in the middle moves in toward the net and directly in front of the ball, while his partner now drops a few feet back and moves into the centre of the court.
2. The man closest to the net, usually in front of the ball, should step in, even poach any time he sees he can reach a ball for a kill, no matter how far he may go into his partner’s territory, but if he does poach in front of his partner, he must end the point, win it or lose it. It is inexcusable not to put the ball away, because he will have opened his side of the court. If he cannot reach the cross-court shot for a kill, then he should let the cross-court go to the man covering centre. He is in position.
3. Unless caught off balance, each man should cover his own over-heads, even if he is compelled to drop the ball, run back, and play it off the bounce. If he is compelled to do this, his partner should drop back into the centre of the court or he will be left in an untenable position if the opponents come in, which they should.
4. If for any reason your partner crosses behind you to play the over-he ad calling “Mine!” to show he will play it, let him. Hold your position and do not cross, except when your partner calls “Cross!” as a signal to you.
This in is conflict with most experts, who advise the automatic cross, but I have logical reasons.
(a) If you stay where you are, your partner knows where you are and then can play his shot with that in mind, so that he knows just how far he must go back to cover his court.
(b) Only one man will be moving and out of position, leaving only the wide opening cross-court undefended, where as if you too are moving, neither of you is in position. So the entire court is now vulnerable, particularly through the middle between you.
(c) You are in position to poach after the cross-court if you want to take a chance on a kill.
(d) If your partner calls “Cross!” go into the centre of the court and stay in close to the net. Watch for the shot between you. The return will usually go there.
5. Either man must always feel free to cross in front of his partner or go anywhere in the court out of logical position if by doing so he can make a kill. The only thing is, he must go out for that kill if he commits himself.
The one absolute necessity for a good doubles team is the mutual give-and-take attitude of the players. They must have confidence in each other, complete faith that each is doing his best at all times, and each must be willing to overlook any errors of commission or omission of his partner. Nothing can be at a team quicker than friction. Open grousing is inexcusable, of course, but that air of resigned martyrdom that is so obvious (and, I regret to say, popular) with same players is just as disastrous. Once in a long while a player will really “throw” his partner, and “dog” a match, but such situations are few and far between. If your partner does that and you know it, I suggest defaulting the match, walking off the court, and never again stepping on a court with that man.
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