In doubles, having a partner that can volley well can make points go faster and give your team the opportunity to hit high shots or lobs while forcing your opponents on defense.
One strategy you could implement against your opponent is serving to their weaknesses – either wide on either the deuce side or ad side.
Serving Strategy
No matter if you play singles or doubles, having an effective serving strategy is paramount to success. Doubles points tend to be shorter and more intense, so your partners need to work together effectively in setting up perfect poaching opportunities while forcing your opponent’s game, rather than hoping they make mistakes themselves. Here are our top tips for improving doubles serve:
If you want to unnerve your opponents and improve your odds at winning points, discover their weaknesses on your return serve. This will give you an idea of where best to attack the ball; for instance, most players have weaker backhands than forehands; when hit hard at their backhand volley they will probably miss or come up short, giving your partner a great opportunity to pounce and claim victory!
Serving down the middle is another effective way of soothing an opponent, as this reduces their angles on their return serve and allows you to quickly transition into the point.
Furthermore, aim to serve wide on the deuce side and down the T on your ace side; this will prevent opponents from easily hitting high lobs that they can easily put away.
Finally, try serving to the lower part of the net. This will force your opponents to play lower lobs that may be difficult for them to hit well; additionally, this gives your partner an opportunity to make quick volleys that could win points quickly.
Serving to Your Opponents’ Weaknesses
As part of doubles tennis, it’s crucial that you understand your opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. Knowing this information allows you to target specific areas of the court when serving and attack more effectively. If facing off against someone weak at the net, try serving to their backhand and getting them towards the middle court by serving their backhand; this will make defending harder while giving your teammate more chances to steal points off them.
Another effective strategy for attacking net players is hitting low lobs at their feet. Many net players lack backhand volley strength, so hitting such shots often forces them to miss their shot and gives you an easy point – an often underutilized but simple yet effective tactic!
If you’re up against a player who excels at the net but struggles with his backhand return, try serving down the T instead of up to limit angles that might allow his opponent to use when returning it and possibly force them to pop the ball up when volleying.
An effective tactic used by beginners and advanced players alike is serving cross-court. Doing this will restrict how many volleys your opponent can make while also preventing them from running around you at the net – something many novice players fail to use enough! Utilizing and practicing these tactics regularly will enable you to hone your doubles tennis game and win more matches – good luck!
Attacking the Middle of the Court
One effective strategy for taking control of a doubles point is attacking the middle of the court through serve or return, creating discomfort among your opponent by forcing them backward. Doing this gives you a higher chance to hit winners while forcing errors.
If your opponent is weaker, try attacking their middle of the court by serving short and forcing them to run to hit it – this is especially effective as a serve and volley player as it will give more shots at the net!
No-Man’s Land” strategies at the net can also be effective for doubles players. This involves taking small steps towards the center service line before moving backwards or sideways when an opponent lobs, in order to increase your chance of making them miss or hit long and scoring a point.
Charge the net! Charging can be an excellent way to put pressure on your opponents, forcing mistakes from them and being used alongside other strategies. For instance, when serving and volleying against an opponent with a weak backhand try getting close to the net and charging so they have to volley short or miss their shot; use this technique while serving, returning and volleying, returning short balls during point or even approaching them from short balls during play.
Going Under or Over Your Opponents
When playing against players who like to pounce from across the net, it can often be advantageous to hit soft volleys under or over them with a soft shot. By doing this, it forces them to move forward and wide – which makes it more difficult for them to recover with an overhead shot back – while providing you and your partner an opportunity to attack with more accurate overhead shots.
Attack their feet When facing off against doubles players who like to take the net, attacking their feet is another effective strategy to use against them. Many unfamiliar with playing at the net may make the mistake of taking it all the way up into their net, so by attacking their feet with short low volleys you can force them back onto the doubles alley and prevent aggressive volleys being hit at you from the other player.
Final tip: It is crucial that when attacking opponents, you use all areas of the court. One effective strategy for doing this is serving low to deuce and ad courts when serving; this forces your opponent around corners to open more space for you and your partner to strike back with attacks.
As part of your doubles game strategy, it is also vital that you communicate effectively with your doubles partner throughout the match. By discussing what will be happening during each point and who will take which shots, this allows for much smoother game play. By communicating effectively, any potential errors can be avoided while increasing chances of victory during points.
Getting the Ball Back
As a doubles player, it is vitally important that the ball be returned as quickly as possible in order to prevent your opponents from winning any points. To do this, your teammates should be in their correct positions without chasing every shot – this is especially essential if your opponents specialize in hitting deep crosscourt groundstrokes; therefore a doubles strategy using “yours, mine and ours” could prove effective in these instances.
An effective doubles strategy is serving into your opponents’ weaknesses and making it hard for them to return well. This can be accomplished by serving down the T or using a serve that’s likely to set up your partner for volleying, thus decreasing angles your opponent has to work with and giving you an advantage at the net.
As another key doubles strategy, hitting deeper rather than faster during cross-court rallies can help push your opponent off their baseline and give you more time for a put-away volley put-away volley put away volley. Furthermore, hitting deeper provides greater control over the depth and distance of shots while helping avoid short balls being given up by your opponents.
One effective doubles strategy is taking advantage of “No Man’s Land”, an area near the service line that many players neglect to protect. By splitting-stepping on this service line and shifting forward or sideways as soon as your opponent starts hitting long balls, No Man’s Land can become your secret weapon in doubles play.
By following these simple doubles tennis strategies, you can enhance your performance and win more points during matches. No matter whether you are an amateur or professional tennis player, these techniques can prove very helpful in honing your game and improving it.