Archive of: tennis club tenerife

I just played a doubles match where one of my opponents stood in the doubles alley (behind the baseline of course) when hitting his serve. He did this on both sides of the court, throughout the match and was really good at placing his serve all over the service box. Since this is such an exaggerated and unusual place to stand, I wanted to be sure and let you know what the rules have to say on this particular stance. So lets look at ITF Rules 17 and 18 which give you the answer.

A lot of players don’t think about this. They just randomly decide who will be the first partner to serve almost like being polite. Asking each other, “Do you want to serve first?” “I don’t mind, I’ll serve first!” It doesn’t seem to be a very thought-out decision.

Who serves first in your doubles team? there should be some thought going into this because if there is any opportunity for you to get a little bit of an advantage in your match, you need to take that opportunity. And this is an area where you could, maybe, increase your chances of winning at least that first service game by a tiny bit just by making the right choice as to which of the two partners should serve first.

So, what are the things that you can think about when making that decision? Here is the list of things that I think about, any one of which may help determine the decision on who should serve first for your doubles team.

How not to avoid in doubles

Some doubles ideas for you all out there - basic stuff to help you at your doubles game.

Passive doubles - players who really do nothing in their hour on the court