With this lesson, I need to discuss the starting position of the server, his job responsibilities and what he should be concentrated on and watching for as the point starts and progresses.
The server in doubles should serve from the wider position than in singles. I choose to have you stand a bit wider than midway between the center mark and the doubles line.
After you serve, your responsibility would be to cover your half of the court and by starting here it should place you in position to do that with minimal recovery motion. Don't forget, it will always be preferable to hit the ball back to where it originated from than change the direction of the ball. Consequently, the more you serve wide the more you have to consider covering the wide angle return. You should have two things planned prior to a serve; where you are intending to aim your serve and where you are planning to go after you hit your serve. When figuring out your serve target, I break up the service box into three portions; A, B and C. A will stand for the section nearest to the Alley, B will represent the center section for your serve to the Body, and C will be the part nearest the Center.
When serving to the "deuce side" or right side, your main target should be the "C" section of the court. You're going to be serving to your opponents backhand (for the right handed opponent) and lowering the angles of return which will allow your partner to move out into the court and take more balls. Your second best serve would be to the "B" section, looking to jam the returner. Again it minimizes the angles and doesn't let the returner to get their arms spread out to produce the shot. The last choice should be the "A" section. When serving here you are serving right into a right handed players forehand (commonly a strength), opening up your partners line for a passing shot and as we spoke of earlier, it truly is better to return the ball to where it came from therefore it opens up the cross court return as well. It's vital however to use all of the different serves to help keep your opponent off balance, but tend toward the greater percentage ones.
Things change a bit on the "ad" court or the left side. Your number one target ought to be the "B" section or the serve to the body. This keeps the other person from stretching out his/her arms while also lowering the return angles. The next most effective target will be the "C" section. Even though it is to your right handed opponent's forehand, it helps to keep the angles on the returns down by keeping the ball toward the center of the court and in addition puts your partner in a better position to poach and cut off more balls. Again the last choice is usually wide to the "A" section which opens up your partner's alley and also exposes the angled return cross court.
We'll discuss the X Factors in a different lesson which will take into consideration your opponents strengths and weaknesses when some of these targets may change. When you are walking in to a match being unsure of your opposition, it is good to start out with percentage tennis strategy as discussed above and adjust your game as you take in more information.
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