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Doubles

A good tennis match is like a game of chess: You know what you plan to do, and you know what your opponent might do to counter that. Going further, you know what you’ll do to counter what your opponent will do to counter you and what she might do to counter what you’re doing to counter what she’s doing to counter what you want to do. And so on—the strategies can get so nested that you get dizzy just thinking about it.

That’s never so true as when you’re playing doubles. With four players in the game, it’s that much more important that you hit the ball to the right part of the court, with the right angle, and even with the right spin. Two players on the other side of the net mean twice the odds of punishing any tactical error you might make, so you’d better make sure you get it right on the first try. Luckily for you, I’m here to show you the way. So, pull up your chair, and take careful notes; you’ll thank me later.

First Things First
The game starts with a serve, of course, so the first question is where you want to position yourself when serving. You could line up near the center line, as you probably do when playing singles, but you should also consider the idea of setting up wide. This puts you in good position for your next shot, if the return comes back cross-court, and it also gives you interesting possibilities for swinging the serve out wide with a slice or flat serve.

The next question, then, is the return of the serve: cross-court or down the line? In most cases, you’ll want to take it cross-court—if you go down the line and one of your opponents is just sitting there at the net waiting for it, you could easily end up eating the ball. This is why most doubles returns head cross-court, back in the direction of the server.

Poached Balls on Toast
So, you’re probably going cross-court with the return, and your opponent probably knows that you’re going cross-court. This is bad, however: A predictable player is often a losing player. If the opponent at the net knows you’re going cross-court, she can pull a move called “poaching.” In other words, she’ll zip across the net, right when you hit the ball, to take your cross-court return and punish it. It’s very tricky … and very bad if you fall for it.

So, you know she thinks you’re going to serve cross-court, and you expect she’s going to try to poach. If you’re right, your best option is to hit the return down the line, to the spot where she used to be standing. If she poached, she’ll be moving away from the ball, and if her partner didn’t cross over to cover that half of the court, you might win the point right there. That’s why you should never poach unless your partner knows what you have in mind. In real-life tennis, you’d signal your intentions by flashing a hand signal behind your back. On Xbox Live, you should use some other kind of signal, delivered via the headset or by moving your player in some distinctive way before the point. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as your partner knows what it means and your opponents don’t.

Assume the Position
Much of the rest of doubles strategy gets down to positioning. If you’re not serving or returning a serve, where should you position yourself? If your partner is serving, you should be at the net. This is the most aggressive position (aggression is good). Your goal should be to pounce on a ball and volley it at a sharp angle to win the point quickly. If your partner is returning a serve, though, you have a few choices. You could play at the net, in the hopes of getting lucky and receiving a poorly hit shot that you can hit for a winner. Or, you could play halfway back, at the rear service line. This makes it much harder for the opposing net player to hit an angled volley for a winner, since such a shot would most likely be hit right at you. Finally, you can play all the way back on the baseline. This is a very defensive position and is something to try if you and your partner have been taking a beating. Your opponents will have trouble hitting the ball past you if you’re both back deep. The weakness, though, is that you’ve surrendered all the initiative in the point. I can recommend this position as a change of pace, but if you play this way regularly, it will probably end up hurting you more than it helps.

Double Your Pleasure
After you’ve really gotten into doubles, you may never go back. The game is much faster than singles, and with three other players on the court, it can be a lot more fun as well. So, get out there, grab yourself a partner, and look for me on Xbox Live. By now, you know the basics of doubles strategy, but I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve, and my partner and I are looking forward to handing out a beating or two.

By B.B. Larouche