A doubles match can be enjoyed by anyone, whether at a high or low level of play. Whether you are playing for leisure or competitively, it has a lot to offer! But there's a bit more to it than just striking a ball over a net...
The more you know about the game, the better your chances of winning. If doubles is your thing or if you’re looking to introduce it into your tennis routine, take some time to read this guide and learn all there is to know about playing in this team sport.
You may be surprised at how intricate, mentally challenging, yet rewarding doubles tennis can be!
If you are planning on playing tennis doubles, here are a few doubles rules you need to be aware of!
Typically, two men or two women compete against each other in singles tennis.
A doubles tennis match is played between two teams of two players, traditionally between teams of men and women.
The most obvious difference is having four players on the tennis court, playing an opposing team of two instead of one tennis player in a tennis doubles game. A less noticeable difference is the bigger size of the tennis court.
A singles court uses only the surface area inside the baseline and the singles sideline. Only the interior boxes are used. Players must stand at the baseline and serve into the service box corresponding to their position upon serving. Each player can hit the ball anywhere inside the baseline and singles side-lines after the serve.
In doubles tennis, players serve the same way, hitting the ball into the corresponding service box. After serving they can hit it into any area within the baseline and doubles sidelines of the doubles court.
Although the court size for doubles is bigger, the serving restrictions are the same as in singles tennis.
It can also be said that playing in a doubles match requires a team effort, excellent communication, and more proficiency.
Mixed doubles tennis players consist of a man and a woman on one team. Due to the separate organization of men's and women's tennis tours (by the ATP and WTA, respectively), this form of tennis is rare in the pro game. All four Grand Slam tournaments, however, have mixed doubles tennis events.
Besides this, mixed double tennis rules are the same as the basic rules of playing double tennis.
The server takes a position reasonably well out towards the tramlines but not too far, which means they can cover her half of the court.
A server's partner occupies a central position in the service box, halfway between the singles tramline and the centerline and halfway between the net and service line. You can make an interception volley from this position, cover the ball down the tramlines, and cover the lob.
The receiver takes a position on the baseline, a pretty good place to start for most people's first serve.
In the case that you discover the serve is stronger than you anticipated, you might take a step back to give yourself more room. If the second serve is particularly weak, you'd probably take a step forward to compensate accordingly.
You need to stand in the court where you are receiving serve in your return. You need to stand in the opposite court from your partner. Therefore, the receiver's partner cannot stand on the same side as their team player.
When playing with an Australian formation, both players stand along the same side of the court, leaving the other half open. This formation will entice the opponent's return to hit the ball down the line. When your opponent makes weak shot down-the-line returns or keeps hitting winners on crosscourt returns, this formation will be most effective.
In tennis, there are four different ways to score:
Each time someone serves, they are given points.
If your opponent's shot strikes the net or the ground without getting over, or if their shot goes out of bounds, you win a point. (A “let” occurs when a serve clips the net and lands in bounds; the serve is simply repeated with no points scored.)
You get the point if the ball hits your opponent's body rather than their tennis racket.
The opposing team is awarded a point if the individual serving hits their teammate with the ball.
Tennis uses a different point system than other sports. In tennis, “zero” is known as “love.”
If a team wins one point, it receives a score of 15. Three points equal 40, while two points equal 30.
So, if your team is serving and you have three points, and your opponent only has one, your serving partner will say, "40-15."
The game is over when a team scores four points while the opposite team scores two or fewer.
The term "deuce" refers to when two teams are tied at 40 points.
In this case, a team must score two points in a row to win the game. Rather than counting numbers, this is commonly tracked by shouting "advantage in" if the serving team is one ahead and "advantage out" if the receiving team is one ahead.
If the serving side loses a point after calling "advantage in," for example, the score is reset to "deuce."
This procedure is repeated until the game is completed. After every odd-numbered game, the teams trade sides.
Games form the basis of sets. Sets go up to six, but you must win by at least two, just like in games.
While 6-4 is a winning set score, 6-5 is not.
A new game is played if the score is 6-5.
A side will either win 7-5 or, if the score is deadlocked at 6-6, a tiebreaker game will be played to determine the set's outcome.
A match is made up of at least two sets. The match is over when one team wins two sets in a row.
Tennis has no doubles standard scoring system when it comes to scoring. Mixed doubles matches at the US Open feature no-ad scoring, which means that if the score is 40-40, the following point wins the game rather than having an “advantage” point. Ten-point super tiebreakers have also taken the place of third sets.
The best-of-three tiebreak style of play dominates tennis matches. If you do not win the first two sets, the third set will decide the match! After the first two sets are tied 1-1, the tiebreaker will usually be shortened to 10 points. Play is exactly the same for a 10 point tiebreaker as for a 7 point tiebreaker, but with 10 points.
Tournaments involving doubles are uncommonly scheduled for a third set.
Three sets. Tennis doubles matches are usually played in a three-set format, with a 10-point tiebreak in place of a third set. All major tennis tournaments, including the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open, play best-of-three sets (6 games in each set).
Tennis pros play five-set matches in men's doubles at Wimbledon.
In the first game of the match, the team serving first chooses which team players will serve first. Likewise, the receiving team will decide which team player receives serves first for the first game.
During the second game, the doubles team that received during the first game will serve.
In the third game, the role of the serving team switches again, but this time the other doubles partner will serve in this service game.
In the fourth game, the other team player will serve the ball for the team who served second.
For the duration of the match, this cycle repeats between the team and its doubles players until the best team wins.
Each team can decide which player will serve first and establish a new rotation in the following set. The best server should always serve first, no matter how strategic the game is.
In comparison to singles, serving options in doubles have been enhanced. Servers gain the area behind the alley, along the baselines between the singles and doubles sideline.
In other words, the server in doubles tennis can choose to serve.
Therefore the server can serve from anywhere behind and along the baseline from the center mark to the doubles sideline on the team’s side of the tennis court.
Once it's decided which team serves first, team players on a particular tennis team can only receive serve from their respective service court during that particular set. There is no option to switch service courts before the set has ended.
A doubles play teammate can switch service court sides at the start of a new set or the beginning of every new set.
The tiebreaker round is played when there is no advantage set in place in a tennis match. You will always need to win by two points or two games in tennis, regardless of the score.
If the players are tied at six games each, then (depending on how the tournament or game is established), they'll play a tiebreaking round to determine the winner.
At the start of the tiebreaker in doubles tennis, the player who received in the prior game serves the first point. The serve takes place from the deuce court (the right side of the centerline).
Despite this, they serve only the first point, and the opponent serves the other two points.
Each player's right side of the court (deuce side) is called deuce court because it is where the ball is served when the score is deuce.
This implies you should stand between the center mark and the left sideline behind the baseline and aim diagonally at the receiver's left (ad side) court. The right side is known as the deuce court because the ball is served there on a deuce score. The left or ad side follows the same logic.
Similarly, your ad court is on the left side of the court while facing the net. Originally, the term was used to describe the act of scoring a point because the ad (advantage) point is usually served to this side of the court following a deuce.
Tennis doubles court positioning is divided into three basic positions:
A two-up position means both players are at the net, typically on either side of the center service line. This is the most desirable position as the team that controls the net wins the point.
If both you and your partner are at the net, hitting a low ball down the middle will throw your opponents off and induce a weak response that one of you can exploit. At the net, you can also aim your shot at your opponent's feet to make it much harder to return it.
If your opponents are on the back foot, you have the body blow option. You can effectively attack your opponent's midsection by hitting a hard volley right through their middle. This will force your opponent to play defensively and pop up a short volley that will be easy for you or your partner to take the next shot.
Two back refers to both players being on the baseline. Although most of the court is covered, and you don't have to worry about the lob, this isn't as successful as two up since offensive play from the baseline is difficult in doubles.
Playing in a two-back strategy demands a different mindset than the other two formations. The objective is to prevent the opposition from winning or forcing an error between the sidelines. This can be achieved by opening up the possibility of a wide-angle shot.
When one player is at the net on one side of the court and one player is at the baseline on the other side of the court, one up, one down position is in effect. One of the significant disadvantages of one up, one back is that you are almost completely playing defense. In doubles, hitting a winner from the baseline is less likely than hitting one from the net since you must get past the opposing net players.
You can switch sides when a new set starts if you play more than one set. In doubles tennis, tennis partners within a serving team can choose who serves first. Then alternate turns, so you don't miss out on any service. When playing doubles, your serve should come once every four games.
Intercepting balls that opponents intend to play to the player on the baseline is known as poaching. Poaching is an effective strategy and one of the most powerful weapons that doubles teams can employ to improve their chances of winning the game.
In doubles, poaching is an essential strategy that players should be aware of and train regularly to feel comfortable while playing at the net.
Pretending to perform the act of poaching but recovering toward the alley in the service box is the fake. Faking is one of the most effective tactics to force missed returns or groundstrokes. They'll often just miss, but other times you'll get a somewhat easy volley.
When you go diagonally towards the center net strap, you're pinching. You're giving up a little bit of the alley in this scenario, but you're also giving up some of the crosscourt shot. Pinching is an excellent strategy for forcing your opponent to strike a difficult target into a smaller one.
Since it's at the lower part of the net, you'll have more leeway. It also makes it challenging for the net player to volley and eliminates their angles if they poach.
You'll want to keep the returns modest against a team that plays well at the net. They'll have a tougher volley and will most likely pop the ball up. You can hit deep crosscourt returns if the server stays back and the net player is hesitant.
Creating these difficult groundstrokes for the opposing side allows your team player to poach.
The I-formation allows the serving team to take advantage of the element of surprise by lining up in the middle of the court and splitting in different directions as the receiver returns the serve. Changing your court position allows you to dictate play by reducing the ability of the opposing team to take possession of the point.
Be sure to clarify with your partner the direction each player will take before the point starts. That way, both sides of the court are fully covered.
1. Proactive footwork: An overly practiced split-step develops proactive footwork.
2. Positioning as a percentage: Prioritize the easy, high percent of the court, and leave the more difficult, lower percent of the court open.
3. Touch Development: Tennis players can hit hard shots, which don't require much skill, yet the soft shots make the best and often winning shots.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ve covered all aspects of tennis doubles that you need to know to jump into the game. Being a better tennis player is about learning and practicing different techniques to improve your game.
Just like knowing the doubles rules is essential, understanding the different parts of the court and having a good strategy for your positioning and shots can also raise your game.
As you can see, doubles tennis is a great way to enjoy the game and have fun with others. We hope you feel more prepared and excited for your next doubles match!
