1. Doubles should be played from the net. Don't "sit" on the baseline and wait for things to happen. You should make every effort to take charge of the game by being aggressive at the net (as a team of course). The team that controls the net wins.

2. Because the game moves quickly, you must watch the ball very carefully and try to anticipate your opponents' shots. Don't be afraid to take chances. If you are at the net, step across and put those volleys away!

3. A simple but nevertheless important rule: hit low, to your opponent's feet, so that s/he has to lift the ball up and hopefully set up an easy shot for you.

4. Think about ball placement. You won't believe what good ball placement can do for you! Down the middle, a soft topspin right into your opponents feet, an occasional fast ball straight into his/hers stomach, mix it all up and have your opponent guessing where the next ball will go.

5. First serve percentage is extremely important. By missing too many first serves you are encouraging your opponents to move forward and take the net away from you. Most serves should be hit down the "T" and into the receiver's body. By doing so you are limiting his/her passing field.

6. Make your shots more compact by shortening your backswing. You don't have time to swing too much so make sure that you move your racquet efficiently. Short backswing, nice firm contact with the ball and a quick return to the ready position are crucial.

7. Much too often players forget that doubles is a team game. That is why two excellent singles players don't necessarily make a good doubles team. If they can't work as a team, things won't go well. Try to put team efforts above your individual game. Talk to your partner and plan your game in such a way as to maximize the impact as a team.

8. Never blame your partner during or after a match. There is nothing more destructive to a team than tension between partners. Any comments or criticism should be constructive and non threatening.

9. Talk to your partner and develop some basic tactical guidelines. For example, if the ball is hit down the middle of the court, who will go for it? What about short balls or lobs? These are not supposed to be firm rules as you will often have to adapt to the situation on the court and come up with quick and creative solutions. The main purpose is to avoid confusion in situations that are not quite clear cut.

10. Don't go crazy with lobs. It is OK to surprise your opponents with an occasional lob but the more you do it the less the impact. Good players will be able to "read" your lobs fairly easily and get you in trouble with their overheads.

Our purpose is to make more intelligent shot selections by recognizing situations rather than by having to make complex decisions on the fly. By doing this we will get you to a point where you will not have to engage as much of your attention in match play in "thinking" and more of your energy and attention into playing "instinctual" tennis. You will find that knowing what shot to hit, and when, takes a load off of your mind and allows you to simply "play"

SEQUENCE 1

Situation: The other team is in a "two up" position and you are at the baseline.

Response: Return their approach shot and subsequent shots low, slow, and down the middle.

Result: If you hit a series of low, slow balls down the middle this will cause the other team to eventually pop a ball up, that often sits up short.

Situation: You find yourself inside the baseline and the ball sits up.

Response: Look to lob approximately 60% of the time. Another low ball down the middle is the shot you hit the other 40% of the time.

Result: A tennis court is longer than it is wide. You are trying to make your opponent play the whole court by strectching them forward with low slow balls and then stretching them backwards with lobs that are hit off of the right ball.

Situation: You are at the baseline and your lob clears the other teams head.

Response: Take the net and take the offensive "two up" position! Note: Take the net anytime you are able to get a lob over one of your opponents heads.

Result: You cannot take the net until you drive the other team off of it. Lobbing the ball off of balls that sit up inside the court drives vacates the net leaving that position for you to fill. It also makes their volleys less effective because they must play off of the net to respect the threat of a lob.

SEQUENCE 2

Situation: Your team is in a one-up one-back position and the opposing team comes to a two-up position.

Response: Bring your net player back. If you are alert the net player can retreat at the same time the other team hits their approach shot.

Result: There is nothing cowardly or wimpy about retreating to play solid defense. OFFENSE WINS POINTS, DEFENSE WINS MATCHES! It is foolhardy for the lone net player to remain at the net with two opposing net players. The lone net player is much more of a target than a threat. Remove your opponents target and make them earn the point! Defense wins matches is because the opposing team starts to feel that they have to hit 4, 5, and 6 good shots to win a point, that mountain just starts to look too high to climb and unforced errors follow as they try to hit shots that are beyond their abilities.

SEQUENCE 3

Situation: Your team is in a one back one up position. Your opponents are in a one up one back position. This is a transitional position. It simply gets you half-way to a two-up. Your goal is to create an offensive opportunity to get your team to a two-up position.

Response 1: Serve and volley. This is the fastest way to get to two-up position. It also requires the most skill. You must posess an aggressive first serve, you must move well, and you must split step.

Response 2: Come to the net on your opponents second serve. Most of your opponents second serves are the perfect approach shots. They are slow, high and of course land short of the service line.

Response 3: Hit a deep ground stroke that backs your opponent up. Take a step inside the court. If you get a high ball hit a "volley approach" crosscourt and join your partner at the net.

Response 4: If your opponent hits a short ball or a sharp angle (which is just another short ball) run through your approach shot and join your partner at the net.

Response 5: If your partner poaches at the net and goes all the way across the court cut through the tee and join your partner at the net. This is called a free trip to the net because it allows you to get to a two-up position without having to hit an approach shot.

Response 6: If you lob the ball over the opposing net players head join your partner at the net.

Result: Your chances of success at the two-up position are greatly enhanced by coming up in an offensive situation. The fastest way to improve your volley is to improve your approach shot. Moments that your team are in an offensive situation come and go very quickly. It is important that you learn to create, recognize, and finally to seize those opportunities to put your team in the driver’s seat.

SEQUENCE 4

Situation: Your team is in a two-up position. Your opponents are in a one up one-back position.

Response 1: If two criteria are met: You can contact the ball above the net and you are fairly well-balanced then you bounce the ball at the ground in front of the net player. (If your opponent is foolish enough to standing more than a couple of feet in front of the service line you are left with no choice but to blast the ball right at them and challenge their reaction time.)

Response 2: If either one of the above criteria are not met then you must volley the ball deep back to the baseliner and play for the next shot. If you try to hit the ball at the net player when the ball is below the net or you are not well balanced it is likely that you will simply hand the other team an offensive opportunity.

Result: Response one is the most obvious and easiest offensive opportunity you will ever be presented with on a doubles court. You must take advantage of this opportunity the first time it is presented to you and the second time, and the third. Be relentless, isolate the lone net player and hammer them repeatedly! Do not hit high balls that you can do something with to the baseliner. Two things you must remember. Number one: You only get so many opportunities, you had better take advantage of the ones you get. Number two: Placing yourself in an offensive position commits you to playing from positions that are very vulnerable if your opponents get a good swing at the ball. If you don’t burn them they are in a very good position to burn you.

Response two: A deep ball to the baseliner gives you time to adjust your net position into a more defensive mode. It still allows you to stay in the drivers seat by maintaining your net position. It challenges the other team to pass you. Good defense puts alot a pressure on opponents to try to hit great shots.

SEQUENCE 5

Response 1: If you are able to contact the ball above the net and are well-balanced hit the ball crosscourt towards the intersection of the service line and singles line.

Response 2: If you are not able to contact the ball above the net or are off balance then volley the ball deep down the middle.

Result: Response one allows you to draw your opponent out of their "safe" defensive position behind the baseline.

Response 1: The easiest shot is hit the ball right back at the ground in front of the player that you have just drawn in front of the baseline.

Response 2: Angle the ball back to the opposite intersection of the service line and singles line.

Response 3: Hit the ball through the middle of the two players as a gap is created when you pull a player wide with an angle.

Result: You win the point!

This guide is meant to be used as a reference to help you be very clear about how to use basic bread and butter high percentage shots. Learn to hit these shots in your sleep, by reflex.

The goal is to learn to work the point. As you can see there are many more shots hit to set up winning shots than there are actual winning shots.

Playing intelligent doubles means knowing your capabilities working hard to play within those capabilities. I don’t want you to play the way you wish you could play; I would like for you to simply be realistic about what you can do and do it! The reality is that the majority of points, even in doubles, are lost on errors and not won on winners.

I would like to see you hit gradually more offensive shots, stretch your opponent, make them cover the whole court and then end the point with an average volley rather than a spectactular groundstroke.

True confidence comes with the ability to string patterns of shots together. It really is easier to hit three good shots than one great one.

You should feel that the longer the point goes on the greater your odds of winning it.