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 Improve Your Doubles Teamwork Using the Offense/Defense Rule
To play effective percentage doubles you need to use good shot selection so you can attack and defend with your partner. Doubles is a team game where players work together to either set each other up to take the offense at the net or retreat together to play defense from the baseline. It is essential that both players stay even with each other on the court. This should be accomplished within the first two shots of a point. Staying in one-up, one-back mode leaves a big hole up the middle, giving your opponents a sizable advantage.
The offense/defense rule simply states that you must tailor your shot to fit your situation on the court. If you are hitting up (low groundstrokes, low volleys, and half-volleys) you are defense. You should arc a slow or moderate shot to the feet of the deepest opponent or lob the closest opponent. This will give your team time to move out of the backcourt (no man's land) and ensure that your opponents are always off balance and lifting their shots. If you are hitting down (short high groundstrokes, high volleys, short overheads) you are offense. You should hit a firm shot to the center T or angle it softly to the sides if both opponents are back on the baseline.
Due to the lifting/spiking nature of doubles, you must simply design your shots to make your opponents hit up first. Points are usually lost from trying too much, too soon; from hitting an offensive shot in a defensive situation. Not only do you risk an outright error from overhitting but you will not be properly coordinating with your partner. You will put more pressure on your opponents by working the ball around the court errorlessly than by spraying a few big bombs.
An overlooked benefit to playing to this formula is increased concentration on your own shot execution. Since you know where you are aiming and where you want to move next you can really focus on hitting the ball cleanly. Looking for targets greatly increases mishits.
Though doubles sometimes seems overly complicated, remember that everything stems from the simple offense/defense rule. Hit mainly to the three basic targets:
- lift to the feet of the deepest opponent,
- lob the closest opponent,
- hit down to the center T
and try to link up with your partner within two shots. Following this simple game plan should give your team a confidence boost that will make your opponents feel the pressure.
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