INSTRUCTION:

Doubles: Active Net Play
By Tom Gullikson
From the May 2004 issue of TENNIS Magazine

Many doubles players treat their partners' service games as holidays. They think that because they're not serving or returning, the pressure is off; if they simply hit the balls that come directly to them, then they're doing enough. But a good doubles player is an active one. When your partner is serving, you're just as responsible, if not more so, for winning that game. You must help by poaching off returns and weak volleys, drawing your opponents' attention with fake poaches, and trying to take lobs hit over your head out of the air. Even if you can only slap it back deep, that's still preferable to letting the lob bounce and having your partner play the shot.

How do you know if you're active enough? After your partner serves, he should very rarely, if ever, hit his inside ground stroke or volley. In other words, if he's right-handed and serving from the deuce court, he shouldn't have to hit a backhand. If he has to do this consistently, you're not being active enough in picking those shots off. Now if you're both at net, and his forehand is his inside shot, he can take that because his forehand volley is probably a strong shot. But if he's on the baseline or in transition to net, you're still in a better position to cut that shot off and try to make something happen.

Bob Bryan (foreground) cuts off the shot rather than let his brother, Mike, hit his inside stroke. That's a good way to judge that you're getting involved enough at net.