I play on a USTA Ladies League team. We want to start using the Australian Doubles formation during our matches. We practice it during our drills and are pretty good at it. Is this formation o.k. to use? Thanks!!
Thanks for the quick reply! Is there anywhere I can find something on the USTA website that says it's o.k to use. I'd like to have something in writing because I have a feeling our opponents may have something to say about the formation. None of the other teams we have ever played use it. Thanks!!
Sorry, this is not quite on topic but relevant to the last post...........
What about the receiving team and their standing positions? Do they have to be in any particular spot. I assume they can stand wherever they want as well.
There is a guy who always likes to stand right at the T when his partner is receiving serve. I generally like to serve it right at him when he does this to try and back him up some. If it hits him, its the servers point, correct?
Are there any rules that pertain to the receiving teams position?
Thanks.
Yeah, the receivers can also stand anywhere they want to (w/o hindering play of course). I can't remember if it's a let if you hit the net person or not...
Thanks for the quick reply! Is there anywhere I can find something on the USTA website that says it's o.k to use. I'd like to have something in writing because I have a feeling our opponents may have something to say about the formation. None of the other teams we have ever played use it. Thanks!!
For example, if you have a bad backhand, you can (if you are a righty) go to Australian on the ad side to force a forehand to backhand exhange.
Just so you know exactly where it is, Rule 26, case 5 on page 23 of FAC.Thanks for the quick reply! Is there anywhere I can find something on the USTA website that says it's o.k to use. I'd like to have something in writing because I have a feeling our opponents may have something to say about the formation. None of the other teams we have ever played use it. Thanks!!
I maintain that for most people giving second serves to the Ad court the Australian formation is FAR superior to the normal setup. The point of the normal set up is that the netplayer is the to put away any weak returns. BUt if you aren't getting any weak returns (and most people don't get them on second serves) then by going australian there are a whole ton of benefits.
You take away the high percentage cross court return people are used to using.
They have to hit over the higher part of the net
They have to hit to the shorter part of the court
They don't have any angle to work with
The return goes back to the server's forehand
The net player can poach on the forehand side.
For anyone whos serve doesn't generate weak sitters for their partner to easily put away at the net I really think that Australian is by far the better formation. The only downside is that people just aren't as used to doing it, but if people would just accept its the higher percentage play then they would use it far more often and that would go out the window.
I disagree that the Aust formation is rubbish.
***Note: If anyone is talking about doubles where the server doesn't follow both first and second serve into the net (ie: poor quality women's doubles) then they've got more to worry about that what formation they're using.***
The advice given to 4.5+ players is absolute crap for 90% of players out there. God do I love facing people who S&V on every serve when they don't have a strong overhead or have a 2nd serve I can tee off on.
The advice given to 4.5+ players is absolute crap for 90% of players out there. God do I love facing people who S&V on every serve when they don't have a strong overhead or have a 2nd serve I can tee off on.
90% of players aren't 4.5+. thats the point. And people read advice given to those players and take it as gospel for their own game and its ridiculous.
And Javier- I couldn't disagree any more with you. If you have a poor second serve then you are on defense whether you like it or not. The WORST thing you can do when you are on defense is to repeatedly charge the net. If the opponent takes the net because you stay back thats their right because they have control of the point because of your poor second serve. Top players can S&V on both first and second serves because they have quality serves that will generate weak replies and quality overheads where lobbing is a very dangerous proposition. If you don't possess those skills then I think its absolutely terrible advice to tell people to take the net no matter the situation. Trying to take the net off of a poor second serve is probably worse to me than trying to take the net off of a poor groundstroke you leave short. At least with the groundstroke the other team wouldn't know an attackable ball was coming before it happened.
There is less court to cover in australian because you totally take the angle away. Thats a benefit- not a caveat. The returner pretty much has to come right back at the server. . If they can't cover the alley in Australian I don't thnk they have any chance in hell of covering the alley on the backhand side on an angled crosscourt return.
The caveat is that the server has to serve from the T and has to be comfortable sliding over immediately instead of watching and waiting like they are used to. particularly for women who don't have great court positioning the first few times they run it they won't remember to immediately slide over and will get caught just standing and watching. But this only lasts a couple times