Serve strategies in doubles

[onehandbh]

What is your serving strategy in doubles?

I've always held the belief that using a slightly faster 2nd serve as a first serve and going for placement was the best serving strategy in doubles, especially on a slow court.
(instead of going for bigger serves like in singles)

Yesterday I was playing on a slow hard court that really slowed the serves down after the bounce. It made returning much easier. The service games were longer. I changed my strategy and decided to go for bigger first serves. Surprisingly, it seemed to work better, as long as I kept my first serve percentage about 50%. I used body serves sometimes. This strategy seemed to get more sitter returns for my doubles partner to put away. The group of 10-12 players playing doubles ranged from 4.0 - 5.0 in level.

 

[eah123]

On the deuce side, my strategy is around 60% kick to T/body, 40% slice to body/out wide, 20% flat down the T. 2nd serve 70% kick to T/body 30% slice to T/body.

On the ad side, 20% flat out wide, 50% kick out wide, 20% flat or power slice down the T. 2nd serve pretty much kick 100% body.

I will adjust if there is any particular serve that opponents have difficulty with, which is usually kick or slice, or both. My flat serve is not that big so I only use it in doubles as a way to mess up their timing.

The reason I prefer to use spin serves is because I prefer to serve and volley as the back player. If I hit a flat serve, I will usually need to stay behind the baseline and be patient for a good ball to come to net on, and this feels too passive to me.

It’s very important to remember when you serve out wide in doubles to expect a sharp angle return, so you have to approach out wider instead of through the middle if you are doing serve and volley.

 

[Cashman]

Honestly, most of the time I just serve to the backhand and come in

Very few rec players can win >50% of backhand return pass attempts

 

[Dragy]

Honestly, most of the time I just serve to the backhand and come in

Very few rec players can win >50% of backhand return pass attempts

The worst are those who slice lob by default, and do it surprisingly well… but it’s a matter of percentages, and most of the time I’d agree with your strategy.

To the OP, my default strategy is to hit top-slice down the T on deuce court, body on the ad court. If ad returner’s FH isn’t too good, I also do slice down the T as a change up - so that they fail when running around to hit FH and facing other bounce height.

Other options are all kick serves (equal to my second serve); slice wide on deuce side if they open that side too much; flat into the body if they stay to close on returns. But more of a change up.

Usually fast topslice to BH is good enough to set up many plays for my partner at the net, and kick seconds confuse them a lot, especially on clay

 

[Dartagnan64]

Honestly, most of the time I just serve to the backhand and come in

Very few rec players can win >50% of backhand return pass attempts

I typically just do this and it gets the most sitters for my net partner. If the opponents start shading that way to try to run around the BH return, I will throw a serve to the FH side to make them have to hit it on the stretch.

Generally, anything that avoids their wheelhouse (usually an inside FH) is golden.

 

[LuckyR]

What is your serving strategy in doubles?

I've always held the belief that using a slightly faster 2nd serve as a first serve and going for placement was the best serving strategy in doubles, especially on a slow court.
(instead of going for bigger serves like in singles)

Yesterday I was playing on a slow hard court that really slowed the serves down after the bounce. It made returning much easier. The service games were longer. I changed my strategy and decided to go for bigger first serves. Surprisingly, it seemed to work better, as long as I kept my first serve percentage about 50%. I used body serves sometimes. This strategy seemed to get more sitter returns for my doubles partner to put away. The group of 10-12 players playing doubles ranged from 4.0 - 5.0 in level.

It all depends on your level. A lot of the replies to you don't seem to be consistent with 5.0 tennis.

So in order to advise you intelligently, what is the typical return quality to your second serves? How often do you double fault?

 

[Nellie]

I serve 8 out 10 times down the middle using a faster second serve (kick to deuce side/top-slice to ad side, as a righty). I am giving up aces to try and force a tough return that my partner can attack and to limit passing angles. I hit flat/wide only occasionally to keep the returners honest