Should you still try to poach if your partner is much stronger than your opponent from the baseline?

[EddieBrock]

If you're in a situation where your partner is much better than your opponent in a cross court rally and you're at the net (like when partner serves to opponent) should you be looking to poach or guard the alley?

My partner says I should guard the alley and stay alert for the ball to come at me because the opponent is going to look for a way out of the cross court rally by going at me. My thought is the opponent is likely to hit a weak cross court shot so I should be looking to poach and its tough to go DTL off my partner's strong shots.

Who is right?

 

[zaph]

The answer to that is easy, do you win the point if you poach? If you do, keep doing it. Your partner can play singles if they want to play long cross court rallies. If your partner is getting annoyed at you because you keep messing up the poach, then you need to work on your volleying skills.

 

[LOBALOT]

100% yes. Your job is to put pressure on your opponent in that rally and can elicit errors by being active. That will further tip the favor in your partner's hands. If you can pick off a ball or two even better. I would rather see you make a mistake or two being burned in that if you count the errors you induce from your opponent I am sure it will be in your favor.

 

[samarai]

u need to find a new partner, obviously by poaching u are gonna make some mistakes. Even though u may win a a majority of your poaches, your partner is gonna hound
you to a point of frustration on the ones you miss.

 

[dominikk1985]

Yes, if you win the point you were right and if you lose the point you were wrong.

So how many out of 10 baseline points does your partner win and how many poach points you win?

Let's say your opponent wins 6 out of 10 baseline points, then you need to win the point 60+% of the time when poaching.

 

[badmice2]

If you're playing 1 up 1 back the person in the baseline tends to play defensive for the most part; their goal typically will be to cover whatever goes over you.

 

[Dartagnan64]

Last night I dominated at the net by poaching those CC rallies. Felt like Hingis. But this relies on a) your partner getting the ball deep and b) you making sure you've given the appearance of covering the line. I typically go on the first ball i see that gets deep to the opponent or to his weaker wing, the rest of the time I'm leaning to the alley.

If you're partner is good at rallies, just tell him to get the ball deep. His job is to set you up not win the rally from the baseline. This is doubles. Of course your job is to actually win the points at the net and not boot the ball into the net or long. If you can't do that, time to drill more.

 

[EddieBrock]

The answer to that is easy, do you win the point if you poach? If you do, keep doing it. Your partner can play singles if they want to play long cross court rallies. If your partner is getting annoyed at you because you keep messing up the poach, then you need to work on your volleying skills.

Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose the point when I poach. I tend to remember the points I lose, but I definitely win some as well. I know if my opponent gets pulled out wide to not poach as he is likely to go DTL. Otherwise I like to look for a weak or floating shot and attempt to poach. He has burned me DTL before after I poached a few times.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

If you're in a situation where your partner is much better than your opponent in a cross court rally and you're at the net (like when partner serves to opponent) should you be looking to poach or guard the alley?

My partner says I should guard the alley and stay alert for the ball to come at me because the opponent is going to look for a way out of the cross court rally by going at me. My thought is the opponent is likely to hit a weak cross court shot so I should be looking to poach and its tough to go DTL off my partner's strong shots.

Who is right?

Since the only way to know for sure is to play the same match twice, once with each style, you have to make an educated guess beforehand: how much stronger is my partner than the CC opponent vs how confident am I that I'm going to win the point by poaching?

A good doubles team will probably spend some time investigating each option to see which one is more successful rather than the stronger player just concluding a priori to do things his way.

As an example of both approaches, I was playing 9.0 MXDs with a 4.5 female partner [who in reality was probably a 5.0] and I was very confident that she was going to win almost every CC rally with the opposing woman. So I didn't do a lot of poaching since that would just introduce extra risk for minimal gain.

OTOH, when she rallied with the guy, the % went down. So I looked to poach more to try and throw his game off. The combination of tactics worked well.

 

[ptuanminh]

Doesn't matter. If your partner is strong, you have to take advantange of weak return. If your partner is weak, you have to help out by poaching.
You always have to try to poach.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Doesn't matter. If your partner is strong, you have to take advantange of weak return. If your partner is weak, you have to help out by poaching.
You always have to try to poach.

Unless you are a bad poacher and you end up losing points that probably would have otherwise been won.

Or you leave way too early and give the opponent plenty of time to adjust and go DTL. Meanwhile, you didn't signal so your partner is clueless that you were going to poach.

Or maybe you're a good poacher but it just isn't working out that day.

Plenty of potential reasons why poaching might be an inferior tactic.

 

[ptuanminh]

Unless you are a bad poacher and you end up losing points that probably would have otherwise been won.

Or you leave way too early and give the opponent plenty of time to adjust and go DTL. Meanwhile, you didn't signal so your partner is clueless that you were going to poach.

Or maybe you're a good poacher but it just isn't working out that day.

Plenty of potential reasons why poaching might be an inferior tactic.

Maybe you can show me otherwise, but i haven't seen a drill for poaching yet. I think poaching is something you learn from playing. You learn how to anticipate a weak shot from the otherside and attack. If you fear failing and dont ever poach, you will never learn.

 

[LOBALOT]

Maybe you can show me otherwise, but i haven't seen a drill for poaching yet. I think poaching is something you learn from playing. You learn how to anticipate a weak shot from the otherside and attack. If you fear failing and dont ever poach, you will never learn.

I agree with this. It is more athleticism/anticipation than really tennis training and skill. To me a good doubles player is athletic, aggressive, and physical.

 

[tonylg]

Your partner doesn't want to play doubles. He wants you to stand there while he plays singles.

If you really suck, this may be the best way to win .. but a better idea is to find someone who wants to play doubles with you.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Maybe you can show me otherwise, but i haven't seen a drill for poaching yet. I think poaching is something you learn from playing. You learn how to anticipate a weak shot from the otherside and attack. If you fear failing and dont ever poach, you will never learn.

Well, for starters, some people are so afraid to poach that they never try it. So the simplest drill would be to feed a ball to the receiver and have him hit a middle ball. The net man knows this in advance and only has to move a step or two to intercept.

That breaks the cycle of never poaching.

After that, make the CC shot more challenging. Mix in a few surprise DTLs. Hit harder. There's no end to the variations.

Will that make someone a great poacher? Maybe not. But it adds another tool to their toolbox and that might make the difference in the next match.

I see many ads from FYB about some doubles playbook featuring the Bryans, Navratilova, and Fernandez and poaching is one of the components.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

I agree with this. It is more athleticism/anticipation than really tennis training and skill. To me a good doubles player is athletic, aggressive, and physical.

There are plenty of pretty good doubles players who aren't particularly athletic or physical but they understand positioning very well and that allows them to excel.

This positioning might be perceived as "aggressive" but in reality, it's more about playing the odds [ie pinching the middle and leaving more line open because he knows many players will take the bait and fail].

 

[socallefty]

It is not a question of who is right. You’re going to win or lose as a team and a doubles team is like a relationship where you have to talk and communicate and work things out - if you or your partner make unilateral decisions and do what you want, it will p#ss off the other player and you will lose anyway as they will not try hard. So, if you disagree with your partner, talk about it and find a way to compromise on a strategy that you both agree on.

If you can’t agree, I would go with what the stronger player wants to do tactically. It sounds like it is your partner in this case. Also, if the stronger player is the server, it is doubles etiquette to go with what the server wants tactically. There is no right or wrong way to play doubles - play the way that gets you the win as efficiently as possible.

 

[ptuanminh]

Well, for starters, some people are so afraid to poach that they never try it. So the simplest drill would be to feed a ball to the receiver and have him hit a middle ball. The net man knows this in advance and only has to move a step or two to intercept.

That breaks the cycle of never poaching.

After that, make the CC shot more challenging. Mix in a few surprise DTLs. Hit harder. There's no end to the variations.

Will that make someone a great poacher? Maybe not. But it adds another tool to their toolbox and that might make the difference in the next match.

I see many ads from FYB about some doubles playbook featuring the Bryans, Navratilova, and Fernandez and poaching is one of the components.

So thats a standard volley drill??? It helps you become better at volley but i am not sure about poaching.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

So thats a standard volley drill??? It helps you become better at volley but i am not sure about poaching.

I'm not a coach so I couldn't say whether it was standard. I'm just trying to think of a way for the person to get over the fear of poaching and this progression is what I came up with: get rid of the consequences altogether. Make the point of the drill that he MUST poach. Sooner or later, poaching will become more comfortable [or at least not so alien].

 

[Wurm]

My partner says I should guard the alley and stay alert for the ball to come at me because the opponent is going to look for a way out of the cross court rally by going at me.

Your partner is right. Also, if they're telling you how they want you to play in a certain situation then you do it until/unless it's shown to be ineffective because that's how teams work.

If I'm not the one out-gunned (in which case, sod that nonsense: I'm coming in) then if I'm in the midst of a cross court rally I'm not just dumbly hitting it until it doesn't come back, I will be actively trying to manipulate their court position such as to give my net partner an easy put away. It's no good if my net partner is too impatient to wait for the right ball and keeps getting done up the line because they won't cover the angles I'm explicitly trying to reduce to nothing.

Of course you should keep focused and remain alert for any weak/floaty cross court shots that're there for the taking and it's not a bad idea to keep making as much noise with your feet as you can whilst your opponent is hitting to try and keep them honest...

 

[Morch Us]

I am a big fan of poaching and doing more at the net, and totally against "covering the alley" concept. But that being said.....

Clearly this is "unbalanced" doubles (large variation in skill level of players). And so treat it slightly different from a "balanced" doubles (similar skill level of players), especially if winning takes preference than everyone share the same number of shots attitude.

Usually on a balanced doubles the guy at the net is the aggressor and have a really high chance to finish a point than the guy at baseline, who is really trying to just stay alive (defensive) most of the time. But when the guy at baseline is a lot better in skill level than the guy at net, then at some point the guy at net still becomes the weaker component, and may even bring the doubles teams overall level down by not allowing the better skilled player to finish the points. This is when you want to clearly define, how much is too much.

Sometimes all you may need to do is just be a presense (and just not allow the opponent to attack you). This is done by pushing the weaker partner more closer to net and more away from middle (which is were most of the things are happening). But at the same time, the weaker partner still has a job to clean up anything which is directed at him. The damage you can do is intercept a neutral cross court rally and try to do a tough volley only to give a sitter and a different angle to hit to for the opponent.

In summary, in 90% of the cases, a net man should always get the opponents feel his presense at net. But there are times when not making your presense feel at net works for the team. If you don't enjoy playing as a team, you probably should not. Unbalanced doubles is not for everyone.

When a 5.0 is teamed with a 3.0, the average level of the team is 4.0.
When the partners "understand" their skill and their job, the level of this team is 4.5 (higher than 4.0 .. but never higher than 5.0).
When the partners does not understand their skill and their job, the level of this team is 3.5 (lower than 4.0 ....but never lower than 3.0).

So a lower level player could always feel like he is playing better in unbalanced doubles, and a higher level player could always feel like his is playing worse.
But if your team is feeling 3.5ish... when it could have been 4.5ish .... then it is still not making full use of the resources available.

much better than

the opponent is going to look for a way out of the cross court rally by going at me

its tough to go DTL off my partner's strong shots.

 

[LOBALOT]

There are plenty of pretty good doubles players who aren't particularly athletic or physical but they understand positioning very well and that allows them to excel.

This positioning might be perceived as "aggressive" but in reality, it's more about playing the odds [ie pinching the middle and leaving more line open because he knows many players will take the bait and fail].

Positioning is very important (moving with the ball form side to side, etc.). I agree but good doubles is a game of athletic and physical play there is no doubt.

 

[travlerajm]

Most beginners don’t get close enough to the net when they poach. They fail on their poach attempts because they move laterally. The best poachers move forward. You should be making contact only a few feet from the net ideally. From up there, you can cover almost the entire crosscourt hitting window with a step or two.

 

[LOBALOT]

Most beginners don’t get close enough to the net when they poach. They fail on their poach attempts because they move laterally. The best poachers move forward. You should be making contact only a few feet from the net ideally. From up there, you can cover almost the entire crosscourt hitting window with a step or two.

That is 100% correct. The angle of attack is very important which again points to the athletic/aggressive way one should approach doubles.

 

[ptuanminh]

I'm not a coach so I couldn't say whether it was standard. I'm just trying to think of a way for the person to get over the fear of poaching and this progression is what I came up with: get rid of the consequences altogether. Make the point of the drill that he MUST poach. Sooner or later, poaching will become more comfortable [or at least not so alien].

I think it takes more to poach than just being able to volley. Also to counter poaching from the otherside.
Things like:
+Anticipation of weaker shots.
+Your court position.
+Your opponent court position .
+Reading your opponent habits
+Your partner habits.
In my experience at 3.5, 4.0, the net person tend to stand too far from the net. They stand too far because they are afraid of getting hit. So even with a good volley, they can't do much out of position.

 

[Doan]

So thats a standard volley drill??? It helps you become better at volley but i am not sure about poaching.

2 teams playing 1up/1back. Feed and return cross court and then play point out. Win point via poaching gets 2 points. Everything else 1 point. First to 21 wins.

 

[beansprouts1]

Depends on your definition of poaching. If poaching means rushing and reaching for tough shots at net to try to end points, then I would not do that if your partner has the stronger baseline game. No need to increase your teams risk of losing the point when you guys already have >50% chance of winning points.

On the other hand, I think having a stronger partner gives you opportunity to be more aggressive with your positioning. Judging when to move to a dominant position at the net to cover more court which forces your opponent to either hit an amazing shot or lower margin down the line off a ball he/she is already uncomfortable with will greatly increase their chance of error or your chance of an easy net ball. I guess some people call that poaching too.

 

[Friedman Whip]

Depends what you mean by 'poaching'. It seems some people think of poaching as when the net person decides, before his opponent has stuck the ball, that he (the net person) is going to move laterally to try to cut off the opponent's shot and more or less bail out on defending his original side of the court. Others apparently think of poaching as when the net person, depending on how the point is developing, moves laterally to try to cut off the opponent's shot in an attempt to win the point outright or take a very controlling position in the point.

Using your definition of your partner as "much better than your opponent in a cross court rally", my guess would be that your partner would be winning the rallies, what, 70, 75, 80% of the time, which I suppose would mean that your team is going to win the points at about that same rate. Assuming the first definition above of poaching, why would you want to interject yourself into that situation? To be the hero and hit the winning shot? Do you get bored watching your partner win games for your team? The point is to win the games.

Under the second definition of poaching then yes, of course, depending on the flow of the point the net person, if he can volley at all, should always cut off any ball that he thinks he can get to if it will end the point with a winner. Just my 2 cents.

 

[EddieBrock]

This is a pro-am situation. I'm a strong 4.0 and the other amateur is an average 4.0.

The main danger in the cross court rallies with my pro vs. the other amateur is if the other pro poaches and goes at me or is able to take control of the point. The opposing amateur basically gets out of the way at that point.

I'd say winning is a secondary goal. My main goal is to become a better doubles player and I'm still trying to get better at the idea of poaching. If I'm standing in the alley watching my pro play how am I going to improve?

On another post I mentioned I enjoy playing doubles with a weaker partner because I feel like Superman flying all over the court. If I'm playing with a stronger partner or one around the same as me I tend to freeze up at the net because I don't want to jump in front of the ball and cost us a point. In my league matches I hate to say this but a part of me is afraid to poach because if my partner misses the shot I can blame him.

By poach I just mean getting out of standing close to the net near the alley and attempting to move forward and intercept the ball. I know to move forward and not parallel to the baseline.

 

[Gazelle]

Pff, guard the alley. It's not the net player's job to guard the alley, that's the task for the one standing on the baseline. Lazy **** should be prepared to put in a sprint when opponents hit down the alley, not just stand and watch.

 

[beansprouts1]

In your situation it is very important not to get sluggish and flat footed. It’s very easy to just watch and try to “guard” alley. But when the ball finally comes at you, you’re not ready and stiff, out of rhythm since you’ve barely hit any shots, and you miss your “easy shot”. That in turn causes you to be tighter and less effective. I see a lot of situations where a strong Backline player ends up losing the match because he/she sidelines the partner whereas the oppponent works together and beats him 2v1.

I’ve found the way around this is to continuously try to adjust your positioning to one of additional pressure on your opponent. You don’t have to do a high risk “poach” but make yourself a presence in the match. It’ll keep you moving also

 

[texastornado]

I’ve found the way around this is to continuously try to adjust your positioning to one of additional pressure on your opponent. You don’t have to do a high risk “poach” but make yourself a presence in the match. It’ll keep you moving also

I agree, typically the people who are "not good" at volleying are stationary when their partner is hitting at the baseline. If you're moving around and repositioning to cut angles and "pinch" the middle while your partner is hitting, it's only an extra half step to go from "pinching" to poaching when you see a weaker than normal reply from the opponent.

 

[TennisCJC]

If you partner is a strong baseline and they don't come in, then you have the luxury of getting a little closer to the net - stay in the middle of the box or a little closer. Yes, look to poach any weak balls in the middle. If you partner hits a wide ball, then you should look for a DTL pass, otherwise cheat toward the middle a bit and split step as your opponent hits. Try to get a quick break and anything you can reach is yours. If you miss a few, don't worry. You want to win 60% or more so accept some misses. If you partner complains, tell them to get their butt to the net instead of playing singles. Volley down the middle to split the opponents or volley through the opposing net person. Don't worry about hitting the opposing net person as it's their responsibility to turn around if they cannot handle your shot.

 

[beansprouts1]

This is a pro-am situation. I'm a strong 4.0 and the other amateur is an average 4.0.

The main danger in the cross court rallies with my pro vs. the other amateur is if the other pro poaches and goes at me or is able to take control of the point. The opposing amateur basically gets out of the way at that point.

I'd say winning is a secondary goal. My main goal is to become a better doubles player and I'm still trying to get better at the idea of poaching. If I'm standing in the alley watching my pro play how am I going to improve?

On another post I mentioned I enjoy playing doubles with a weaker partner because I feel like Superman flying all over the court. If I'm playing with a stronger partner or one around the same as me I tend to freeze up at the net because I don't want to jump in front of the ball and cost us a point. In my league matches I hate to say this but a part of me is afraid to poach because if my partner misses the shot I can blame him.

By poach I just mean getting out of standing close to the net near the alley and attempting to move forward and intercept the ball. I know to move forward and not parallel to the baseline.

I would do the following in this situation:

if your partner the pro hits a ball to opposing amateur that is not poached chest up towards middle. Decent 4.0 is unlikely to hit a blazing winner dtl off a pro coaches ball, even if he did probably hit it late by accident and got lucky.

now the opposing pro is going to know this and he will be looking to pressure your pro by cheating towards the center. He knows he needs to take more chances during pro vs 4.0 rallies to win points. So you need to be around the service t when your pro hits the ball to be ready for volleys. Try to aim your volley blocks to opposing baseline since opposing pro is probably better volleyer than you. That way your pro is not left to cover 3/4 of the court. Also opposing pro is unlikely to make great volleys consistently since he’s taking chances on volleys to take pressure off his partner.

 

[jxs653]

You want to win 60% or more so accept some misses. If you partner complains, tell them to get their butt to the net instead of playing singles.

This is true. Poaching is low probability shot. Both players being at the net is always a better idea.

poaching when you see a weaker than normal reply from the opponent.

If you respond to weaker ball I wonder if it can be called poaching. Because when you poach you start moving (and be committed) without knowing speed, direction, height, spin etc. of the coming ball. You adjust in a split second.

 

[texastornado]

This is true. Poaching is low probability shot. Both players being at the net is always a better idea.

If you respond to weaker ball I wonder if it can be called poaching. Because when you poach you start moving (and be committed) without knowing speed, direction, height, spin etc. of the coming ball. You adjust in a split second. Or just you get passed.

Clarification - when you see the opponent is likely to be hitting a weaker shot.

 

[Hit 'em clean]

First off you should never be standing near the alley... you'll never be able to poach from there. Positioning should always start with you in the middle of the service box. You only need one cross step to effectively cover the alley for the most part unless someone hits an amazing shot. DTL is a high risk shot and positioning yourself near or in the alley is one of the more common mistakes people make playing doubles. Rule one is always cover the middle or squeeze the middle. If your opponent starts hitting several winners DTL then okay cheat a little bit that way on wide balls or sit there every once in a while to make them think, but always cover the middle.

If you're playing a match the object is to win so if you're partner doesn't want you to cut balls off I would assume that it's because he believes that's a winning strategy. However, you should try and cut off balls provided you're not selling out your side of the court. Unless you're missing or ineffective at doing so... you're partner should be okay with that. But I've seen partners that try to poach and miss the ball due to being late or not getting there and then it throws me off at the baseline which might be why he has an issue with it. Another issue is if my partner poaches, but doesn't volley well enough to put the ball away or leaves sitters/put away shots for the other team... then that's not so good either. I have a pretty strong baseline game and my partners usually let too many balls go by them because they would rather I hit my big crosscourt ground strokes. Unless you're a liability at net or poaching... I always tell my partner not to be afraid to poach. My ground strokes usually leave them easy poachable balls. If they miss a few I tell them to stay at it unless it's really obvious it's not working then I might tell them to stay.

You're not wrong in your thought process provided you're not selling out your position on a poach. If you are 'selling out' and abandoning your side of the court it usually needs to be something you tell your partner so they can cover and won't be surprised. Anything within a cross step from your position should be something that you should try and cut off. Usually if you're partner has such great ground strokes and is hitting to a much weaker opponent... there's really no need for you to cover the alley at all... that would be an almost impossible shot for them to change direction on the ball and hit over the high part of the net. In that case I would slide toward the center of the court before my the player makes contact so you're even better positioned to volley the ball away. You're covering the court they are most likely and capable of hitting into. It works... took me a while to understand this as I used to play singles. You might feel like you're leaving the line open, but trust me you'll be in the right place more often than not. But that's an issue you have to take up with your partner...

 

[socallefty]

When I’m at the net and I’m poaching by instinct without signaling an intentional poach, I’m going to go after every ball that I think I can hit an offensive volley on - either a winner, a volley into open space or a volley that I can hit hard at the opposing net player. Usually this means that I will be poaching on high balls that are within my reach that I can hit down on or or volley hard with directional control while I’m moving forward - I won’t go after balls where I’m too late and can make only a lateral movement or if the level is dipping below the net.

With regards to signaling intentional poaches to my serving partner, I won’t call too many of them if the server is winning 75-80% against one of the returners whether the server is coming to the net or staying at the baseline. On the other hand if one of the returners is winning a higher-% of points with solid cross-court returns, I will call intentional poaches and cross on at least 25-30% of points and sometimes even more. I‘m a lefty and I’m also more likely to signal intentional poaches when I’m at the net for an ad-court serve as I can cross to my forehand volley side (to the ad side) and the righty server can move to their forehand side (deuce court) behind me.

If the returner is weak, I can get to a lot of poaches by instinct without signaling intentional poaches anyway as I can start off from a position that is closer to the middle. The quicker the net player with active footwork between shots, the more closer to the middle they can stand at the start of the point as they might still be fast enough to anticipate and cover the majority of alley shots. That’s why you see advanced players and pros standing closer to the middle (even if it is not I-formation) at the net in doubles compared to less athletic lower-level rec players. They might also stand closer to the net as again they are quick enough to react and go back to smash lobs.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

When I’m at the net and I’m poaching by instinct without signaling an intentional poach, I’m going to go after every ball that I think I can hit an offensive volley on - either a winner, a volley into open space or a volley that I can hit hard at the opposing net player. Usually this means that I will be poaching on high balls that are within my reach that I can hit down on or or volley hard with directional control while I’m moving forward - I won’t go after balls where I’m too late and can make only a lateral movement or if the level is dipping below the net.

One definitional nit to pick: to me, a poach is when you move before the opponent has hit the ball. if you already have information on what type of ball the opponent hit, then that means you're not poaching; I'd call that pinching the middle.

[By the same token, serving and then waiting to see how good my serve was before deciding whether to come in and volley, is not S&V, IMO. S&V means I've committed to attacking the net without waiting to see the outcome of my serve.]

Also, if you were to poach [vs pinch], you have to commit because your partner is going to see your move and compensate by moving in the opposite direction to cover where you just left. If you see the return is a difficult volley and you let it go, your partner won't be able to cover that because he's already vacated that space?

 

[socallefty]

When I poach by instinct, my partner crosses behind me only if he sees me cross the center line of the service box and go after the ball - since I’m volleying the ball, he is crossing only to cover the next shot and can do so somewhat late after he is sure that I’m poaching. It is a very rare occasion (once in eight or ten sets?) where I might take a step (or two) to cross the center line and then let the ball go because it was too difficult a volley and sometimes my partner hasn’t crossed and can get the ball, but often he will miss even if he is there because his racquet isn’t ready as he thought I would hit the ball. I will apologize in this case to my partner for contributing to lose the point.

When we signal intentional poaches before the serve, then I am going to cross 100% of the time and my partner will switch behind me always also. If I can’t get to the return in this case, it is just going to be a lost point. In the case of intentional poaches, my partner will cross as soon as he finishes serving as it is possible that the return will come to him and it is not only the return+1 shot he has to worry about.