They Teach Doubles Wrong.

[travlerajm]

I was taught that the RP can take an aggressive stance closer to the net on a 2nd serve. I literally never see it done (and don't do it myself) until I started playing mixed and my partner likes to do it. I have found that just moving your positioning out of the typical will be disruptive enough for a free point here and there.

Yes!

In 8.0 mixed, the % play for a 3.5F RP when 4.5M is returning is to start all the way in hugging the net.

Conversely, in most cases, the 4.5M RP should generally start halfway between baseline and service line, and shifted over toward the centerline, to be ready to cover next ball when his 3.5F partner is attempting a return. And then charge forward if her return miraculously passes netperson.

8.0 mixed provides examples of the extreme cases, but the principle of adjusting pre-snap to suit the probabilities applies always.

 

[Shroud]

Ian is coming
Will miss @Shroud
But for Tampa
Will be loud

My views on poetry

Fixing Poetry

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost I am watching it snow My horse is queer He wears a bell I wont be sleeping There, much better!

tt.tennis-warehouse.com

 

[sureshs]

My views on poetry

Fixing Poetry

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost I am watching it snow My horse is queer He wears a bell I wont be sleeping There, much better!

tt.tennis-warehouse.com

@Shroud
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

I am watching it snow
My horse is queer
He wears a bell
I wont be sleeping

There, much better!


How do you know that your horse is gay?

 

[ByeByePoly]

What I find strange is that there is no other time in doubles where a player would want to deliberately position himself suboptimally because he wants to wait and see what his partner is going to do before he makes his move to try to get into a stronger position. Yet somehow, everyone considers the RP starting position a special case where it makes sense.

If RP is tight at the net he/she potentially blocks R's sharp cc ros, unless bending over/kneeling. I played mainly deuce side, and my go to deuce T ros was block/slice often toward alley depending on server and play of SP at net, and my partner tight at the net is potentially in my way. With the block/slice ros my partner had plenty of time to close net after ros, and many of us actually volley better with some forward momentum. My cc angle obviously improved from deuce wide ... if partner wasn't right on the net probably good to go. But one of the challenges of doubles is the narrowed ros lane ... at rec level generally you don't want to narrow it even more.

 

[travlerajm]

If RP is tight at the net he/she potentially blocks R's sharp cc ros, unless bending over/kneeling. I played mainly deuce side, and my go to deuce T ros was block/slice often toward alley depending on server and play of SP at net, and my partner tight at the net is potentially in my way. With the block/slice ros my partner had plenty of time to close net after ros, and many of us actually volley better with some forward momentum. My cc angle obviously improved from deuce wide ... if partner wasn't right on the net probably good to go. But one of the challenges of doubles is the narrowed ros lane ... at rec level generally you don't want to narrow it even more.

There you go again. Looking for weak reasons to defend the herd mentality.

 

[Shroud]

@Shroud
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

I am watching it snow
My horse is queer
He wears a bell
I wont be sleeping

There, much better!


How do you know that your horse is gay?

1st off its not my horse. I was fixing the poem. In the poem it says “ My little horse must think it queer”.

It was a joke that I misread it that the horse was gay.

Unofficially the horse had a Sureshs vibe.

 

[Shroud]

I played mainly deuce side,.

Nothing to see here. Move along…

 

[ByeByePoly]

How do you know that your horse is gay?

His horse could not keep from dancing when it saw this video:

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

"They teach poetry wrong..."

 

[Shroud]

"They teach poetry wrong..."

Poetry IS wrong

 

[Ft.S]

This is halfway the point I am making. But more importantly, the service line is, in most cases, a poor place to stand. So why start out there?

Why not do some math in your head before the point starts? If you think the odds of your partner’s return getting past the net person are pretty good, then why not start out in a more advantageous position to pressure the next shot?

Or if you think there is a good chance the return gets picked off by SP, then why not start in a better position to defend the putaway?

The point I’m making is that starting on service line has the advantage of making you flexible (you haven’t committed to offense or defense yet), but it has a really big disadvantage of being suboptimal for both cases.

I know what you are advocating is not and won't work for me or my level. The assumption you maybe making is that the return is consistent. It never is at my level. I do not know if it is even consistent at pro levels.

As the RP, I have no idea if the returner will be able to return the serve either avoiding the net player (CC) or going through the net player (DTL). So, the compromise is to stand at a point that is not ideal under any circumstance, then compensate depending on how the return is produced.

 

[NastyWinners]

I know what you are advocating is not and won't work for me or my level. The assumption you maybe making is that the return is consistent. It never is at my level. I do not know if it is even consistent at pro levels.

As the RP, I have no idea if the returner will be able to return the serve either avoiding the net player (CC) or going through the net player (DTL). So, the compromise is to stand at a point that is not ideal under any circumstance, then compensate depending on how the return is produced.

It also depends on the server...tennis is a game of nuance.