Ok, getting the laptop out for this last posting from me on this thread, so things are getting serious.
Take a brief little journey with me, trust me, it is relevant. About 4 years ago, my friends and I decided to start a band, two of us had minimal experience playing in bands, the others had none, but we are all experienced players and are good on our respective instruments (upwards of 20 to 25 years playing our instruments each.) None of us had really gigged out at bars. We practice all of the time, and are a "good" band because of it, but we gig infrequently. Now, take a regularly gigging band who has been playing out at bars for 20, 25, 30 years, and they are going to be a lot more experienced obviously, they know aspects of gigging that we might not even think of, they can show up and set up their stage in half the amount of time, with little or no conversation, they know when to trade solos, when to get more quiet, get louder, take a break, change the set list, turn up the vocals, turn down the guitars, etc, etc, etc..... They have more experience, and no matter how much we practice, you can't replace experience playing live......
My thought process in posting here was simply to give some ground rules for people in hopes of helping them understand court positioning in response to
@Cindysphinx original post. Yes....yes.....yes, there are exceptions to every rule, especially in a sport where variables change from one point to another, and no one is saying here that you should follow rules blindly. My point is, if you are having to say "mine", "yours", "mine", "yours" on the majority of points, this is probably due to a lack of court positioning experience. Now, if your team is comfortable playing that way, THEN DO IT!!!!!! Ultimately, whatever makes you better and more comfortable out there. There is no right or wrong if you are comfortable doing what you are doing, especially if you have success.
As I said, you can't replace experience, and like our band, who are all good players, we don't know what we don't know when it comes specifically to playing gigs, as we just don't have the experience. The challenge I have faced with people in doubles on the tennis court is that, even if they are very good players, if they haven't played a lot of doubles, or haven't studied doubles tactics, is that they don't know and thusly don't adhere to basic movement and positioning rules.
@Cindysphinx original post gave some great examples of this. That guy isn't "bad" necessarily, he isn't ignorant necessarily, I don't know him, but if what
@Cindysphinx said happened, then he shouldn't be so judgemental and he should be open to learning. Don't be presumptuous, be open minded.
The problem is that these rules of thumb get developed and people follow them slavishly without understanding the thought behind the rule ["Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds."].
I actually find quite the opposite. I find many people don't adhere to any rules of thumb, or that somewhere they have come up with an "incorrect rule" and that is why they are having to say "yours", "mine", "yours", "mine". For example, people poaching when the serve is to the right handed receiver's forehand in the deuce court (worst time to poach, unless the opponents forehand stinks), or out of the corner of my eye watching my partner, who is with me at the net, slowly backpedaling ending up by the service line so they are constantly forced to volley up, "I am concerned about them possibly lobbing us".......yes, but by backing up, you are unable to hit offensive volleys and the lob becomes a self fulfilling prophecy..... or people poaching and not hitting the ball crosscourt, and following their poach in a switch (you poach, connect with the ball, you don't stop, you switch automatically, and your partner needs to cross behind you, you "follow" the ball.)
Yes, of course, there are exceptions to these three rules, to every rule dependent on where the ball lands, what the opponent's do, etc., but these guidelines help give a baseline to positioning and consistency of play, so your partner isn't caught standing on the same side of the court you are, bemoaning the fact that you didn't switch on the lob that was over your head when you were at the net.
I am not trying to be preachy, and at the end of the day, this is all fun, which is why, now that I am playing on a league team for the first time in years, I don't really care if my partner follows these ground rules or not, I just want to have fun and get a little exercise.
And I am not trying to claim I know all. Just about a year ago, I was playing doubles with a very good player who is a friend of mine. I threw up an offensive lob from the baseline while he was at the net, that if I say so myself, was pretty sweet (it happens so infrequently, just let me have this moment.) I knew the other team would be scrambling, I knew it was deep, and I knew when it bounced it would take off due to the topspin, so I came in baby, let's get offensive! My partner centered on the court kind of, shading to the side the lob was to bounce on, I came up alongside him, kind of wondering why we weren't positioned a little more equidistant apart. Our opponents threw up a high defensive lob, over my partner's head, down the line closest to him. He stood there, not chasing, obviously assuming I was back there, I turned to go chase, but it was to no avail. He then looked at me and asked, "what the heck were you doing up here?" I said, "hey, that was an offensive lob I hit, we had them pinned back, I came in behind it" ......and this is where I learned a valuable lesson. "No" he says, "offensive lob, you stay back for the very reason we will most likely get a defensive lob back. We center on the court, with me at the net, shading the one side a bit that the lob is on, and you at the baseline, doing the same." The theory? They will have to throw up a defensive lob, if it is short, the ball will be high enough and slow enough, that my partner can cover from alley to alley and hit an overhead for a put away. If it is deep, I will also have plenty of time to go alley to alley, and hit a more offensive ball than if I was having to retreat from the net to go fetch it. Lesson learned, schools out. We lost that point, but I won't soon forget that if I am at the baseline, and hit a good offensive lob, to not go charging in behind it, I will let my partner at the net clean it up if it is short.
Ok, fortunate for you I am done. There is a ton of great material available on double's strategy either online or in books. With four people on the court, the strategy and tactics double, and this is what makes doubles so much fun! But there are some commonly known rules that will help you "connect" with your partner better if you both know them. If you don't though, no big deal, just keep an open mind, don't be quick like
@Cindysphinx partner to blame your partner, and maybe, like me with my buddy, you will learn something to make you a better player in the future! And most of all, this ain't life and death, it is recreational tennis, so have fun, don't worry, and be happy!