A few weeks ago, we busted a few myths about the rules for doubles tennis in my article “Myth Busting.” In that post, I concluded that the bottom-line tennis doubles strategy is this: know what your doubles team’s strongest formation is, and find a way to get there as often as possible.
Today, we’re going to look at the least-used formation, two-back at the baseline. If this is your team’s best formation, you both have great ground strokes; and in general, your ground strokes are more effective than your volleys and overheads. So how do you get into this formation on every point?
- On your serve: You both start back, and stay there.
- On your return: You both start back and fire the return low and hard.
This formation is often thought of as weak or defensive – but if you can both rip your ground strokes, then this is more offensive and aggressive than if one or both of you go to the net! With this tennis doubles strategy, the more you stay back, the higher your percent of winning points. Coming soon: two-up at the net.
