Doubles Only Tennis Podcast

Doubles Positioning Masterclass: Pros & Cons of Different Serve and Return Formations

• Will Boucek • Episode 203

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0:00 | 23:42

Do you use different serve and return formations? You should be! This episode will cover the pros and cons of each formation.

  • When to NOT use regular formation while serving.
  • What is the best formation against BIG returners.
  • When should I play 2-back while returning?

This is a preview of my presentation from Tennis Con 8 which goes live today. To watch the full presentation, sign up here before 10/31.

Get lifetime access to all 40 presentations here.

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Doubles Tactics and Membership Launch

Speaker 1

Hey everybody, welcome to today's episode. I'm going to cover doubles positioning today, so we're going to go over pros and cons of both serve, different serve formations and different return formations, and this is basically a preview of my presentation for TennisCon8. So I will link to where you can sign up for TennisCon 8 in the show notes. I've been mentioning it in the newsletter a lot recently. Last week we had Peter Freeman, who is the host of TennisCon 8, on and he shared eight lessons with us. So I will link to the place where you can sign up and watch my full presentation for the next 48 hours in the show notes. This is going to be released on October 29th and the way Tennis Con 8 works, it's totally free to sign up. You'll enter your email and each presentation is released on a certain day. So it's Monday through Friday this week and when the presentation is released it's free for 48 hours. And then if you want all of the presentations, which there's over 40 of them from different coaches around the world, then you can purchase a lifetime membership, which I believe is only $97. You get 40 different presentations for only 97 bucks. So it's a pretty good deal If you do purchase through the links in our show notes. Tennis Tribe does get a percentage of the sales, so it's a good way to support other coaches and support what I'm doing as well. So I really appreciate it. But of course it is for free for the next 48 hours, if you're listening to this podcast on the day it's released, october 29th.

Speaker 1

So a quick announcement on the membership before I get to the pros and cons of different formations. So I've got a launch date. We're going to launch the memberships on November 12th. We're going to have three different membership levels. There will be a starter slash recreational level. There will be a club player level, which will be the mid-tier I think that's going to be the most popular level. And then there will be a higher end level that's going to be called the private client level. That is going to include one-on-one coaching with me, so it'll be very high-end. It'll be very limited as far as the rec and the club player levels.

Speaker 1

You're going to get premium video content. So I'm going to have new lessons every single month that are going to be anywhere from five to maybe 15-minute lessons on different doubles topics. I might be talking about serve strategy. I might be talking about return tactics, approach shots. I might be breaking down a particular point from a club level match or even from an ATP or WTA level match. We'll also have monthly live webinars. Those will be recorded as well, in case you cannot attend them. So the live webinars will be a new topic every single month and it's going to be really a growing library of content.

Speaker 1

So for the first month or so, the price of the membership is going to be relatively low and it's going to go up over time as we add more and more content to the membership. And then you'll also get access to all of the courses and eBooks that I have created so far with the club level membership. So a lot of you have been interested in the NetPlay Strategy Masterclass or the Mental Game Masterclass or some of the webinars we've done in the past, and you maybe don't want to pay full price for them. Well, through the membership, you can pay a low monthly price and get access as long as you continue to be a member. And then the last thing you'll get which I've been working on hard the last couple of weeks is exclusive discounts through different products that I use and I recommend for club level players. So you'll get discounts on gear through Tennis Warehouse. You'll get a discount on Ria sunglasses, which are my favorite sunglasses for tennis. You'll get a discount on the Top Spin Pro, the ADV Tennis Bag, the Functional Tennis Sabre which I recently interviewed Fabio Mole, who invented the Functional Tennis Sabre, on the podcast, so you may have heard that episode and some other products as well. So a lot of my favorite tennis products. You're going to get exclusive discounts that are for members only and then, last, you'll get discounts on strategy calls.

Speaker 1

Again, if you're a private client, then you'll get strategy calls one-on-one with me anyways, but if you're a club level client or a club level member, you'll get discounts on those one-on-one strategy calls if you do want an assessment of your game with me. So I'm really excited for that. We're going to have more to come on that over the next couple of weeks and then we'll be launching it on the 12th. Our first members-only webinar is going to be two days after that, on November 14th. That's going to be Thursday, november 14th. I don't have a time for it yet. I think we're going to do it around lunchtime in the US so that people in Europe can attend as well. I feel like that's the best time for people kind of all over the world. But we may make some adjustments over the coming months as far as webinar timing, and again, they're all recorded so you'll be able to access those with your membership as well. So keep an eye out for all that.

Speaker 1

And let's dive into today's lessons. So we're going to cover doubles positioning. So in my masterclass I've got a presentation. There's some graphics and images in the presentation. Again, to get full access you'll need to sign up for TennisCon 8, which I'll link to in the show notes.

Speaker 1

But let's start with serve formations. So we're going to start with regular formation, the most common formation you see at the club level, and I'm going to go over the pros and cons of each of these. So, pros of regular formation you're forcing the opponent cross court. Obviously that is one benefit. By forcing the opponent cross court, the server has more time to react. So when you are serving cross court, the opponent returns cross court. That's the longest direction that the opponent can hit into. So the server has a lot more time to react because the ball has a lot further to travel in regular formation. So it makes your serve plus one shot as the server a little bit easier.

Speaker 1

Another pro is it's more difficult to hit a lob against the regular formation because if you're lobbing the net player, you're generally trying to go down the line and that is the shorter part of the court, so it's a little bit more difficult to hit a lob. It's also a little bit more difficult to hit a return winner, so it's hard to pass that net player down the line a lot of times. It's hard to redirect a serve down the line in general and then obviously going cross court. The server is there so it's hard to hit a really fast-paced angle that they just can't get to. So you're not going to have a ton of return winners when using regular formation.

Speaker 1

Now a few cons of regular formation. So it's easier for the opponent to simply make the return. You're going to get a lot fewer errors if you're using regular formation. One of the reasons for this is it's what most teams use. When you go out to a USTA tournament or league matches, almost every team is using regular formation, which means almost every returner is getting lots and lots of reps returning against regular formation. So they're going to get pretty good at returning against regular formation. So you're not being different than anybody else by using that. So you're going to get a lot fewer errors. It's a much easier return for the opponent. It might be a very strong return for the opponent.

Doubles Formations and Strategies

Speaker 1

The server's partner can also get very stagnant in regular formation. A lot of players worry about getting burned on the line. They cover the alley too much. I run into this when I'm serving in club level matches. So if I'm playing a mixed match or even a 5-0 level match, my partner at the net in regular formation I need them to help me out a lot because my serve is not the biggest strength of my game. I don't get a lot of free points on it without my partner getting involved at the net. So if I'm using regular formation a bunch and they're not poaching or faking or moving a lot at the net and they're kind of hugging the alley, then I'm going to have trouble holding serve. So keep that in mind. If your partner is getting stagnant at the net then, especially on your first serve, you may want to avoid regular formation.

Speaker 1

So let's go over I formation next I formation pros. So the returner has to guess and it creates a lot of discomfort, a lot of anxiety and you can generate a lot of return errors if you use I formation because they don't know which direction the net player is going to move. They could move left, they could move right, the down the line might be open, the cross court might be open. The returner just does not know. So you can force a lot of return errors using I formation. It forces the server's partner to get involved. So this goes back to one of the cons of regular formation. If I'm playing with someone who is struggling to get involved at the net we call poaches, but they're a little bit hesitant and they're not getting over there fast enough, they're not getting to the spot quick enough, I will use I formation to force them to the middle of the court and just have them start there, and that way it makes them get involved and it helps me as the server generate. More return errors puts more uncertainty, more discomfort, more anxiety on that returner.

Speaker 1

Another pro of I formation is there are tons of options out of this. So you can have the net player move left, you can have the net player move right, you can have the net player stay directly in the middle, which is often a good thing. You can have the net player fake one way and go the other way. There's tons of different options so it can be really disruptive to the returner because you have so much optionality out of the I-formation and it really disrupts a returner's rhythm. So if you're playing someone who's returning really well cross court, this is a great way to just disrupt their rhythm. Throw them off. Even if you're giving up a few winners, it might be worth it because you might be generating even more errors and getting more volleys for your partner at the net.

Speaker 1

A couple of cons of eye formation. Obviously it's a lot easier for the opponent to hit a return winner. You can get burned down the line. So if the opponent especially if they hit the ball really hard or if they take the ball really early on their returns, if they take that ball down the line, it's difficult as the server or even as the net player, if you're moving back to traditional formation, to recover and get over there. You do have to have decent speed and agility and this is something that is relative to your skill level, right. So at the pro level they're hitting the ball a lot harder, but the players are also a lot faster, so the server's a lot faster so they're able to get over there and cover the line if out of the I formation they're shifting to a down the line rally.

Speaker 1

But the return's coming a lot faster too, so it's all relative. If you're an older player who is playing 3-0 level doubles, well you can still use this because even though you're slower covering that down the line, shot the serve and the. This because even though you're slower covering that down the line, shot the serve and the return are also going to be slower, so the ball is going to get there a lot faster or a lot slower, so you have more time. So it does depend on kind of your relative speed and agility, relative to your skill level. And then last, the lob return becomes a lot easier. So against I formation, regardless of if you're returning on the deuce or add court, one of the best returns you can hit, especially against first serve, is the lob return cross court. It's very difficult for that net player to get back for that overhead. So the lob return does become a little bit easier against I formation.

Speaker 1

So that is one other con of eye formation. Now the last one is for club and adult level players. It's a little bit difficult to get kind of down into the crouch position You'll see some pro players take a knee or get into like a really low squat. And if you have bad knees or if you're a little bit older and can't kind of get down into that low position, then I formation is going to be very difficult for you and you might pop up a little bit slower. So it might be a little bit, a little bit difficult for you to pop up and get that volley.

Speaker 1

So next let's look at Australian. So Australian formation pros, you're forcing the opponent down the line. So what is good about that? Well, because of the way the rules of tennis work, where you have to serve cross court into the service box, cross court the opponent, the returner, by forcing them down the line, you're forcing them to redirect the ball. Forcing them down the line, you're forcing them to redirect the ball, and redirecting the ball in tennis is not easy. It's much easier to hit the ball exactly back to where it came from. Redirecting the ball is much more difficult. So that is a pro of Australian formation, for sure.

Speaker 1

Another pro of Australian formation is you can hide weaknesses. So I talk a lot about right-handed teams. If you have two really bad backhands, if you have a bad backhand volley and the server has a bad backhand ground stroke, you can run Australian formation when you're serving to the ad court. That forces the returner to go down the line to your forehand as the server and then it exposes your forehand volley as the server's partner at the net. So it's in the middle. So it's a really great way to hide weaknesses.

Speaker 1

Another pro of Australian formation is that teams rarely see it. So this is similar to I formation. Most teams are using regular. So by using something different it's going to disrupt the returner, it's going to create a little bit of doubt, a little bit of anxiety in their mind and they may not be used to returning down the line like this. So you can often generate a lot of return errors and really make them uncomfortable and kind of throw off their game plan as the return team by using something different, which in this case is Australian formation. And then last, it's great against big returners and players who you have a bad cross-court matchup with. So if you think about your cross-court matchup, if you were to rally cross-court with this particular returner that you're serving to, who would win that cross-court matchup? If they are really good at rallying cross-court, if they hit the ball really big, then you might want to get out of that cross-court matchup and Australian formation is a great way to do that by forcing them down the line. They actually have to take a little bit of pace off the ball. They have to hit with a little bit more spin potentially, depending on your level, because Australian the net is higher down the line and the court is shorter. So if they hit that same really big return down the line they're more likely to either miss it in the net or miss it long. So it's a really good tactic to use against players who return the ball really big or if you're in a bad cross-court matchup.

Speaker 1

Cons of Australian formation it requires again some relative kind of speed and agility from the server. So you serve and then you have to get all the way over to cover the line. Most net players really don't know how to run Australian formation very well. What I find is most net players cover their half too much when really they should be staying around that center service line. And then you can tend to and this is something I've struggled with in the past using Australian you can tend to double fault a bit more because as the server you're going up for your serve and you feel like you have to quickly get over to cover the line and you don't finish your service motion forward into the court. Instead you kind of lean the direction that you know you have to run and it can cause a few more first serve faults and a few more double faults potentially. So if you are going to run this, really focus on finishing your serve before you run over to cover the line as the server. So keep those things in mind Again in the presentation. If you want to sign up for TennisCon 8 and see the full presentation, I have some diagrams and images that will illustrate the positioning for each of these formations as well.

Speaker 1

So next let's go over return formations. So with the return formations you really have two options and there's a lot of flexibility between the two. In the presentation I show some images of different pro teams and how they adjust between first and second serve. But regular formation is when you have one player up at the net and another player back, obviously at the baseline. Returning that player at the net is usually around the service line. Maybe there are a few steps inside of it, maybe there are a step or two behind it, but we call all of these regular formations.

Speaker 1

So with regular formation you're generally going to have better offense. So you have a player at the net which is going to apply more pressure on the opponents. You're particularly applying more pressure on the serve plus one shot. So if you're able to get your return past the opposing net player back to the server, that server is going to have a lot more pressure on their serve plus one shot. If your partner, that is, the returner's partner, is up at the net. If they're up at the net applying pressure, the server is going to serve. They're going to feel the return come back and then they're going to sense that player at the net applying pressure and that serve plus one shot is going to become a lot more difficult. So you can force errors that way, you can get volleys. That way. It's definitely better for applying pressure.

Net Play Formations in Doubles

Speaker 1

Regular formation it's good to use against timid net players. So if the opposing server's partner is timid, if they're not very involved or active at the net, it's definitely recommended to use regular formation and it's almost always good against second serves. Generally most servers' partners at most levels of doubles are not going to be very active when their partner has a second serve, they're not going to poach on a second serve. So you can trust that your partner, if they hit any return cross court against regular formation, for example, you can step forward and apply pressure on that server's serve plus one shot. Now, two back formation is better for defense. So if the server has a really big serve, for example, and your partner's having trouble getting it past the opposing net player, or if the opposing net player uses a lot of I formation or Australian formation or they just poach a lot and they're very aggressive, two-back is better for defending, especially against first serves. It can be really really effective mending especially against first serves. It can be really really effective.

Speaker 1

It can be good to set up your ideal baseline slash net combination. So I've talked about this in the past If I'm better at the net and my partner's better at the baseline when I'm returning, we might play two back and I might hit my return and try to get to the net as soon as possible so that they have to rally to my partner back at the baseline. This is a very underrated tactic and using two back formation can set this up so that you get into kind of your ideal positions as a team and then it's also good to use again against aggressive net players, big servers or if you have two singles players who just have a really good ground stroke. So if you're more of a singles player and you're starting to get into doubles, I definitely recommend you work on your net game and do try to get forward when you can. But if you're playing a match tomorrow and you need to win this match, go ahead and play two back if you're much better from the baseline.

Speaker 1

So if you and your partner are both more of kind of quote singles players and you're better at the baseline you have really big forehands, for example, or you have really big ground strokes and your volleys aren't that good you're not sure how to move at the net then it's okay to play two back in that scenario. So hopefully this helps give you an idea of some different formations you can use as the serve and return team. Again, you can sign up for TennisCon 8 to get the full presentation for free for the next 48 hours or so. It will expire on Halloween, actually on October 31st. So check that out in the show notes and sign up for TennisCon 8. And I will talk to you all next week.