Mine in the Middle

The placement of your serve in a doubles match determines the amount of court that you and your partner are required to cover. 

Look carefully at the section of the net the ball must cross to land in the court on a service return in  

doubles.  

 A ball served to the center service line with a reasonable amount of speed ( it doesn't have to be  

120 miles per hour to be effective) must be returned over the center 50 percent of the net in order to land safely back in the serving team's court.   

The restrictions that serving target places on the receiver enables the server's partner to virtually abandon covering the alley and drift toward the center strap to intercept the return as it crosses that center area of the net. 

Conversely, a ball served wide that isn't played with devastating power or hideous spin forces the server's partner to move well toward the alley to cover the shot over the far edge of the net and also invites the returner to play a sharp-angle crosscourt over the very lowest part of the net and quite possibly out of the reach of the server. 

The very best doubles players play to the middle as an ongoing discipline, beginning with the serve and continuing throughout each point they play until their opponents err in their positioning and can be exploited with a low risk and high benefit shot selection. 

Playing to the center is a gold mine, so why not begin every point you can working the vein right there in front of you? 

(PLEASE NOTE: If the opponent has a glaring weakness, disregard the geometric tactic and place your serve there relentlessly!) 

Howie Burnett is a USPTA Elite Level Professional with over 50 years of coaching experience. Before accepting the Tennis Director position at the Island Country Club in 1998, he operated the Net Advantage Tennis Club management company and concurrently served for 10 years as Head Coach of the USTA Training Center for Elite level Juniors in Central Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Howie was inducted into the United States Professional Tennis Association New England Hall of Fame in 2016. He is currently teaching part-time on the Tennis Staff at the Marco Island YMCA. His Book --NET NOTES (common sense ideas to lift your game) is available on amazon.com. You may contact him with tennis questions or lesson inquiries at marcoY10s@icloud.com or hb10s@me.com.