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The Ten Most Common Doubles Errors

by Jim McLennan, TennisONE Senior Editor

Part Six: Not Focusing When Your Partner Serves

A very common mistake at beginning and intermediate levels of competition is for your partner to fall asleep or become distracted while you're serving. Just as it's the responsibility of the receiving team to play at the pace of the server, it's the responsibility of a good partner to be ready to play at the pace of his serving partner. If this habit of your partner continues, as Vic Braden would advise, dump your partner. But everyone needs to be taught good habits, so if you catch your partner doing what I'll show you below, point it out to him. If he doesn't change his ways soon thereafter, then dump him.

In the first photo below, I've tossed up the ball to serve and my partner appears to be conversing with the attractive snack bar attendant adjacent to our court. The most common distraction is looking at your teammates playing in the next court. Sometimes an alert net partner sees something, like a potential stray ball coming, that could disrupt play. However, he needs to raise his hand and stop the server from putting the ball in play, not just keep nervously glancing over to the next court. The server will sometimes notice his partner's distracted look over to the next court, and it will throw his play off as well. If your a good net partner, take control of the action and stop play if you see something distracting heading your way.

Another reason your net partner must stay alert and focused on your serve is that he must follow how and where you've placed your serve so he knows how and where to move. If I've sliced my serve out wide, my partner must slide over to cover the alley. If I've placed a good, deep serve down the middle, my partner could be at least leaning towards the middle to poach the return or kill the crosscourt floater. An initial step by the net person can be the difference between an easy put-away and a clean winner for your opponents. In the second photo below, my partner seems to have learned his lesson. Notice his good deep knee bend and good racquet preparation as I approach the net after serving. This is much better. OK, I might keep him for awhile.

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