Your best double's serve tactics?

[Jslick89]

Hey y'all.

I got asked to play in a doubles event at an upcoming tournament. I rarely play doubles (for one, I already hate losing, so if my partner is the reason we lose, then i won't like my partner and thats not cool lol, also, if i'm the reason we lose, i would have let down my partner and that just sucks, but anyways, i digress).

For those of you that play a lot of doubles, can you please share your best doubles service tactics? I am a right handed player that can do a pendulum serve, tomohawk serve, and backhand serve, including all of the variations of spin (under, dead, top) and i am pretty precise in my placement.

I know the best serve is the one your opponent doesn't expect and also the serves that exploit their weakness, but I am looking for some general guidelines you like to follow and have found effective in your own doubles matches.

Thanks for sharing. my partner is also right handed. it would be also nice to hear about your movement techniques, especially after the serve, depending on the tactic.

 

[Lazer]

It’s a little backwards for right handed people. You are serving to the wrong corner. You just have to try to see what works better for you. For me it’s BH serve so I can stand way out to the right. Then it’s easier to get out ofbthe way.

Serve receive I think it’s a lot easier, I always receive with BH and get more time to place it, a lot of times deep to their receivers FH, or straight to their BH.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Tyce]

BH serves are a staple. Short placement to the far FH side is only useful until the opponent realizes they can step in around the table and have plenty of time to move back again.
Also be wary of creating so much sidespin that your partner gets a ball returned that they can't handle. It's harder to judge what someone next to you puts on the ball.

I like to keep it simple. Plain backspin, dead balls and topspin most of the time.

 

[netdriver]

keeping it simple is usually the best

short backspin and long backspin, introduce sidespin only on crucial points

unless your partner is high-level enough or both of you communicate with each other (to be honest i do not know what the little finger signals mean), serve variations might only make things harder for your partner instead of ur opponent.

 

[Jslick89]

keeping it simple is usually the best

short backspin and long backspin, introduce sidespin only on crucial points

unless your partner is high-level enough or both of you communicate with each other (to be honest i do not know what the little finger signals mean), serve variations might only make things harder for your partner instead of ur opponent.

lol we have signals for:

Deadspin, topspin, underspin
and
short serve or long serve

Partner is pretty good. USATT 2000. Kinda rusty from an injury that kept him from training hard these last couple years but still at least 1800 as a player.

 

[pingpongpaddy]

When playing match doubles, you should be trying to set up your partner.So.. let your partner choose your serve. Near the net and the centre with enough backspin so the other side cannot attack freely are good. Then make sure you are not in the way of your partner.
good luck!

 

[Lazer]

When playing match doubles, you should be trying to set up your partner.So.. let your partner choose your serve. Near the net and the centre with enough backspin so the other side cannot attack freely are good. Then make sure you are not in the way of your partner.
good luck!

But…
There is a problem when your partner wants a serve you are not comfortable with… When I play the server select and communicates with index finger forward for long, down for half long and backward s for short. All fingers down for topspin up for backspin, close fist for neutral or little spin. Side spin I usually don’t communicate.
So a long topspin serve will be
- index forward
- thennall fingers down

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Brs]

almost everyone serves short backspin. maybe throw in some short no-spin if your deception is good and your partner likes the third ball you get.

 

[Jslick89]

But…
There is a problem when your partner wants a serve you are not comfortable with… When I play the server select and communicates with index finger forward for long, down for half long and backward s for short. All fingers down for topspin up for backspin, close fist for neutral or little spin. Side spin I usually don’t communicate.
So a long topspin serve will be
- index forward
- thennall fingers down

Cheers
L-zr

I've noticed that many of the pros, the person who is getting the 3rd ball calls the serve, not the actual server. I'm pretty comfortable doing nearly all times of serves. Definitely have some that are better than others, but I would be OK with my partner calling out what serve I should do.

 

[JJ Ng]

Short backspin coupled with short no spin. Yes, I agree with the other posters. Don't put too much side spin unless your partner can handle the side spin coming back.

Also straight backspin is harder to return with a chiquita flip from the opponent (when you use a chiquita flip, you can borrow the server's side spin to make the return even more dangerous).

Once I notice that my short serves make the returning player hogging the table (they are now moving very close to the table), then I would serve long with pendulum side under spin to almost the midline of table to jam the person returning the serve. I have scored a couple free points here and there throughout the match doing so.

 

[Lazer]

I've noticed that many of the pros, the person who is getting the 3rd ball calls the serve, not the actual server. I'm pretty comfortable doing nearly all times of serves. Definitely have some that are better than others, but I would be OK with my partner calling out what serve I should do.

Yes, this is the best way but it requires a lot from the server. I like the server to decide and be prepared. If we get better at serving this may change…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[jk1980]

You should vary the serve depending on how the opponent is setup to receive it.
If we assume you and your partner are right handers and your opponent as well there are two option for him to receive: either standing there with the backhand or standing in the middle to receive with the forehand.

In both of those cases a side underspin serve targeting the middle line will be best to have the opponent have to change position to return the ball properly. In the best case scenario it drifts to the right (from the servers perspective) after bouncing once on the left half of the opponents table half. This will jam up the forehand receive, because the receiving playing needs to jump backwards which is awkward.
The backhand receive will have similar issues with this serve, since the ball travels outside of his perceived receive window often forcing him to backhand chop it, since the ball is not centrally in front of him (where a proper backhand should be played).

The worst you can do as right hander is to play a wide angle to the opponents backhand, because if the opponent receives it he has an even better wide angle into your back forehand leaving your partner stranded, because even if he would try to cover that angle you as the server would be in the way preventing a bigger swing at the ball.

 

[blahness]

Imo short no spin (or even mild topspin) is the killer here, unless the opponent has a great BH chiquita, it is very difficult for him to receive properly. Throw in some short underspin with the same movement to keep him guessing only if he proves to receive the nospin well. But go back to no spin after that in general.

Most amateurs push by default so serving underspin usually leads to a good receive by them. No spin or mild topspin is way better because it forces a long crappy return which your partner can attack easily. It is also coincidentally the best serve against pips because they can do nothing with it.

Of course if the opponent is good at chiquita you have to serve more heavy underspin otherwise the nospin serve is just inviting trouble.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Keep it simple, most doubles serves are fairly uncomplicated. As long as you have a decent short backspin and short no spin serve and can control half long or change to topspin on demand then you are good.

The most important thing is that whatever serve your partner signals for, you can deliver it, without any frills.

With diagonal serving adding deviations or kicks has much less effect and it’s harder to fool your opponent unless their level is much lower.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

My preferred serve by my partner:

Short light backspin to the mid of the table. I would prefer my opponent to push. If he pushes long, then it is a open up loop. If it is short slightly high ball, even if it is with backspin, as long as not heavy backspin, it is on the table loop kill time ala Ma Long / Xu Xin'esque. If opponent knows how to flick short serve, then I'll request a long heavy underspin serves and I will wait a bit farther to counter-loop his return.

Pet Peeves: When you are paired with noobs and he / she is clueless about doubles strategies; I feel like I wanna force choke him / her. Shits! It happens.

 

[Yurifi]

two time national doubles vice-champion speaking here ... 🤪

serve is quite important, but not in the department of winning the point, but losing 😉 ... many times I see people creating all sorts of complicated serves, with this rotation and that rotation ... and get burned, because then your partner receives this wild ball with all sorts of rotation on it. 😂

i.e. we were playing some doubles the other day, and me and my partner split up, to be on the opposite sides of the table and we paired with some seasoned club recreational players (we do that a lot for practice, actually). and every time I tried to outserve my buddy on the other side (or he tried to outserve me), my playing partner was in trouble with returning the ball as all the rotation got wild.

especially when you add short/long-pips or even antispin. that is whole another level.

don't be afraid with placement - this is maybe even more important. sometimes if I see a backhand receiver (I do both, depending on reading the receiver), I squeeze the receiver with a backhand serve to the side of the table ... or if he is receiving with forehand, to the middle of the table. maybe serve just a little bit longer so he might get tempted to open up, but still putting ball low so it is tricky or even middle long so it is tough to judge if it is long enough to open or not ... you can mix all that with backspin, no spin, topspin, but be sure to tell your partner when you will do something crazy so he knows what to expect.

when me and I partner play we allways show signs before the start of the point on serve, so we know what to expect. if it's gonna be short, long, backspin, sidespin, just a series of handsigns.

 

[SFF_lib]

keeping it simple is usually the best

short backspin and long backspin, introduce sidespin only on crucial points

unless your partner is high-level enough or both of you communicate with each other (to be honest i do not know what the little finger signals mean), serve variations might only make things harder for your partner instead of ur opponent.

Having played many doubles for many years. I can’t agree more. Some double partners just can’t smash. Some suck at short push. It depends on the level of your partner. Adjust serves accordingly.

Of course if you get a high level partner, you should practice together so you learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Over time you get used to some strategies.

 

[IB66]

I usually use a BH serve, short or 1/2 long. side/back, pure back, no spin and sometimes I throw in a 1/2 long side topspin serve.
How the receiver positions themselves makes a difference as well. If they return with their FH, it signals they are looking to return aggressively, maybe trying to intimidate or be threatening. Anything long will be punished!! This can have the effect of dictating what serve they get. Mind you if the receiver has a good BH flick / banana flick then that has the same effect!! The result is usually a short serve.
Keeping your serve tight is a must. It’s likely that 3rd ball is not going to be a point finisher, unless the receiver pops up a loose ball. So the rallies may be slightly longer. Placement of receives and 3rd/4th/5th balls is key.
Trying to reduce the receivers angles helps, if you serve wide, off the table then you open up the wide cross table receive. Which can put your partner under pressure. Keeping the serve towards the middle / centre line reduces the available angles for the receiver. Obviously a serve tight to the centre line is more risky, and maybe a little harder to do with BH as the side spin can pull the ball to the left, away from the centre of the table.
If your partner wants a ball to their FH (RH player) then giving a serve that allows the angle to opened slightly up can help.
Depending on your opponents ability, level, long serves are still an option. In our league matches, there is always 1 doubles match, depending on the format, the doubles is usually the 6th or 10th game. So you have an idea which serves the opponents have struggled with during the singles matches. So you can capitalise on this, and if it’s a fast long serve they receive poorly, then serve it and see what happens.

 

[pingpongpaddy]

But…
There is a problem when your partner wants a serve you are not comfortable with… When I play the server select and communicates with index finger forward for long, down for half long and backward s for short. All fingers down for topspin up for backspin, close fist for neutral or little spin. Side spin I usually don’t communicate.
So a long topspin serve will be
- index forward
- thennall fingers down

Cheers
L-zr

ABSOLUTELY!!
So if you are serious about your doubles, you need to practice1
this enables you to establish what works and avoid surprising your partner.
in addition a couple of practice games pushing only can help in being smooth on the in and out movement and learning how your partner moves.
I am righty, 5- 3 and over many years played with many different sizes and speeds of partner. Easiest was playing with a lefty looper, but most exciting was with another righty who was 6-4.
A few times I was crouching below table height with the ball passing over me. Opponents would try to drop shot him and then punch the next one at him fast so we would jammed on my shot.
doubles is fun !

The other side of this is receiving
You may be aware that the Japanese signal each other about receiving! That is fascinating Anybody got ideas about this? They touch different parts of their bat under the table TWICE BEFORE EACH RECEIVE. I would love a good explanation of this.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

1. I have just came back from my session tonight and I was adamant at practicing my strategy come hell or high water.
2. told my doubles partner to serve light backspin ball short or half long.
3. Meanwhile I stand at the BH corner in a crouching tiger position FH ready.
4. If the ball comes short and slightly high, even with backspin, as long as it is not extreme spiny, I will move in and execute an on the table FH loop.
5. If it comes with a lot of backspin, then I will push it back with my FH and wait for the next ball.
6. If my opponent pushes long, I will then do the standard FH open up and start the open rally.
7. I told my partner after you serve, just move back and let me have the whole table.
8. I manage to FH loop many of the balls and my success rate is around 50%.
9. It is not perfect, but it is darn super satisfying.