Doubles serving to an attacker

Hi Alois and Jeff,

Brilliant website...as usual!

I played doubles recently but had trouble serving to an opponent who has a very good attacking back hand. Any serve seemed to be fair game to loop, drive or flick depending on the length of the serve. In singles against this same player I mixed long serves with very soft, low spin serves and that seemed to prevent him from taking the initiative. In doubles though, he had less table to cover and it seemed much harder to find serves to stop him attaking or at least be able to predict where the return was going. Any suggestions?

Hi Nigel,

It is more difficult serving in doubles. If someone is attacking well off the short serve, mixing up the length slightly can help.  A half long serve can work well in that situation.  If you serve too short it is easier for them to attack the ball from close to the net.  Also serving closer to the middle line can be effective so the ball doesn't go long off the side of the table.