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We have enjoyed
watching the Shanghai Masters doubles. These guys never seem to
worry about protecting their sidelines when their partner is serving
whereas my partners often tell me "to watch my sideline" all the
time. Should I try to poach more?
Anchoring yourself to the sideline puts absolutely no pressure on
the receiver. You are unable to take advantage of a weak return of
service or help your partner out from a winning position at the net.
You have taken away a key advantage from your team -- you get to
stand in the relative centre of the court without neither having to
hit a shot nor moving to that winning position; a key difference to
singles.
There
are two main kinds of poaching: opportunistic and strategic. The
opportunistic, almost impulsive, situation occurs when the net
player spots a weak shot and crosses in front of the partner to gain
the advantage. In the strategic situation, which is what you are
seeing in Shanghai, the doubles team executes a pre-planned poach,
complete with signals, to intercept a service return. The signals
are used not only to signal a poach but more importantly to instruct
the server where to serve.
If you
watch the Bryan brothers, you'll notice that the server
predominately serves down the middle of the court to force the
returner to try to hit the ball past the net player while reducing
the angles available to the receiver.
And as
for hitting the ball down your sideline, most of the time that will
occur because you or your partner hits a weak serve or a mid court
shot which gives your opponent too many angles. Your goal should be
to anchor your opponents behind the baseline as much as possible so
you can angle the ball out to the side for a simple cross court
winner.
Whatever grade you play, poaching should always be part of your
doubles strategy if for no other reason than to try to keep the
receiver guessing and off rhythm on service returns. If you're an
older player, and perhaps a step slower, you'll need to communicate
to your partner when you plan to poach on serve or set up some
simple signals. Even if you lose the point, you'll make your
opponents think -- and you know how you feel when you're on the
receiving end of a doubles team who is mixing things up.
An
occasional poach whatever your grade is sound doubles technique.
(c) Rob Muir USPTA
June 11, 2010 |
