Switching & the Switch Trick - How to Play Winning Tennis Doubles

Tennis Tips & Instruction:
Tennis Doubles Switching & the Switch Trick

Contents

Learn a little of what's in the Strategy
Guide's chapter on "Switching."

All can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

— Sun Tsu on The Art of War


		Tennis Doubles Strategy Units
		The 3 Basic Tennis Doubles Formations
		Up-and-Back Doubles Strategy
You are here		Switching
		Australian Doubles
		I-Formation Doubles
		Both-Up Doubles Strategy
		Both-Back Doubles Strategy

This tennis lesson introduces a brief subunit of instruction on switching in tennis doubles. You'll learn about switching and the Switch Trick Play. The subject is covered in much greater depth in The Strategy Guide and its video animations, where you get lob plays to protect against the Switch Trick and other goodies :)

Ready for some switching?

Most who play tennis doubles regularly already know about switching. And they do it. Because it sounds like such a good idea.

But is it really such a good idea?

I'll never forget the day I learned that isn't always such a good idea. It must have been the 999,999,999th time a certain girls doubles specialist from a certain rival school ran the Switch Trick on us. For once I was standing in just the right spot to see what was going on. And I caught the evil glint in that girl's eye just as she got a head start to easily poach my kid's shot.

Well, that was the end of that. Suddenly we found this school almost easy to beat, simply because we weren't losing both of the doubles matches anymore. In fact, we normally swept the doubles on them after that.

That is also the day I got hooked on doubles strategy, because the more I thought about it, the more I realized how cunning this trick play is, how it even suckers you into misplacing the blame for what's happening so you keep right on playing into the trap. What diabolical fun!

So, what is switching? When is it safe, and when is it risky?

In tennis, switching is doubles partners switching sides of their court during play. When both teams are in the Up-and-Back Formation, switching leaves one team in the Switched Position. For the sake of consistency, let us say that the team in the Switched Position is the one that must hit the next shot — usually the switching team.

The Switched Position puts your net player directly opposite the opposing net player (instead of kitty-cornered).

How to play tennis court diagram showing the Switched Position of the Up-and-Back Formation

Doubles teams switch on three occasions:

when their net player crosses the centerline to poach

when they're lining up to serve Australian Doubles

when a lob goes over their net player

Let's consider these three occasions, one at a time.

When your net player crosses the centerline to poach, he or she hasn't time to get back to their home-base side of the court. So, to cover the side your net player vacated, your baseline player too must cross. Because your team switches after its shot, this kind of switching puts your opponents in the Switched Position.

n	When you play Australian Doubles, you line up in the Switched Position to serve. But the serve can't be poached (it's against the rules). So the Australian Doubles setup puts the receiving team in the Switched Position for the service return.

n	The third time teams switch is by far the most common — when a lob goes over their net player. This third kind of switching, lob-switching, puts the team that switches in the Switched Position.

As we shall see, the Switched Position gives the opposition a license to poach. So the first two switching occasions aren't risky. In fact they give you, the switching team, that license. But the third and by far most common kind of switching — switching for lobs — is risky, because it gives your opponents a chance to poach your next shot, which is your return of the lob.

Switching for Lobs

Here's how lob-switching is generally done: One of your opponents, usually a baseline player, lobs over your net player. One of you says, "Switch." Maybe it's your net player, especially if he or she is afraid of blowing the overhead. Or, maybe it's your baseline player, especially if he or she is afraid of their partner blowing the overhead. In any case, at the sound of the word switch, your team switches sides of your court, and your baseline player plays the lob. See the illustration below.

tennis strategy court diagram that shows switching in doubles for a lob

Team AB successfully lobs Team CD's net player. So team CD switches to let its baseline player return the lob.

Notice that now the net players front each other.

Player A lobs over your net player (Player D). So your team switches, and your baseline player returns the lob. Switching looks like a good idea, doesn't it? But notice what sneaky Player B does. Team AB is running a play. The Switch Trick Play. They lob your net player to get you in the Switched Position for the return of this lob. Why? For the answer, see what happens next . . . .

Good luck on the tennis court!

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© 2001-2007, Kathleen Krajco � all rights reserved worldwide.
Operation Doubles: Tennis Doubles Strokes, Strategy and Tactics
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This page was last updated on 10/21/2007.
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