May 2000 -- Here is a play that works day in and day out for my doubles teams. It wins points, teaches each player an offensive and defensive strategy, encourages fast thinking, forces each player to play as a team member, and works on needed doubles shots like lobs and overheads.

Receiver’s responsibility
In men’s or ladies’ doubles at the 2.5 to 4.5 NTRP levels, one usually gets a soft enough serve to try to lob the return over the net person. I tell my students to yell, “short,” even before they hit the lob. As you know, the rule is you cannot talk while the ball is going toward your opponents. That is the letter of the law. The spirit of the law would allow for a quick yell as the ball is struck.

Responsibility of the receiver’s partner
Upon hearing “short,” which in reality means, “I have lobbed and it may or may not be short,” the receiver’s partner back peddles toward the baseline.

It took me years to figure out that both the lobber and partner were watching the lob. They were trying to determine if it was going to be in or out. It is critical to have both team members watch the opposing net person, and it is unimportant if the lob is in or out at that point. The net person will either prepare to hit the overhead, in which case the net person of the receiving team continues back, or will tell his partner “yours” and switch courts. If the net person of the serving team yells “yours,” or switches without saying anything, the lob was very successful. Now both players of the lobbing team run to their service line and stop.

What are the chances of the receiver’s lob getting past the net person? Well, you have me here. Our research indicates less than 40 percent of the time it is successful. However, the overhead from the server’s partner is not a winner a majority of the time, even at the 4.5 level. Half the time it is an unforced error or hit in such a manner that the receiving team can play the ball again.

What shot is the server likely to hit off a successful lob return? We estimate that over 70 percent of the time it is another lob, in which case the receiving team is now in a position to hit a put-away overhead. What are the chances of the server’s lob being deep in no man’s land? We estimate that it is less than 25 percent. That means three out of four successful lobs off a weak second serve produce a winning opportunity.

Responsibility of the server’s partner
This is the hardest position to learn for many of our players because they have to think and communicate quickly. The primary responsibility is to tell her partner if she is going to take the ball or not. She has to do that before the lob is traveling over the net area. Obviously, the higher the lob the more time she will have to communicate with the server.

Many of the 2.5 to 4.5 players don’t have the ability to recognize if the ball is coming where they can hit an overhead and be balanced while doing it. In order to solve that problem we tell our players to let their partner take it if the lob will bounce past their service line. If they are going to hit an overhead, they must direct it so it will bounce past their opponent’s service line in the direction of the net player who is backing up. An overhead hit in this manner usually wins the point outright. If it is hit back toward the receiver, in all likelihood the receiver will lob again and that second lob is missed by the serving team more often than not.

If the net person wants her partner to play the ball, I want her to not only switch courts, but also go back to the baseline with her partner and balance the team formation shoulder to shoulder. Finally, she should help her partner by calling it in or out. I don’t want the server to have to make the play and the call. Many beginners can only do one at a time, and I want them making the play every time unless the ball is at least 3 feet past the baseline.

Responsibility of the server
First, trust your partner. I don’t want my players to back up their partner just in case the lob is a good one. Winning teams trust each other. We trust our partners at the net to ask for help or to communicate their intentions before the lob gets to the net. Second, develop a lob, on the run, that will at least clear the net. At a 4.0 level it must be hit at least around the service line, and at the 4.5 and 5.0 level it must go several feet past the service line.

There are a lot of details to keep track of for a point that lasts about 5 to 7 seconds, but this strategy has been a proven winner for our teams. Many times we find opposing servers cannot even hit a lob on the run, so the lob off a weak serve is all that is needed. We work many hours on this drill and it has paid dividends. In each of the last six years that we have used this drill, one of my six teams has won its ALTA Division and/or the ALTA City Championship.

Fred Burdick, USPTA, is the director of tennis at Sunset Hills Country Club in Carrollton, Ga. He is also the executive director of the USPTA Southern Division.