Partner positioning is one of the easiest concepts to understand and one of the most difficult to employ diligently at all moments of a match. It can be exhausting! Even the best pros in the world don’t position themselves perfectly. Take a look.
This is a difficult play to read in the moment. You’ll need to hone your focus and play read ability from shear court hours. Practice, practice, practice through an abundance of matches with your partner.
We begin with Ben Johns serving and following the return with a third shot drop. He hits the drop a bit too high giving Vivienne David two options: a passing shot around Ben’s left side, or a spicy shot right through the middle of Ben Johns and Anna Lee Waters. She opted for the second option because of Ben and Anna’s positioning. They were too far apart creating the dreaded hole every doubles team fears to create.
How could Ben and Anna have prevented that shot from happening? How can you prevent it from happening another 57 times? Shadow the ball, and shadow your partner.
The next time you and your partner take the court stand side by side. Extend your paddle arms toward each others’ paddles so they’re touching. You’ll need to adjust your standing position so your arms aren’t bent. You want to stand where your paddles are touching and both arms are extended with one of you crossing your body if you’re not left handed. Take note of how far apart you are from each other. Remember it. You will want to move in tandem so you that you are at this distance at all times. It’ll be difficult shadowing each other while calculating risks from opponents, but this should be your default positioning as a team.
If Anna had closed in to shadow the ball and her partner, she would have been in the better position to block the middle shot from Vivienne.
Shadow the ball, and shadow your partner.
Ben could have shadowed his drop a bit more to the right to help with closing the gap, but he may have been calculating the risk of a passing shot to his left. Upon replay, it’s easier to see Vivienne’s form is 100% aiming to the hole in the middle. So Ben should have shuffled over to the right. However, that would likely be harder to gauge in the moment, but something you should definitely pay attention to during the match. After you spend enough time playing matches, you’ll start being able to read shots. Again, even the pros aren’t perfect at it.