Left handed serving in doubles play

Dan Unknown Asked 14 years ago

How does a left handed player serve in doubles play since the ball must be served and bounce on the server's right table side, and then onto the receiver's right table side.  This would seem very awkward for a left handed player to serve fore handed in double play.  Do you think it would be possible to make a video demonstrating left handed doubles serving techniques?

Jeff Plumb Answered 14 years ago

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the question. In fact being a left hander is considered quite an advantage in doubles especially for serving. The reason for this is that the most popular serve today is the forehand pendulum serve. This serve is usually made from the server's backhand side of the court. For a left hander this means that the serve they use all the time in singles can be replicated for doubles. For a right hander however, they rarely serve the pendulum serve from their forehand side as this exposes their backhand.

If you take a look at our promotional video for Serving Secrets Revealed you will see some footage of Alois serving the pendulum serve from his backhand side. As he is serving in singles the ball might not bounce in the correct right hand side for a doubles serve but you can see how he can really use the same type of serve for singles and for doubles.