Where can you stand receiving in doubles

Martin Stickley Asked 7 years ago

Hi Alois

During a match last night against a much stronger pair I decided to be ultra aggressive when receiving a serve. I tend to stand on the right with my right foot forward ready to hit the ball with my backhand (I am right handed), this gives my partner a good view of the table as I am away to the right. During the game, when receiving, I leant forwards and on many occasions I was able to hit a powerful backhand as soon as the service bounced up on my side.

This tactic got me thinking. Is it within the rules for me to stand around the right side of the table to get even closer to the net? I appreciate that the server could then just serve long which would cause me problems but would it actually be illegal?

I've never seen anyone do this but was curious. I am thinking that the rule might be that I need to be behind the end of the table, although when serving I don't need to be behind the end, just the ball has to be!

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Cheers,

Martin

Alois Rosario Answered 7 years ago

Hi Martin,

You are allowed to stand around the side of the table.

If you watch left handers receiving in doubles you will see that they often stand around the side of the table to get closer to the table.

← Position of the bat of the receiver during the serve Heavy side spin service return →

Martin Stickley Posted 7 years ago

Excellent. Thanks Alois. I may try this sometime soon. :-)

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 7 years ago

Let us know how it works.

Jean Balthazar Posted 7 years ago

When watching a doubles match where the server serves to a lefthander standing on the rigth side of the table with a righhanded partner in his ready position on the center line and close to the table, it's sometimes hard to identify who actually is the receiver !