How Tennis Doubles Receiver Order Works Explainer
At the start of each set, a doubles team decides which partner will receive in the first game the team receives. The other partner receives in the next receiving game, and that order continues alternately through the set. The choice can be changed when a new set begins.
Within a game, the receiver also alternates by service court. The player designated for that game receives the first point in the deuce court, and the partner receives the next point in the advantage court. The same pattern repeats as the score moves back and forth.
If the partners accidentally reverse their receiving order, the error is corrected as soon as it is discovered, but completed points stand. The proper receiver takes over for the next appropriate point according to the rules rather than replaying everything that happened before the mistake.
The order matters because doubles positioning is strategic: one partner may return better from a particular side, while the other is stronger at the net. Teams can choose the arrangement at the beginning of a set, but they cannot switch informally whenever a favorable matchup appears during that set.
At the beginning of each set.
Not simply for tactical convenience; the chosen order must be maintained until the next set.
No. Completed points stand, and the order is corrected under the rules.
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