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When you play against teams that don’t understand logic based doubles positioning or players that are inconsistent with their stroke production you don’t really need to do much to win.

Keeping the ball in play until they make a swing error and give the point to you is a good plan, as long as you are more consistent and technically solid than they are.

If the other team is your technical (stroke production) equal but lacking the knowledge and or discipline to play from sound positions in the course of developing doubles points, the odds will favor you heavily as the match unfolds.

Once the core skills are firmly ingrained, the configuration of the partners as points are engineered is the key ingredient in doubles success.

Yes I said engineered!

Nothing is a surprise to a good doubles team. They know what shots the opponent can make based on where that opponent is positioned on the court and in that knowledge are working as a team to either defend against an attack or themselves press the attack.

Singles is pretty straightforward and simple. In singles even against a sophisticated opponent the plan is to open a space then play to that opened space or play behind the opponent as they scramble back to cover it.

Doubles on the other hand is made exponentially more complicated by the addition of two players and an extra nine feet of court width to cover.

Against a knowledgeable and positionally disciplined doubles team, there are never any clear openings in which to place your shots. The battle, in good doubles, is to try and establish the classically sound position first.

Having great strokes gives you no advantage in doubles unless you fully understand the implications of sound positioning and logical shot selection.

Spend equal amounts of time developing your strokes and increasing your understanding of the game of doubles to reap the greatest benefit from your practice time.

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Howie Burnett is a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association and tennis director at the Island Country Club on Marco Island. Burnett welcomes questions on strokes, tactics or etiquette. To reach him, call the tennis shop at 394-4464 or e-mail him at islandclubtennis@hotmail.com.