Positioning when receiving the serve. The service receiver’s partner should be at the kitchen line and normally at the centre of their half of the court. Key point – they should be standing in a stance whereby they can watch their partner return the service. The point of this is that they can see at the earliest opportunity where the return of service is being directed. This will determine where at the kitchen the receiver will approach and where their partner should move to maintain the desired lateral separation between them and obtain maximum court coverage.

Shake and bake or rush and crush. The server and their partner should decide before the serve is played that they are going to deploy this aggressive tactic. Whoever receives the return of serve will drive it low and hard (i.e. not the traditional 3rd shot drop). This would normally be driven straight, i.e. at the service returner’s partner, or down the middle where it may cause some indecision as to who should play the volley.  The service receiver’s partner should immediately rush to the centre of the kitchen line to attack a possible weak return of the drive.

The shake and bake strategy it really only works if you get an easy return of serve to drive. If it’s fast and deep it is better to abort the plan and do a 3rd shot drop or, if you drive the 3rd shot anyway, both stay back for the 5th. Communication with your partner is crucial. They should watch your drive and make a decision about whether to rush up the court or not. If you do a 3rd shot drop or a poor drive then the strategy should be aborted and both stay back to defend the next shot.