Well, you must remember Rich, that if they are playing level doubles, then SOMEONE needs to be at the net. If they are not looking to make their way towards the net, it must be you! If you are going back for a smash that is definitely yours, then hopefully they will go forwards to cover the mid and front court :s

Ultimately, often there is only one thing you can do (with ANY partner who is playing in a slightly strange way – hitting mid court clears and leaving full court clears is neither Mixed nor Level doubles strategy, you are justified in your confusion) is keep your eye on them, perform regular tactical analysis of what they are doing, and move as quick and best you can to cover the gaps. Notice: this is a great skill to have for playing with someone new! You really learn to cover up some of a partners weaknesses! At the same time, this is absolute rubbish for playing a good game of level or mixed doubles, meaning a game with a partner who is able to perform their role to the letter. Covering up for people greatly hinders playing “proper” doubles in terms of getting in the practice and learning to trust your partner.

On this note, I know two very good players, both have some weaknesses. The faster of the two, is always going outside his comfort zone to try and cover for his partner (risky intercepts and unhelpful smashes/drives). This is only because they don't trust each other. Because of this, they do not play “regular” doubles EVER. And because of that, neither of them evolves tactically and they never improve as a pair. The silly thing is, if they just stuck toregular tactics, they'd soon learn to cover each others weaknesses (and their own) properly AND bring each others strengths into play. But because there is no trust, neither of them is particularly impressive.

On a side note: if you EVER go for a shot and so does your partner, ask them: “shall I take those or shall I leave them for you?”. This pinpoints the exact problem, without sounding big headed (you are just trying to work out how to do these things tactically, learn what is “yours”) and can lead to a quick discussion on why you think its yours and why they think its theirs. There are roughly three scenarios:

They want to help:

If they are trying to cover for you, you can tell them “actually I am all over that, so you don't need to worry about it” – notice how I said “all over” meaning there is NO problem for you at all, you may even be expecting it. This should give your partner confidence.

They think its their shot and they are playing a high quality shot:

If they say that they are looking for that shot and think its theirs, AND if they play a good shot simply say “brilliant, where would you like me to be afterwards? Shall I be over INSERT PLACE?” which again will give you both a clear understanding of where to be and what is going on in the rally (your roles).

They think its their shot and they are playing a bad quality shot:

If its not a good shot, reassure them that you can help them out BECAUSE YOU ARE ALREADY THERE!!! Now they don't have to worry about it.

Anything outside these three scenarios e.g. “I don't know” can also benefit from one of these three discussions because ultimately on some level they thought they were meant to go for that shot.

Anyhoo, im sure you've all had enough of reading what I think. Anybody else with some good answers to these problems?

Matt