GUIDES · BETSLIP DOCTOR
After the designated receiver returns a tennis doubles serve, must the partners alternate rally shots?
No. Rule 15 of the ITF 2026 English Rules sets which partner receives each service point: the team chooses its first receiver for the set, the partners alternate returns from point to point during their receiving games, and that order carries through the set. Once the receiver has returned the serve, either partner may hit later rally balls. The separate rule against both partners touching one return still applies, and No-Ad or No-Let formats have narrow additional conditions.
For Tennis doubles readers separating the service receiver’s assignment from later rally-shot choice · Updated
The service return follows a set order
The team receiving in the set’s first game chooses who takes that game’s first point. Before the second game, the other team chooses its first receiver. The receiver’s partner takes the next point, and the pair continue alternating returns in that order through the set.
This order is about who receives each serve from the alternating service court. It is not a rule that the same partners must alternate every shot after a serve has been returned.
After the serve is returned, either partner may play
Once the receiver has returned the serve, either teammate can hit the next ball in the rally. The return order does not require partners to trade every later groundstroke or volley.
Rule 24(l) is a different boundary: if both teammates touch the same ball while returning it, the team loses the point. That covers two players touching one return, not ordinary later shots taken by either partner.
Format options do not change every doubles point
In a No-Ad doubles hypothetical using Appendix VI’s general side-choice procedure, the receiving team chooses the side for the deciding point, but its partners cannot swap their receiving positions. Appendix VI contains a separate mixed-doubles deciding-receiver condition; apply that paragraph where relevant instead of treating free side choice as universal across every doubles format.
Appendix VI also describes a narrow option for doubles under the combined Short Sets, No-Ad and No-Let formats: if the sanctioning body permits it, either receiver may return a net-touched serve that lands in the correct service box. Do not apply that option to an event unless its rules say it is in use.
A fictional set with teams A/B and C/D
In a made-up set, team C/D receives first in game one and chooses C for that game’s first service point; D takes the next point, and the pair keep that receiving order through the set. Team A/B chooses its first receiver before game two. After C returns one serve, A/B may send the next rally ball to either C or D, and either partner may play it. If C and D both touch the same return, Rule 24(l) applies. A No-Ad deciding point or the combined Short Sets/No-Ad/No-Let option is a separate, expressly adopted format assumption.
Related questions
Can the same doubles player hit consecutive rally shots?
Yes. After the receiver returns the serve, either partner may play a later ball. The prohibition is both partners touching the same return.
Can partners switch for a No-Ad deciding point?
No. Under the Appendix VI No-Ad method, the receiving team chooses the side but cannot change its players’ receiving positions for that point.