Ever tried to watch an official doubles game of ping pong? You might have found your head spinning a little after each rally. No doubt, it’s difficult to make sense of what’s happening during a doubles game in table tennis, especially if you’re not sure how the game is actually played.
Table tennis – even the singles version – can be very complicated because of the many rules and regulations that oversee the game. These rules, enacted by the International Table Tennis Federation, help to maintain uniformity throughout tournament levels, and guarantee that all participants are playing fair.
Unfortunately for unknowing spectators, rules can be pretty complex, and every minute movement is taken into account to verify the viability of players’ moves. So if you want to keep up with those high speed rallies and you want to make sense of it all, then it’s best you brush up on ping pong doubles rules.
The Typical Flow of a Doubles Game
A doubles game of table tennis can be particularly confusing in that players need to follow strict guidelines on sequencing and landing in order to score a point. A team that fails to abide by the designated sequence of stroking will forfeit the play and ultimately cause the opposing team to score.
To start off this brief article, we’re providing an outline of the typical flow of a doubles game below for your guidance:
1. Coin Toss
A coin is tossed to determine which team will serve first. In some tournaments and events, the winner of the coin toss will get to decide whether or not they prefer to serve first.
In certain cases, the winner of the coin toss will choose the first server or their preferred side of the playing surface. For instance, in a coin toss where Team A wins over Team B, the umpire gives Team A the option to decide which of the two teams will serve first or which side of the playing surface they prefer. If Team A chooses to designate a first service, then Team B gets to choose which side of the playing surface they want.
Keep in mind that just because Team A chooses to designate a beginning service, doesn’t mean that their team will be the one to serve. This means they can designate Team B as the first to serve. If Team A chooses instead to designate each team to specific sides of the table, then Team B gets the responsibility of choosing who will serve first.
In some less formal events, umpires hold a single ping pong ball behind their back and make the teams guess which hand is holding the ball. The team to guess correctly gets to choose either first serve or court designation.
2. Service
The ball should be served from the right side of the table, and must land first on the right side of the server’s court before landing on the left side of the opponent’s court from the server’s perspective. From the receiver’s perspective, this is the right side of their court.
To make this easier to understand, the ball should travel diagonally from the server’s perspective. This diagonal trajectory should start at the bottom right hand side of the playing surface, and travel towards the upper left hand side.
At the start, once the teams have decided who should serve first, the player to deliver the service will get two opportunities to serve. Once these have been used, the opposing team then gets their chance to serve. Keep note that during both serves, it’s not allowed to switch players. That is, if the first of two services is delivered by player 1, the same player needs to deliver the second.
3. Returning a Serve
One of the things that make doubles unique is the fact that players need to serve and return the ball in a very precise sequence. This helps ensure that all players get the opportunity to stroke especially because some players tend to be more aggressive than others. To further explain this often confusing aspect of table tennis doubles, consider the scenario below.
· Team A, composed of player 1 and 2, has been designated as the first server. The team decide that player 1 will serve first.
· Team B, composed of player 3 and 4, are designated receivers for the first serve. The team decides that player 3 will have to return player 1’s service.
· Player 1 serves the ball, which is returned by player 3.
· Once the ball is back in Team A’s court, player 2 will be the one responsible to return it to Team B’s court.
· As the ball enters Team B’s court, it is then player 4’s turn to stroke.
· Upon entering Team A’s court, the sequence cycle starts again with player 1 in charge of hitting the ball.
This precise sequence continues until a point is scored. The purpose of the designation is to make sure that everyone gets an opportunity to hit the ball. Failing to follow this sequence will result to the opposing team receiving a point.
There is one specific instance however when this sequence can be relaxed. In games involving disabled participants, anyone from the receiving team can return the ball.
4. Switching Service
A team gets the chance to serve twice, before the opposing team is given their opportunity for two serves. Once both serves are exhausted, the previous receiver becomes the server, and the previous server’s partner becomes the receiver.
So in the scenario where Team A’s player 1 was in charge of service, player 3 becomes the server and player 2 becomes the receiver. Once player 3 exhausts all of their serves, player 2 becomes the server, and player 4 becomes the receiver.
This goes on throughout the game to ensure that everyone gets to fulfil every role. It also prevents teams from designating the same player over and over again, especially if they feel one of the two players is more capable or skilled.
5. Changing Court
One of the stipulations in the ITTF handbook indicates that teams should switch courts regularly throughout the course of the game. This is to help ensure that each person gets to experience the unique conditions on either side of the table. For instance, if a game is being played outdoors, wind conditions might affect the trajectory of the ball from a certain side of the table.
Courts are changed once one of the teams scored 5 points. Keep in mind that this also changes the way that services are received.
So if for the first half of the game, player 1 had been serving to player 3, once they switch courts, player 1 will then have to serve to player 4.
6. Winning the Game
Teams need to accumulate 11 points within 10 minutes of the beginning of the game in order to be declared the winner. If after 10 minutes, neither team has reached 11 points, the highest scoring team will be considered the winner given that they have a two point lead. This only happens however, if the cumulative score of both teams falls below 18.
If at the 10 minute mark, the teams collectively have 18 points or more, the game will proceed until one of the teams reaches 11 regardless of how long it takes. If in case both teams accumulate 10 points at the same time, the umpires call a deuce. At this time, service is reduced from twice per turn to just once. Then, the first team to establish a two point lead will be considered the winner.
Other than that, most other rules for singles play apply for doubles as well. The basic idea behind these specific rules for doubles games though is to help guarantee that all players get the chance to play specific roles and under all the different conditions around the table.
Scoring Points in Doubles Games
How do you score points in a doubles game? Well, there are a few ways that a team can accumulate points in the race to winning the game.
· A bad or illegal serve
· Failure to follow the sequence of hitting
· Failure to return the ball to the opponent’s court
· Failure to direct the ball to the correct side of the opponent’s court during a serve or return.
· Landing the ball outside of the playing surface
In Summary
Table tennis can be confusing all on its own. So you can expect that even just adding two more players can make it even more complex. Fortunately, there are guides like this one to help make those games a little more comprehensible to the humble spectator.
Stay up to speed on these ping pong doubles rules and be sure to make sense of that next tournament when you switch to the sports channel. Or spice up those backyard ping pong matches you just love to play with family and friends! Call on a buddy and try your hand at the game, following the same rules that the pros play by.