Hi Dan,
I just wanted to say that I respect your response and how you
kept a cool head. I see a lot of people not only on this board
but in general loose their cool on a response like that so I tip
my hat to you.
I think the doubles game would change quite a bit if a player
was only allowed to pick the serve of a bounce. That would put
the server at a major advantage. The server would have the freedom
to pin the ball as deep as possible on the serve box and this
would either put the front court making a catch around the 7 line
deep in the court which is not where the front court generally
want to make a catch or if it gets past the front court then the
back court would be making a catch deep in the back. This is the
advantage that smart players work for during the point and it
would not be ideal to be put in that spot as soon as you receive
the serve.
With the way the rule is now, the server has to work towards serving
to pin the front court to the wall to get the ball past him and
at the same time try to serve as deep as possible to get the back
court as deep as possible. That sounds simple but it is very difficult.
The front court receiving the serve has to try to figure out if
the ball will cross the wall near the 4 line or 5 and a half line.
The serve comes so fast that it is hard to react to one if you
are standing on the other spot and in addition the server may
occasionally throw an outside placement serve. It is very difficult
to pick the serve, and even more difficult to put the point away
if you do. Tennis is a much different game when it comes to receiving
a serve. Hope that helps.
