Some doubles shifts are obvious and even though your partner may yell “switch” you need to be aware of those less obvious situations and react without a verbal queue.
There are times when your partner doesn’t encroach into your playing side but their balance from a shot or movement to attempt to cover a middle ball may be best played as an unplanned switch based on the balance of both players.
This can help the team prepare for the next ball and create some disruption and may throw off your opponents. Both players need awareness of this situation and react dynamically and it is often the non-hitting player that initiates the switch by reading his/her partners balance.
You’ll notice the Bryan brothers executing this unplanned shift all the time and you will also see this in College tennis in particular where a player that has a stronger forehand may be aggressively playing into his partner’s side of the court to hit the strongest shot of the team.
Common examples of this scenario involve a ball in the middle where the stronger player moves over to play this ball and both player have momentum in that direction and it would be best to continue in the direction and make an unplanned switch. Other examples may involve a lefty right combination where the lefty is playing on the ad side but will take a ball on the deuce side due to it being the strongest shot of the team. Another example is a semi poach either half volley or volley from no mans land that could benefit from a switch.
Find Your Game 