Tennis Doubles Rules: Who Serves, Who Receives and What a Foot Fault Is

Everyone has singles figured out. In doubles, though, people regularly argue about who should be serving, whether you can swap receivers and whether that step over the baseline was a foot fault. Everything below is based on the ITF Rules of Tennis 2026, mainly rules 14 to 19. Points, games and sets are explained in tennis rules.

Serving order

The pair due to serve in the first game of a set decides which partner serves. The opponents decide the same before the second game. In the third game the partner of the first server serves, in the fourth the partner of the second. This order then runs to the end of the set (rule 14).

The key word is set. The rule speaks of the first game of each set, so with a new set you can swap the order within the pair. Not in the middle of a set.

If someone serves out of turn, the error is corrected as soon as it is discovered. A game that has already been completed stands, though, and the new order remains (rule 27c).

Receiving order

Same principle. The pair receiving in the first game of a set decides which partner returns the first point. The opponents decide this before the second game. The partner then receives the second point, and you alternate like that for the whole game and the whole set (rule 15). Once the serve has been returned, either partner may play the ball.

A wrong receiving order is not corrected in the middle of a game. The wrong order stands until the end of the game in which the error was discovered, and in the next game you receive you go back to the original one (rule 27e).

Where you serve from and what a foot fault is

Before the serve you stand still with both feet behind the baseline, between the imaginary extensions of the centre mark and the sideline (rule 16). Every game starts from the right half, the halves alternate and the serve goes diagonally into the opposite service court (rule 17).

A foot fault is a service fault (rule 19a). Under rule 18 you commit one if during the service motion you:

• walk or run (slight movements of the feet are fine),
• touch the baseline or the court,
• touch the area outside the imaginary extension of the sideline,
• touch the imaginary extension of the centre mark.

Both feet may be off the ground (rule 18, case 2). And you may catch a tossed ball without it being a fault (rule 19, case 1).

Doubles differs from singles in one respect. In singles you may not stand behind the part of the baseline that lies between the singles and doubles sidelines. In doubles that is allowed (rule 18, case 1). Where exactly these lines lie is shown in Tennis court dimensions.

The tiebreak in doubles

The tiebreak is played to 7 points with a margin of two. The first server serves one point, then the opponent whose turn comes next serves two points, and from there you alternate every two points. The order within the pair stays the same as in the set (rule 5b). The tiebreak also starts from the right half (rule 17).

In the tiebreak you change ends after every six points (rule 10). In ordinary games you change after the first, third and every subsequent odd game. If a set ends with an even number of games, you change only after the first game of the next set.

Whoever served first in the tiebreak receives first in the next set (rule 5b).

When a match tiebreak to 10 is played instead of the deciding set (Appendix VI), the serving order between the pairs continues, but within the pair you may change both the serving and the receiving order, just as at the start of a set.

Did you know?

• One player may not play alone against a pair (rule 15, case 1).
• The server's and the receiver's partners may stand anywhere on their own side of the net, even outside the court (rule 26, case 5).
• A serve that hits the server's partner or their equipment is a fault (rule 19d). A serve that hits the receiver or their partner before it bounces is a point for the server, unless it was a let (rule 24, case 7). Everything that happens at the net is covered in Lets, the net and touches in tennis.
• The alternative formats in Appendix VI also include a tiebreak in which ends change after the first point and then every four points. In the No-Ad variant the receiving pair may not swap positions for the deciding point, and in mixed doubles the player of the same sex as the server receives.