Serving order in doubles

In doubles, the two players on a team take turns serving. When both of them have lost a rally, it is a side out, and the serve passes to the other team (5.B, 5.B.6).

The basic flow

1. After a side out, the player in the right service court serves as the first server (5.B.2)
2. When the first server loses a rally, the partner serves as the second server (5.B.5)
3. When the second server also loses, it is a side out. The player on the right side of the other team serves (5.B.2, 5.B.6)

The second server serves from the side they are standing on at that moment. If they are on the left, they serve from behind the left service court to the service court diagonally across, on their far right. They do not switch sides before serving (5.B.3, 7.E).

"The player on the right" means the player who should be on the right, based on the team's score at that moment (5.B.2, 5.B.3) (After scoring, only the serving team switches sides).

The one exception: the start of the game

For the team that serves first in a game, there is a side out after just one player has served (5.B). That first server is treated as the "second server," so the first score call is "0-0-2" (5.B.2, 6.B.2) (The score call (three numbers)).

Example positions