Follow the ball to cover the angles

From 2008 Pacific Life Open

In doubles, you need to cover the easiest and most obvious shots in order to make your opponent's job tougher. In order to do this, you should shift your position with the ball. If the ball is on the right side of the court, you should favor the right side. If the ball is on the left side, you should favor the left side.

You can see from the picture above, where Robert Lindstedt and Richard Gasquet (near side) are playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Sebastien Grosjean, the ball has gone to the right side of the court and Lindstedt has shifted almost all the way to the middle of the court. Normally, Tsonga would volley down the middle, but since both Lindstedt and Gasquet are "pinching" the middle, he has to change to a riskier shot... in this case a crosscourt touch volley.

Lindstedt is anticipating the shot as you can see -- he has already lifted his left leg and started to move to cover the angle.

By following the ball, you too can force your opponents to try for more difficult shots and be in position put the point away.