Mana Games

[SC Tom]

I'm not talking about playing online, just against the computer.
Any partner I pick seems to have a propensity for hitting any ball that's hit to him directly to the net guy. I'm talking 90-95% of the time! It doesn't even look like he's trying to go around the opponent; he just aims right at him. Makes it real hard on me, especially when my partner is at net. Doesn't give much time to react or move to the ball. It makes no difference what level I set my partner to- he can be anywhere from Beginner-1 to Incredible-10. Makes no difference what the opponents' level is either, except that the higher their level, the quicker we lose the point
Has anyone else seen this behavior? Is there any way to prevent it? I've played doubles for a number of years now and have never had a partner that acted this way. (If I did, I wouldn't have had him/her for very long )

[Brecht]

Hi Sc Tom,

That's strange, I never experienced this. My partners can lob the net opponent or hit towards the baseline one or try to hit a line or aim the net player. Maybe because I play with girls?
Seriously: I noticed something in that respect too, but not so much in doubles as in singles. When the CPU hits a volley, it's very often directly to the place where the ball comes from. Which, in the case I'm the CPU's opponent, perfectly works to wrongfoot me, and makes sense. But I also noticed that behavior in CPU vs CPU matches, and it makes much less sense, since the other CPU (the one who isn't at the net) is often tranquilly waiting for the ball to come in its racket.

[SC Tom]

I forgot to mention at the beginning that I'm running TE2011.

Brecht,
Just to test out your theory, I played a practice match of mixed doubles, and I have to admit, my female partner didn't play to the net person as much as my regular male partner does . I'll watch a CPU-CPU vs. CPU-CPU match and see what happens with that.

It's not that my partner doesn't lob or go down the line or hit to the baseline guy occasionally, it's just that he more often than not hits to the net guy, whether he's cross court or not. I just find it frustrating playing that way. If I don't serve aces, I can almost count on losing serve .

[manutoo]

I did 2 sets in doubles to look that.
It was more around 50%, and not too annoying (I was more annoyed by all my partner volleys out by 5 cm ).
Don't forget that when your partner has very little time to prepare his strike (ie: volley vs volley fight), he'll often send the ball almost exactly where it came from, ie: to his opponent.

[SC Tom]

I did 2 sets in doubles to look that.
It was more around 50%, and not too annoying (I was more annoyed by all my partner volleys out by 5 cm ).
Don't forget that when your partner has very little time to prepare his strike (ie: volley vs volley fight), he'll often send the ball almost exactly where it came from, ie: to his opponent.

I understand that on a volley vs volley fight, but even if my partner is back and the opponent directly across from him is back and hits it to him, >80% of the time, he hits cross court to the net guy. About the only way I've been able to win a game like this is for me to play back on every point and just let him screw up . Of course, the higher ranked our opponents, the harder it is to win, even more so with this behavior.

[btaylor]

I agree with SC Tom,
It seems to me that certainly at the higher levels, your partner should know better and have enough skills to avoid the opposing net player less than 50% of the time...more like 30% at most