Some players asked me about the serving order in double games of table tennis. The table tennis double rules are very simple.
Ping pong serve rules for double
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In Doubles, you have to serve the ball from the right half of your side to the opponent’s half on the opposite side (diagonally). But this rule has nothing to do with Singles. You can serve in any way you want, whether diagonally or straight, from anywhere in the single matches.

The umpire needs to stand up, to observe the serve, during the Double matches.
Doubles serve rules
- The service must go diagonally from the right-hand side of the server to the right-hand side of the receiver. This prevents you from messing up the other pair before they’ve even hit a ball.
- A doubles team must alternate hitting the ball. This makes doubles difficult. There’s no such thing as a front court or a rear court in tennis.
- When a service is switched, the prior receiver becomes the new server, and the previous server’s partner becomes the receiver. This ensures that everyone completes their tasks. You’ll be back at the beginning of the cycle after eight points.
Imagine, 2 double pairs are playing: A, B play versus X, Y. 2 points for player A, 2 points for player X, 2 points for player B, 2 points for player Y. That’s why there is the 8 points circle in table tennis double.


Serve rules for Singles games
The service rules for Doubles is much simpler than the service rules for the Single games.
However, the same regulations will be applied like tossing the ball, hidden serve, service below the end line, etc.

Learn the Doubles Games
You can learn the double tactics and how to play double games by watching Mima Ito and Jun Mizutani.

Another example to watch is Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen. They are considered the best Double players in table tennis.

Learn the hand signals in Doubles
You need to communicate with your partners. To do that, learn the hand signals for Doubles to shows which type of serve you like.

Synchronization in table tennis double
Table tennis is a wonderful sport. When you repeat the same gesture, thousand and thousand times, then you can have the perfect synchronization rate with your teammate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI3p6-v3wcA
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