Talk Tennis has an interesting thread The Ten Strategy Tips Every New Doubles Player Needs to Know
Here is just one list from the thread that a lot of us would probably find useful:
nytennisaddict quick top 10:
1. get your first serve in
2. strive to get your partner at net to finish all points (ie. favor serving down the center T)
3. poach, poach, poach (forget the damn alley)
4. split step on every opponents shot (ie. keep moving, don’t be a stick in the mud)
5. learn to love overheads
6. learn to love volleying… strive to to never hit a groundstroke (looking at you guys trying to play singles on a doubles court)
7. talk to your partner (mini point or game or set postmortems – what’s going right/wrong)
8. never volley behind you – always toward the direction you’re poaching (yeah, drop shots look awesome, but 9 of 10x, the baseline person will get it, and make you eat it)
9. don’t look back to see where your partner is hitting the ball
10. when ball is above the net – volley down at the net person’s feet (usually the dtl person); when ball is below the net – volley up and toward whoever is furthest back (usually cc person)11. ABC – always be closing (the net – but generally a universal truth about anything you do :p)
And one more piece of advice that is worth thinking about:
protect the middle!
When your partner is about to return from the baseline in a rally, you are at the T with your attention on your opponents … follow the ball … short ball, prepare to defend … deep ball move forward offensively
What do you think? How much of this do you try to do when you play doubles?
Personally, I’m not bothered one way or another about number 9 in that list but apart from that I think you’d be a pretty good doubles player if you had decent serves, returns, volleys and an overhead and followed these tips.