Skinny singles is a useful format to understand for a number of reasons.
When you can’t make a 4 for a full doubles game but still want to play without the court coverage effort needed for the full singles game, this is perfect
Can really help hone your placement skills with reduced court space to target with your shots
Skinny singles only uses half of the court area during a point which allows the players to conserve their energy whilst focusing on their shot execution.
There are a number of ways to play skinny singles but the format below is our preferred methid as it focuses on putting into play both cross-court and straight shots.
TO START
The server starts from the right-hand court and the returner stands facing them cross court from their right-hand court
The server, serves the ball and the entire point is played cross court. If the ball lands outside of the cross court area, the player who played the ball last loses the point.
If the server scores they will score a point and move to the left court and the receiver will stay on their right court.
The server will then serve their next ball straight to the receiver and the entire point will be played out in the vertical court. If the ball lands out of the vertical court area the player who last played the ball will lose the point.
When the server loses a point, that is side out and the ball is passed to the other player to now serve. Both players stay in the same positions they played the previous point in.
You only receive points on your serve so the new server did not receive a point for winning possession to serve.
Once the new server scores a point, they accrue the point and then move to the other side of the court and the receiver does not move.
Play continues like this until one player reaches 11 points (by 1 or 2 clear points as decided by the players before they start)
KEY POINTS
1. To remember what side you are on, think about YOUR score. If your score is zero OR even then you must stand on the right. If your score is odd, then you must stand on the left. 2. When the server wins a point, it is ONLY the server that moves, the receiver stays where they were.
