Dingles
Why this drill
The most beloved four-player drill in the sport, and it earns it: two simultaneous dink rallies that collapse into one live doubles point. Splits your attention exactly the way real doubles does — your dink, your partner's rally, and the moment everything goes live.
Setup
Four players at the non-volley-zone line, doubles positions, two balls. Each player starts a cross-court dink rally with the player diagonal from them — two rallies running at once.
The drill
Both cross-court rallies run simultaneously, dinks only. When either ball dies — net, out, or a pop-up someone puts away — the player who killed it (or anyone, by house rule: agree first) calls "dingles," and the surviving ball becomes a live doubles point, anything goes. Winning pair scores one; first to 11, then rotate partners so everyone plays with everyone. The transferable skill is the switch: soft, patient dinking one instant, full doubles the next.
One thought to take on court
Keep dinking your ball — the fastest way to lose at dingles is watching the other rally.