Badminton Rules: Doubles – what’s in and what’s out?

• During the main part of a badminton doubles rally, every part of the court is in.
• However, the serve must fall into the ‘short and fat’ area diagonally opposite the server.  The side tramlines are in, but the rear tramlines are out during the serve.
• This means that a singles player and a doubles player have similar amount of court to cover when receiving serve (the service area in singles is 24.4m², while in doubles it is 24.2m²).
• The short and wide doubles service area makes it harder to catch an opponent out with a flick serve, therefore allowing the service receiver to stand further forward and attack the short serves as aggressively as possible. Which makes doubles rallies fast and aggressive right from the first stroke – one reason why badminton doubles is so exciting, whether you’re watching or playing!

Read more at Badminton Doubles