The "O" Formation

The Point

Watch the movement of Du Randt / Mitchell at net in this third-set point of the Boston Open 2023:

We just recently discussed the "I" formation, so it makes sense to look at a more recent development which is an evolution of that. I call it the "O" formation because the players move in a fluid, circular pattern.

Analysis

Starting Positions

Du Randt / Mitchell start out in normal net positions right after the serve:

Du Randt steps in to hit a drop volley on a drive, and after Powers digs it with a lob, Du Randt / Mitchell are sort of in the "I" formation (albeit on opposite sides from what we expect):

I Formation

Finally, a lob goes up and they swap sides at the net to get into the expected "I" formation:

From here, Mitchell takes the overheads and can go for either side of the backcourt as we expect.

Attacking Volleys

Du Randt looks to anticipate drives and pick them off offensively:

Switching and Cycling

But after he moves to the middle to cut off that drive and hit the volley, he follows the shot and moves to the opposite side of the net:

And then from there, he cycles backward to fill the overhead role in the "I" formation.

Simultaneously, Mitchell slides forward into the net position of the formation:

Rinse and Repeat

From here, it's basically rinse and repeat. However, you can tell that they prefer to get Du Randt into the net position since his volleys are such an offensive weapon.

How do they do that?

Well, they wait for a lob, and then they switch sides left-to-right first, and then switch positions front-to-back, like this:

Defending Lobs

One of the reasons this approach seems to be an improvement over the standard "I" formation is that the lob down the line over the net player's head just triggers another cycle.

Rather than have the overhead player (Mitchell) hit the overhead and try to race back to the net to cover the drive on his original Ad side, as we saw Parsons do in the previous "I" formation post, Mitchell simply stays on his new side after hitting the overhead and looks to cycle to the net:

And, again, once Mitchell is at the net, he's anticipating and picking off drives whenever he can:

Repetition

Du Randt / Mitchell won this point when Hughes put a drive in the net, but this was not a one-off strategy by them.

They employed this approach throughout this entire service game by Mitchell, and throughout the third set.

The rest of the service game (about 3 more minutes) is here:

Du Randt / Mitchell went on to win this Boston Open Men's Final 0-6, 6-1, 6-1.