G'day, I found it fairly difficult to serve to the guy in mixed doubles. Primarily because he's ready to anticipate and push if I do a short serve and also ready to pounce on it if I flick it. Generally if I do a short serve I have a terrible time if he pushes to my back hand and I don't get there fast enough to drive so I have to lift it. Any tips about serving and recovering from the service? Thanks
When serving short, always make the birdie fly as low to the net as possible and to the center T. After you serve, get ready with your racket up, and grip it down a little. Also, your partner should be just behind you when you serve (4-5 feet back of you). Theoretically, it's your partner's duty to retrieve the shot if the birdie passes the service line, or when the opponent drives to your backhand.
Serving to the alleys opens up the angle of attack, leaving your up and down formation vulnerable to pushes.
The original poster didn't state his/hers gender. If she's a girl, the above holds, but if he's a guy he should be serving from a position a few feet behind the T, with girl in front on his backhand side. This has several "side effects": a) your opponent has more time to react to your serve (bad) b) you (or your girl) has more time to react to opponent's return of serve (good) c) you can serve flatter, which make the shuttle reach its highest point earlier, thus making it more difficult for opponent to drive shuttle back (good) Remember: since your opposing guy obviously likes to rush to the net on his service returns (NOT a good idea in mixed, unless his girl is very strong), he is leaving a huge gap in the back court. All your side has to do is get shuttle past him and they'll be in big trouble.