Mixed Doubles Strategies

Well, have your mixed partner learn how to smash and clear, that'll help you alot. If your opponents are playing front-back, then smash down the backhand lines...there's no point in dropping to a player already at the net waiting for a drop. Work on your footwork, cover your partner whenever they're out of position, I would say avoid lifting, but it's inevitible. Alot of male players tend to aim their smashes at the opposing female, but it depends on the situation that you are in, you just have to know when.

 

use the "mixed doubles holes". If your opponents play front back push the birdie down the lines past the woman at the front but not to far back
in between your opponents. This forces your opponent to lift the bird. If he drops your partner should kill the bird and if he pop it up you get to smash which puts you on the offensive. Always hitting it to anyones backhand is always a good choice. Try not to play too much side to side. Any good opponent will pick on the female and dominate her. I made it to my provincial highschool tournament in mixed and found that those mid court pushes into the mixed holes can help you beat anyone playing a front back style.

 

It will be difficult to give advice unless I know your opponents and your standards.

There are many tactics available, which to apply depend on your (1)partner, (2)your opponent and (3)your skills.

I find that most British mix tend to let the man cover 3/4 of the court which is very tiring for the guy.

Look what happened to Nathan Robertson in AE final 2006. He lost not because he gave up but because he run out of energy to be consistent with Zhang Jun and Gao Ling keep lifting side to side for him to smash.
This is one tactic to apply if both your partner are very good in footwork and defence. Keep the guy at the back and tiring him out.
OR
If you consider the girl is weak and no proper footwork, what you can do is force her to the back corner and keep her there by lifting, pushing or clearing/punch back to her in every shots till you wear her down with mistakes. Trust me, a woman is not very good in controlling at the back if you able to hold her there, your girl should be able to make the kill of a weak return. Of course, in order to do so, your girl must be good in footwork and defence.

There is always a way to put the girl at the back. You just need to know how to create that chance.

Never do a cross court drive in attacking mode unless it is a finishing kill, or it is a tactical shot to keep the woman at the back, or you are bloody fast in speed and have powerful backhand to recover from any fast counter-return.

For mix, the best is to have a woman partner who is good footwork and defence. It helps to save the man alot of energy to cover 3/4 of court when defence. Trust me. woman are capable of doing wonderful defence shot when they get use to it doing defence.

For men, you need him to be powerful and fast which include footwork. Powerful in the sense of wrist power which can get you out of bad situation especially when it is coming at your backhand and you have to reach hard for it.

These are just a few simple tricks.

 

I've got mixed responses on this, should one play more cross courts in mixed? When you're faster than your opponent, do you play more cross courts? What to do when you are slower?

 

I've recently got into the habbit of playing lots of cross courts. I think it's a bad habbit, unless the lady is significantly weaker. I agree that it's best to aim for the holes in the midcourt trams, or to play on the weaker of the two if your opponents are playing sides, but I struggle to pick on the lady (eg smash at her)

 

http://www.badmintonbooks.com/chapters.cfm?bookid=22 chapter 7

 

I'm a mix double player too...

me and my partner always smash or drop on the weaker person... or hit the spot in between the two player.... ex: if they play front-back... we always hit the middle....

but... one thing... that I feel so bad is... that... my partner always hitting each other's racket.... 555.... sign~~~ my racket~~~ broken heart~! i don't want to break my racket~!

one suggestion... Do Not play mix double with ur lover... b/c... u will scare that u will hit him/her... so ur action will be slower when u play with ur lover~! Also... if u really hit her/him... u will feel so bad.... also... it's easy to get into fight...

So my mix double partner is... just a person that I know... maybe is a friend... haa haa... so even i hit him... i won't feel sad... haa haa... maybe just feel sorrie~! I do hit him for about 2times already.... he hit me once.... 555.... anyways~~~

that's all my opinion and things that i want to share... good luck to u~!

 

There is an IBF instructional video around here somewhere taht explains Mixed Doubles Tactics..... seemed to have some good info that I haven't really heard elsewhere.

 

Cross-court shots are vital in mixed doubles. A good rule of thumb (to be applied with variation as always) for the guy is: cross-court attacks, straight defense. For the girl the opposite applies. In mixed, the girl should aim to be move diagonally in relation to the shuttle, so the above means that (a) your side will be attacking the girl more often, and (b) you and your partner won't have to switch sides in defense so much.

Other than that, remember that mixed doubles is a patient waiting game, much more so than in level doubles. Wait for your opponents to make mistakes before attacking. Taking the pace off the shuttle is important, playing soft flat shots. Try it -- it is usually remarkably effective.

 

hey guys,

I'm a guy, and I play mixed doubles a lot, and I personally I like it a lot better than Singles or Doubles.. I usually do alright, because I'm a very much attack-based player, and my smashes have pretty good angle and decent power (so they are hard to kill)

Now, I run into a few problems... I was wondering if anyone experienced the same thing, and might have some input

1. my partner and I defend sides sometimes... and the strategy is if I
lift, I try to lift straight, so that my partner is standing cross-court from any smashes that might come her way. It's fine until they hit a clear to my partner, who can clear back decently, but that puts her in the back, and I end up standing in the middle clueless with what to do.

2. another problem is that my partner sometimes complains that she isn't doing a lot of running up at the front in mixed doubles, which is a bit boring.. is there anything I can do or we can practice so that she can return more drives and low shots when she is at the front?

3. Where (which side) should my partner be standing when I am serving?

4. Where on the court should I stand when i'm serving? I'm afraid I might be standing a bit too far back, but I'm not sure...

5. Sometimes I do a bad serve or a bad dropshot or a bad drive, and the opponent kills it at my partner and hits her :crying:, and obviously I want it to be fun for both me and my partner.. so is there any tips or guidelines that i can follow?

6. Once in a while, I get into trouble where I smash down the side line, and the opponent does a fast crosscourt drive to the back court, and I die. Is there anything I can do to prepare better for that return?

right now, I smash everything on the forhand side down the line, or drive/drop it to the side (my consistency with that is decent enough)... and on the backhand, I do around the head crosscourt smash/drop shots, or I smash down the line, or do a straight backhand drive-drop. When I do lift, I lift high to the corner, and pray that the opponent smashes straight.

is there anything I might be missing? thanks for all replys

oh and btw, my friend's coach calls mixed doubles "obstacle singles" lol

 

for problem 6, if ur smashing down the line halfcourt ur partner can start moving back slowly in order to blok the drive straight and to cover the drop chip shots

 

drop to the guy lift to the female, when in defensive mode make sure the guy is across from you becasue a cross court smash is slower than a straigh smash

 

in MX i guess u should be hitting slow and angled smashes down the sidelines. this will force the guy to run there plus move up the court. when u see him sneaking up u can drive deep into his backhand.

my coach tells me that driving-serve returns down the middle is important as well as forehand slices.
for problem no.2 anthony, play somebody more challenging lol.

 

If anyone else can help me answer these questions (or point me to resources where I can find answers to these questions), that would be very much appreciated. I've got a tournament in a month, and I want to do better than last time

should this be in a new thread?

 

1. my partner and I defend sides sometimes... and the strategy is if I
lift, I try to lift straight, so that my partner is standing cross-court from any smashes that might come her way. It's fine until they hit a clear to my partner, who can clear back decently, but that puts her in the back, and I end up standing in the middle clueless with what to do. When I play, its almost always that I get the clears. Just get across there to play the shot on her side (and her recovering your side), however, quite dangerous in its own right. But with a strong partner (female or male), it wouldn't really matter. I've seen girls out smash and out play guys!

2. another problem is that my partner sometimes complains that she isn't doing a lot of running up at the front in mixed doubles, which is a bit boring.. is there anything I can do or we can practice so that she can return more drives and low shots when she is at the front? Playing at the front (in mixed or doubles) is all about interceptions. If the shuttle is in the diagonal box, the front person can afford to take a foot or two closer to the net, because any shot cross-court will be that tad slower and with less power.

3. Where (which side) should my partner be standing when I am serving? All about personal preference. I personally hate it when the girl is right next to me when I serve (I always imagine hitting her in the head), so I just tell her to stand at the front (in her box), just as if I were playing doubles (with my partner a net player).

4. Where on the court should I stand when i'm serving? I'm afraid I might be standing a bit too far back, but I'm not sure... I tend to stand a little further from the short service line, maybe 1.5 foot behind (unlike in doubles, when I'm literally toe-ing the line). Its just about calibrating the arm .. hahah

5. Sometimes I do a bad serve or a bad dropshot or a bad drive, and the opponent kills it at my partner and hits her :crying:, and obviously I want it to be fun for both me and my partner.. so is there any tips or guidelines that i can follow? Tell her racquet up and hopefully it wont hit her face.. hehe.. its part of the game

6. Once in a while, I get into trouble where I smash down the side line, and the opponent does a fast crosscourt drive to the back court, and I die. Is there anything I can do to prepare better for that return? As mentioned before, tell her to 'block the drive' by standing in the intercepting position.

Hope it helps

 

Here's the typical problem that many people tend to think, especially true in most club level games. People always think the front player is "useless", and give all the credits to the back player.

To me, in a fairly reasonable / competitive game (not like a champ team up with a total newbie type), the front role player is the determine factor in the outcome, be it mxd or lvl double games. The front player is the floor general, and in charge of the game pace to favor his/her own side. With effective interception and net play, the front player will make the opponents running out of breath, well give his/her own partner a much easier time. Sure, the front player might not run as much, or jump smash 200 times in a game, but they need to have quick reaction in order to get the job done. If a front player just standing there, get lost, and don't do anything, then, his/her partner will have a hard time to survive.

The key is quality of the shot, not the quatity. If a pair need to spend all the energy to run and jump to win a rally, they are already on the edge of losing, especially a long battle.

 

ugh.....dont remind me lol. this is wut i go through every single time i play mx in tournys. then my partner admits that i do everything and i'm just like
:crying: omg we're playing 2nd round match now arent we XD XD

 

don't let her see this

 

I think it depends on who you play with. I've played with most mixed doubles where the female just cover the front court and the partner has to run a lot behind her.

I've also seen doubles who seem to play singles.

I think if both you and your partner are aggressive players, it helps a lot not just because it is harder to return but also it somehow "scares" the female player of the opponent team. I'd say, aim at the weaker player regardless of what strategy you are using.