My partner and I are playing in the women's doubles tournament real soon but we have decided to adopt the mixed doubles formation instead - I'm looking after the forecourt cuz I suck in the rear court. My partner has greater muscular strength, speed and power so naturally, she covers the mid & rear court. I'm also the weakest of the both pairs, therefore it makes sense for us to play this formation. I iust wanted to verify this with you guys from the mixed-doubles tutorial I just read. Whenever my right-handed partner is serving on her forehand, I must stand just in front of and to the left of the T. Right? It doesn't matter which court she is serving to, I will always be in that position. Is this correct? The purpose of this formation is to allow me to attack a hairpin return anywhere along the net. But since I'm tall, I have to crouch down a lot so as not to obstruct the view of the bird to my partner or my opposition, any tips on how I can straighten my body in time and lunge to intercept the bird effectively at the net?
It's hard to tell without seeing you play, but some people crouch by bending their knees significantly. This makes them slow to come out of their crouch. A better crouch would be to bend significantly at the hips. The way to do this is to stick your butt out behind you when you crouch. Note that you want to keep you back neutral when you do this, otherwise your back will get sore.
It's ok to stay as this serve formation, and I think another benefit for that, is to cover your partner's backhand (usually a weak spot for most players), as she's right handed. If you want to adopt to this formation, you need to practice with your partner, and know who gets the shots under which situation. Communication is the key in doubles.
or does it depend on the handedness of server's partner? i.e. if server's partner is left-handed then they stand on the right side of the T during serve So that the racquet of server's partner is nearer the centre of the court Can anyone think of a mixed pair where one is right-handed and the other left-handed ? oh, Chen Qiqui and Zhao Ting Ting which side does ZTT stand? but how about left-handed lady and right-handed man? edit: actually left-handed lady and any-handed man (I haven't watched any pro badminton for ages now)
I find this "stand on the left always" adage peculiar. I've never heard a good reason for it, and I've yet to encounter its recommendation from an authoritative source. The justification I normally hear is that "it helps your partner get a clear path for the service". Sometimes this is accompanied by the knowing, enigmatic elaboration, "for a forehand serve, of course, you'd need to stand on the other side". Frequently I hear different sides from different people, but always confidently expressed. I fail to follow this reasoning. Surprisingly, the only authoritative source that I know to discuss this issue is badminton.tv (a video subscription service operated by Badminton England). Their video, "Mixed stance when the man is serving", states that "When the man is serving, the woman should stand in the other box in front of him as shown in these examples." They show freeze-frames of mixed doubles pairs with the woman standing somewhat towards the receiver's side, not the same side as her partner. This makes good sense, because the woman's immediate role is to play a good third shot at the net. To do so she should be ready to threaten the net reply to the receiver-side tramlines. Her position should be biased towards the area of the court where the shuttle is heading, not the opposite side!
