Pointers for Men in Mixed Doubles

[Jakes On A Plane]

I play mixed regularly and am captaining an 8.0 team for a 3rd year now. This is the first year where I have had more than one guy who hasn't played mixed at all. They both are high level 4.0's, half-competent 4.5's. They love pace, good serves, good net play, good off both wings at the baseline.

They keep asking me for pointers. I've told them they may want to try lobbing a bit more; get used to slower-paced balls from the women; don't shy away from the woman, even at the net (just don't blatantly go after her!).

I could definitely use a few more if you folks got some. I would love to hear some from the women's perspective (especially some 4.0's).

Thanks!

[Maui19]

One of the biggest differences (for me) is the number of balls hit by the women that look like they are going long but drop in. If you are used to higher pace, you tend to read the trajectory of these slower shots as going long, but they drop in nicely (intentionally by the woman).

[damazing]

For me mixed begins and ends with the skill set of the female partner. If they are playing with a mid to high level 4.0 female then they won't have to change up their play style too much. You can expect that your partner will have decent hands at net, maybe no overhead put away and a serve that doesn't leave you wide open for attack. She will be able to have decent rallys and if you are active enough at net should be able to put away a fair number of balls. On your serve you may get some help if you get a weak reply with your partner putting away a sitter. On the return of serve your partner will do fine against the woman and may get some good reflex returns off of the mans serve. If she does you must capitalize and win all the points served to you so you can break them.

Playing with a lower end 4.0 woman or as a 4.5 playing with a 3.5 woman the player will have to be more aggressive. You will need to cover most of the court as their mobility will come into play. Balls that the mid to high level 4.0 will hit at net will go right past the lower partner. Don't expect too much either at net and especially don't expect much on her serve, you may get lucky with opponents that can't hit off pace serves but they will figure out what to do on her second go around. On your serve, expect to have to win the points outright either on the serve or within the first or second shot. Don't expect your partner to get many returns back into play on the man's serve (if it is a decent 4.0). She may also have trouble with the woman's serve.

[blakesq]

hit more balls to the weaker player. just like in regular doubles.

Originally Posted by Jakes On A Plane

I play mixed regularly and am captaining an 8.0 team for a 3rd year now. This is the first year where I have had more than one guy who hasn't played mixed at all. They both are high level 4.0's, half-competent 4.5's. They love pace, good serves, good net play, good off both wings at the baseline.

They keep asking me for pointers. I've told them they may want to try lobbing a bit more; get used to slower-paced balls from the women; don't shy away from the woman, even at the net (just don't blatantly go after her!).

I could definitely use a few more if you folks got some. I would love to hear some from the women's perspective (especially some 4.0's).

Thanks!

[spot]

Let the woman do what she does best. If she is a net player let her play the net and take an extra step in. If she is a baseliner then play the net and be a ****** at the net.

Women who play mixed generally do better with pace rather than spin. They never face real spin while playing with women, they would rather a guy hit the ball hard at them than have topspin take the ball out of their strikezone or to drive them wide off the court.

If the other team crashes the net, lob the girl. Again there are very few women who can take a few steps back at the net and attack an overhead.

Don't be afraid to go australian against the guy when the woman is serving. Taking away the high percentage cross court return and taking away the return angle is often a better strategy than lining up normally.

[SwankPeRFection]

What? Don't go after the woman? Look, it's 8.0 doubles. If the woman is truly a 4.0 and should be playing at that level, then she should be able to handle the net. I've played with plenty of women who are convincing 4.0 or better players and they usually have no issues with pace at the net. One is so good at the net that after a few games of putting away hard volleys, the guys end up avoiding her. lol

Bottom line is this. Play the point as you would any other doubles point. If you have a winner down the line by a girl, take it. If someone gets pinged, apologize and move on. Don't hound on the girls, but also don't avoid them because you don't want to hit them. I've seen a ton of women who play mixed and get avoided and don't end up hitting that many balls and come out of the match pissed that they pretty much could have not even been there and it wouldn't have mattered. Everyone is there to play. Make them play the points out.

[Cindysphinx]

Tell your guys that there is never any excuse to miss a service return off of the opposing female. Similarly, they should never DF to her.

I think the biggest adjustment for guys who don't play much mixed is that you cannot stand there just waiting for your partner to set you up at net. Not gonna happen. You have to be active and a men*ace (how come this board considers "men*ace" to be an obscenity) up there. No matter how weak the female's serve seems to be, your guy should be faking and poaching and being as unpredictable as possible.

If they have a drop shot, this is an excellent play against the opposing female, provided they follow it to net.

Use spin, spin, spin. Also, don't be afraid to rally against the opposing female. It is tempting to try to crush the ball ("How dare she return my ball?!?"), but just use spin and angles to make life difficult.

[Nostradamus]

What is the best way to get the hottest girl as the doubles partner ?

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

What is the best way to get the hottest girl as the doubles partner ?

Just impress them with your Nadal physique and your Nadal game.

[AtomicForehand]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

What is the best way to get the hottest girl as the doubles partner ?

Be the hottest, most talented, most charming guy yourself.

[power level 800]

Originally Posted by AtomicForehand

Be the hottest, most talented, most charming guy yourself.

But.... what if I don't have any of those qualities...

[KFwinds]

Originally Posted by Cindysphinx

You have to be active and a men*ace (how come this board considers "men*ace" to be an obscenity)

Cindy, I believe it is a flagged word because of the online tennis shop that uses that word as part of their name (like mid*west).

[spot]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

What is the best way to get the hottest girl as the doubles partner ?

Be the captain of the team and choose the lineups yourself.

[goober]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

What is the best way to get the hottest girl as the doubles partner ?

Women like men in shorts with 5 inch inseems or shorter. Also nothing says bad boy like a mullet and a tattoo. Try it out!

[beernutz]

Originally Posted by KFwinds

Cindy, I believe it is a flagged word because of the online tennis shop that uses that word as part of their name (like mid*west).

It is TW's sandbox but that just seems a little too tin foil hat to me.

[chatt_town]

Have either a big time serve first and second or a huge one hand backhand. Women look at these attributes as the do hands and feet. lol

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

What is the best way to get the hottest girl as the doubles partner ?

[NadalDramaQueen]

Originally Posted by Jakes On A Plane

Pointers for Men in Mixed Doubles?

It's a trap.

[andfor]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

What is the best way to get the hottest girl as the doubles partner ?

Make sure your dri-fit Nike clothing is really smelly. They like that.

[travlerajm]

Originally Posted by damazing

For me mixed begins and ends with the skill set of the female partner. If they are playing with a mid to high level 4.0 female then they won't have to change up their play style too much. You can expect that your partner will have decent hands at net, maybe no overhead put away and a serve that doesn't leave you wide open for attack. She will be able to have decent rallys and if you are active enough at net should be able to put away a fair number of balls. On your serve you may get some help if you get a weak reply with your partner putting away a sitter. On the return of serve your partner will do fine against the woman and may get some good reflex returns off of the mans serve. If she does you must capitalize and win all the points served to you so you can break them.

Playing with a lower end 4.0 woman or as a 4.5 playing with a 3.5 woman the player will have to be more aggressive. You will need to cover most of the court as their mobility will come into play. Balls that the mid to high level 4.0 will hit at net will go right past the lower partner. Don't expect too much either at net and especially don't expect much on her serve, you may get lucky with opponents that can't hit off pace serves but they will figure out what to do on her second go around. On your serve, expect to have to win the points outright either on the serve or within the first or second shot. Don't expect your partner to get many returns back into play on the man's serve (if it is a decent 4.0). She may also have trouble with the woman's serve.

For 9.0 or 10.0 mixed, I agree that the team with the stronger gal usually wins. But for 8.0 mixed, I completely disagree.

In 8.0, the team with the stronger guy almost always wins. I'm a strong 4.5 with years of experience in 8.0, and I tend to win at about 80% clip even though some of my partners have been on the weaker side of 3.5.

Almost every single time I've lost in 8.0, it's because I got outplayed by my male opponent. But usually, I find it very easy to take over an 8.0 match, especially if I'm going against a pair of 4.0s - I can't remember ever losing to 2 4.0s.

I like my 3.5 partner to stand 2 feet from the net. This allows me to field most of the shots. If they lob over her alley, I can roll across behind her and pound an overhead.

If my partner's having trouble holding her own from her spot 2 feet from the net, then she needs to step aside and stand in the alley. That's how USTA 8.0 works.

Also, I rarely use standard formations. When I serve in the deuce, I prefer to use Aussie as my standard formation to take away the lob return.

On my partner's serve, I almost always start from the aussie position, because it's possible to poach without conceding the point if the returner gets the return past me (because my serving partner gets to start from the middle)

[Cindysphinx]

Originally Posted by travlerajm

Also, I rarely use standard formations. When I serve in the deuce, I prefer to use Aussie as my standard formation to take away the lob return.

On my partner's serve, I almost always start from the aussie position, because it's possible to poach without conceding the point if the returner gets the return past me (because my serving partner gets to start from the middle).

Here's a guy who understands mixed. It is a different animal completely, and it requires different skills. Most guys, I think, just play the way they always play and then get annoyed when they don't win.

My new 8.0 partner (a 4.0 guy) gets it. I do not know how he plays men's mixed. When he partners, he considers it a mission straight from God to be a huge nuisance at the net. He misses a lot of volleys. It doesn't matter. By the time he is finished daring the opponents to get the ball past him, they have missed enough to offset any volleys he might miss.

I'm a strong

Uh oh. Travlrejm? You OK?

I hope nobody targeted him because he was winning too many 8.0 matches . . . .