Mixed dubs tactics/strategies/plays when your partner isn't very good?

[goober]

Well I recently played a match and was in this exact situation as the OP. Opponents were 4.5 F with a self rated 3.5M who was a strong 4.0 at the net. My partner had a 4.0 rating but was actually worse than many 3.5s I have played with. L formation did not work in most situations. On her serve, it was so weak that there is no way she could follow it in without getting passed. On receiving she pretty much either made an error or a weak reply. The L formation could work when I was serving and returning. We pretty much had no chance to win. I think the L formation only really works if you are the best player on the court.

[escii_35]

Originally Posted by Lefty

So for the $64,000 question:

What do you do to counteract the alpha 4.5 male playing 70-80% of the court with a partner with fairly good hands but no range in the "L" formation?

A. Pray my partner is having an above average day.
B. Hope the opposing females serve pops up for easy placement.

If A and B don't happen it's going to very rough out there. This is why 4.5/3.5 over 4.0/4.0.

[Angle Queen]

Originally Posted by travlerajm

I've played a lot of 8.0 mixed doubles, and a lot of 9.0 mixed doubles too. I'm a strong 4.5.

In mixed doubles, my favorite strategy is what others have described as the L formation. I park my partner extremely tight on the net. Her job is to defend the balls that come right at her. The key is to make sure that she never backs up. Lobs over her head are my responsibility -- once you get used to doing it, you'll realize that rolling diagonally backward left to right behind your partner to hit an overhead on a lob over your partner's side (when you are righthanded and playing the ad court) is actually easier than running directly backward to play an overhead on your own side.

The other key strategy: I always serve from Aussie formation in the deuce court on my serve. The reason for this is that the standard doubles formation invites the opponent to hit a lob return over my partner (forcing me to play either a backhand overhead or a high backhand volley, which is difficult). The Aussie formation effectively takes away the lob return because the opponent has to fear my overhead when they lob over my deuce court.

In my experience, matches in 8.0 mixed doubles are generally won by the team with the strongest guy on the court, since a strong 4.5 can usually dominate against 2 4.0s. But in 9.0, the opposite is true, and the team with the strongest gal usually wins.

This is the serious advice. And as the (often) weakest player on the court (at least in Mixed), I love it when my partner "takes charge." Despite being otherwise a confident player, I know My Place and try to oblige. Give direction and some coaching/mentoring. All the coaching/paid-lessons aside, I've learned more from the ones who've taken the time to tell/show me what they know.

Originally Posted by wao

Work with your partner to get better. ... You might be surprised that your partner is willing to try.

This is the more "social" reply IMHO. If you're going to be stuck together for several matches, see what you can do. But if it's really a "social" opportunity -- just have fun. Laugh at her. Laugh at yourself. Encourage her to just "Go For It" since it's just for fun. You might be surprised; she'll miss as many as she makes.

Thanks for putting a thread like this out there. I really enjoy playing out-of-my element, whether it's up or down. If my partner is "into" it with me...it's really enjoyable...win or lose.

[Cindysphinx]

One thing about mentoring a weaker player during a match . . .

The weaker player can only do what she can do. She has the shots she has, and that's it. Rather than boss her around, ask her what her strengths are and watch what she does and adjust to that.

[chatt_town]

I think you are definately on to something about that aus to cut down on lobs. someone else just recently told me this. I was so glad they did because I was about to twist my back out of place because I was serving from the normal spot in the deuce court and hauling @$$ to cover the lob but at was so insisting on hitting the overhead to stop her from doing it I would jump at the last minute and rotate to my right allowing me to hit the overhead....it hurt like hell and it stopped her because I put the first two right by her shoulder as she would follow the lob expecting as you said a high backhand volley....now had she done that a third time...I don't know what I would have done. So it makes perfect sense to serve from the T to stop that and keep my back in place.

Originally Posted by travlerajm

I've played a lot of 8.0 mixed doubles, and a lot of 9.0 mixed doubles too. I'm a strong 4.5.

In mixed doubles, my favorite strategy is what others have described as the L formation. I park my partner extremely tight on the net. Her job is to defend the balls that come right at her. The key is to make sure that she never backs up. Lobs over her head are my responsibility -- once you get used to doing it, you'll realize that rolling diagonally backward left to right behind your partner to hit an overhead on a lob over your partner's side (when you are righthanded and playing the ad court) is actually easier than running directly backward to play an overhead on your own side.

The other key strategy: I always serve from Aussie formation in the deuce court on my serve. The reason for this is that the standard doubles formation invites the opponent to hit a lob return over my partner (forcing me to play either a backhand overhead or a high backhand volley, which is difficult). The Aussie formation effectively takes away the lob return because the opponent has to fear my overhead when they lob over my deuce court.

In my experience, matches in 8.0 mixed doubles are generally won by the team with the strongest guy on the court, since a strong 4.5 can usually dominate against 2 4.0s. But in 9.0, the opposite is true, and the team with the strongest gal usually wins.

[chatt_town]

Let me first say that what I have problems with the most when I'm playing against a mixed team is when the woman stays right on top of the net. the reason is if she has breath in her body she should be able to make contact with her raquet and even if she shanks it it will fall over the net. It forces me to do either a couple of things. I either have to try to blow her off the net by hitting some missiles at her or I have to hit balls to the man which is most of the time asking for trouble.
For me personally I've found when I'm playing with a woman that I feel isn't as strong as I'd like for her to be I try to find out what makes her feel the most comfortable and then I work around that. The only thing I don't negoitiate on is which sides we play on. If she can't play she always has to play deuce.
My patience is too short for a woman or myself for that matter hitting another woman's second serve into the bottom of the net at 40-30 or 30-40. If she is just that bad, I try to make them feel comfortable by telling them to relax and hit everything to the T. That at least allows for more balls to get into play even if the guy come in and slams a few overheads. I at least want to make them do something to get the point besides serve. The best women I've found though to play with can A. Get their first serve in and not try to prove they can hit the serves as hard as a man. B. Can volley and C put away an overhead. My wife thank god does all three and contrary to popular opinion with tennis people....I play with her(wife) first. My suggestion is to work with her and get her to a point where she put away a few overheads and be able to volley for starters. It will save you a lot of running and headaches. That's what I did.

Originally Posted by Torres

I rarely play mixed dubs, but I decided to join my club's mixed dubs 2nd team recently to be a bit more social and have a break from the physical grind of singles during the winter season.

The team captain wants to try creating strong player/weaker player pairings rather than pairings based on complimentary styles of play, which seems pretty ridiculous to me, but hey....

The problem is I've been paired a woman who isn't very good and the competitive part of me is getting incredibly frustrated. We played a match last weekend and (in my view), she doesn't have enough court penetration, length or aggressiveness to her groundstrokes - which just invites opponent on to us. The other problem is that her court coverage and speed is woeful. If I'm at the net and the opponents look to avoid me, she doesn't seem to be able to run down many of the balls that pull her out wide, get dropped, or requiring her to do some quick sprinting.

Does anyone have any tactics, strategy, plays that we could try, given the nature of my partner's game?

[tennis tom]

Have'em sit down on the bench, relax and make a few phone calls, and you'll do all the rest--it's basically the ozzie formation but by the rules you have to play your sides alleys too.