Mixed: 4.0/3.0 vs 3.5/3.5

[Jim A]

I've played 7.0 mixed on/off the past couple of seasons and heading to Districts this weekend. One team we are playing has quite a bit of 4.0 men/3.0 women combinations.

Haven't come across this in a match situation. Of course I expect the guy to be pretty steady and attempt to hit more towards the woman.

That being said what are the biggest advantages/disadvantages you see when facing a high/low pair in Mixed? What do you try and take advantage of in the matchup. I expect a lot of strong volleys, spin serves etc from the men, and general "good doubles" in respect to positioning and covering most of the court. what else??

thanks!

 

[SweetH2O]

Some comments from a recent thread.
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=382712&highlight=mixed

Hopefully more people will still chime in.

 

[Jim A]

thanks I had missed that one in the section...good pieces in there

 

[slewisoh]

I've always been part of a 3.5/3.5 pairing. It's a lot more fun for me to play another 3.5/3.5 pairing, as the 3.5 men aren't skilled enough to take over the match. However it's completely different facing a 4.0/3.0 pairing, as the guy usually has a least one game changing weapon.

As the female member of the team, my #1 weapon is the lob return. I use it when the 3.0 female serves to avoid the poach and to pin her at the baseline. Most 3.0 women I've faced are sitting ducks at the baseline. I use it when the 4.0 man serves to 1) buy myself time to move in and 2) to keep the man from getting into that deuce side forehand groove. Lob over his partner to the ad court and force him to hit a backhand.

3.5 players can usually work out a strategy to help each other hold serve. That typically involves intelligent service placement against the 4.0 man, avoiding cross court rallies with the man, and exploiting the 3.0 female's weaknesses.

I've run into problems when my 3.5 partner tries to play the 4.0 man straight up - not effective. I've also run into problems trying to smack weak 3.0 serves cross court. My best cross court shot is typically no problem for a good 4.0 to poach. Check the egos at the door and exploit the 3.0 woman.

 

[Cindysphinx]

^Agreed, although my service return lob is still not great.

I also find it helps against the 3.0 woman's serve to crowd the service line. This leaves the 4.0 guy less time to line up his poach.

Another thing that can help is having the 3.5 woman play the ad side. This means she can often take her FH inside out, and the 4.0 guy has to poach with his BH volley.

But yes, the best thing is the lob over the guy, following it in, and daring the 3.0 woman to do something from the baseline.

 

[NoQuarter]

Funny this comes up this morning...I played last night in a "fun" (not so much for me) mixed doubles match. I am a 4.0 and my wife (partner) is a 2.5. We played against a 2.5 woman and 3.0 man. I had my wife play the add side so she could slide out wide and take FH's easier. I played agressively toward the middle. Of course they played toward my wife and took me out most of the points and the guy went behind me several times which made me play more honest. And also, I was only hitting at probably 25% of what I am capable off (slicing everything slow)...you know if you go out there and blast you look like a jerk. But by trying to take so much off, I had trouble as well. Now...I could have easily started blasting to win the match, but I didn't so we lost 4 and 5.

 

[slewisoh]

^
Another thing that can help is having the 3.5 woman play the ad side. This means she can often take her FH inside out, and the 4.0 guy has to poach with his BH volley.

Man, in my dreams! Sticking the woman on the deuce seems to be automatic up here, with the rationale being the "stronger" partner should be in the ad court to receive those "critical" points. But as you point out, this forces the female player to return against the man's forehand - a much tougher assignment, IMO.

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

Another thing that can help is having the 3.5 woman play the ad side. This means she can often take her FH inside out, and the 4.0 guy has to poach with his BH volley.

Also, I typically I find a womans backhand return is usually more consistent than her forehand return. I always salivate when I am serving to a woman on the duece side ... I know right away I am going to be going wide all day long.

 

[slewisoh]

Also, I typically I find a womans backhand return is usually more consistent than her forehand return. I always salivate when I am serving to a woman on the duece side ... I know right away I am going to be going wide all day long.

You are correct! I typically cannot do much with a good wide-out serve. At 3.5, very few women generate enough spin to cause any significant return problems, but the guys can do some damage.

I like when 3.5/4.0 men pull out their recently acquired kick serves, as these are easy to lob over the ladies head up the line. The guys are certainly more proactive about acquiring a variety of serves...kinda like new toys I guess.

 

[Setmatch45]

I just went to 7.0 districts as part of a 3.5 3.5 team. Both teams we played were 4.0 3.0 teams one of them had a strong 4.0 male. We won both! The 3.0 girl was good should be a 3.5 easy. The bottom line is that my partner is very steady she forced them to come at me some and I hammered the ball at there feet. The other team the guy was an ok 4.0 with a nice female player self rated 3.0. again we were more steady.

If your partner is steady enough you'll be ok if not she will get picked on.