I am planning on playing 6.0 or 7.0 mixed in January. I have had very little exposure to playing mixed doubles. Are guys supposed to take a little off the serve when serving to the woman? I have participated in mixed clinics and have heard different opinions from the ladies. Some of them expect less pace and others get mad if you tone it down. Are there unwritten rules in league play? If so, please share them with me.
mixed
- Thread starter tdad
- Start date
tdad,
A few years ago, the "unwritten" rule was to let up on your serve to the lady but that seems to have changed. For the most part, guys don't let up and the gals don't expect it. There are some exceptions--some of the southern gentlemen still take some pace off their serve to the ladies.
A few years ago, the "unwritten" rule was to let up on your serve to the lady but that seems to have changed. For the most part, guys don't let up and the gals don't expect it. There are some exceptions--some of the southern gentlemen still take some pace off their serve to the ladies.
todot62
Rookie
I love mixed and play a lot of it. And to be quite honest, I really don't even think about how I play it differently than men's doubles. The unwritten rules that I generally go by are:
Whatever YOU do, expect it in return--This is kind of the umbrella that I operate under. If you hit a very hard body serve at the woman, expect the same at your partner. I generally don't take much off my serve, but I do try for good placement. However, this is what I do in any doubles play anyway.
Treat the woman like any other player--If your best volley placement is at her and you would do the same thing if she were a man, then that's your best shot. Of coarse, you try to hit at her feet, because rule number one still applies. In any doubles play if the situation calls for hitting to the weaker player, you do it. This applies in mixed as well. However, be careful because the woman is not always the weaker player.
If the guy on the other side tries to hit my partner (ie: an overhead), I will nail him at the first opportunity, and in mixed, there are usually ample opportunities. This situation is very, very rare, but it does happen especially at sectionals. I try to NEVER hit an overhead directly at anyone except for the above situation. But again, this rule really applies to any doubles play.
Hopefully once you get used to it, you will learn to love mixed as much as I do.
Tod
Whatever YOU do, expect it in return--This is kind of the umbrella that I operate under. If you hit a very hard body serve at the woman, expect the same at your partner. I generally don't take much off my serve, but I do try for good placement. However, this is what I do in any doubles play anyway.
Treat the woman like any other player--If your best volley placement is at her and you would do the same thing if she were a man, then that's your best shot. Of coarse, you try to hit at her feet, because rule number one still applies. In any doubles play if the situation calls for hitting to the weaker player, you do it. This applies in mixed as well. However, be careful because the woman is not always the weaker player.
If the guy on the other side tries to hit my partner (ie: an overhead), I will nail him at the first opportunity, and in mixed, there are usually ample opportunities. This situation is very, very rare, but it does happen especially at sectionals. I try to NEVER hit an overhead directly at anyone except for the above situation. But again, this rule really applies to any doubles play.
Hopefully once you get used to it, you will learn to love mixed as much as I do.
Tod
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I don't serve hard to the women because its not necessary. If you can put alot of spin on your serves (slice or topspin) they will usually have problems with that so there's less risk double faulting. Despite the strategy by alot of players, I don't try to intimidate them at the net by blasting shots at them. Instead I will blast shots (including overheads) at the male partner if he tries doing that to my partner. I don't think its good sportsmanship because they are trying to hit the person, regardless of whether the rules allow it. I find it is better for my game to play the court positioning rather than hitting everything at the woman.
Cindysphinx
G.O.A.T.
Yep, what Todot says is on target.
If you are my partner and you take something off your serve to be nice to our female opponent, I will pin your ears back. We are trying to win a league match and win a court for our team.
Regarding what to do when the point starts, the unwritten rule I have observed is "It's OK to blast the woman at the net with your best groundstroke if you are losing, but it's never OK if she can't volley and will wind up getting hurt."
I'd be wary of 6.0 mixed. It seems a lot of guys and better women don't like it much.
If you are my partner and you take something off your serve to be nice to our female opponent, I will pin your ears back. We are trying to win a league match and win a court for our team.
Regarding what to do when the point starts, the unwritten rule I have observed is "It's OK to blast the woman at the net with your best groundstroke if you are losing, but it's never OK if she can't volley and will wind up getting hurt."
I'd be wary of 6.0 mixed. It seems a lot of guys and better women don't like it much.
Cindysphinx
G.O.A.T.
I have not played 6.0 mixed.
I have heard that the problem is that 6.0 mixed is populated with lots of 3.0 guys and 2.5 women. The 3.0 guys sometimes have power that is not always coupled with adequate control. The 2.5 women can be weak.
So it can often be not so challenging if you don't fit that description.
We need to get Topaz in here. She'll tell it like it is!
I have heard that the problem is that 6.0 mixed is populated with lots of 3.0 guys and 2.5 women. The 3.0 guys sometimes have power that is not always coupled with adequate control. The 2.5 women can be weak.
So it can often be not so challenging if you don't fit that description.
We need to get Topaz in here. She'll tell it like it is!
Topaz
Legend
I have not played 6.0 mixed.
I have heard that the problem is that 6.0 mixed is populated with lots of 3.0 guys and 2.5 women. The 3.0 guys sometimes have power that is not always coupled with adequate control. The 2.5 women can be weak.
So it can often be not so challenging if you don't fit that description.
We need to get Topaz in here. She'll tell it like it is!
You rang?!?
I played on 2 different 6.0 mixed teams last year.
The first team was pretty serious, we had lots of practices (which I loved) and worked on partnerships. However, when the season started, I was never once paired up with the guys I had practiced with...and seemed to end up with this one guy whose only concern was to get home in time for 60 minutes.
It became pretty clear during the season that our captain (who had a total of four 6.0 teams) created one 'uber' team and the rest of us just got scattered around. He was also horribly unorganized, and entered scores into Tennislink incorrectly. To this day, my mixed record is incorrect, as he put me down as losing matches that I never played!!!
So, obviously, part of my bad 6.0 experience was due to this captain.
However.
There was ONE guy in that whole conglomerate of teams that actually played with any kind of strategy or thought. Every guy seemed only interested in trying to hit the ball as hard has he could. Errors GALORE. You can't win a match when the only person who holds their serve is the girl because your guy is too macho to take something off of the ball so that it actually stays in for a change!
Some of those guys were just really rude, as well. I'm not the only woman who will never play for this captain again.
Next team. Great guys...very nice. Again, though...'macho' syndrome. Also, this team had regular clinics which were only ever attended by...the women. The guys NEVER came to practice, and it showed. The women were far stronger than the men on this team. We finished dead last.
Those are my tales. Your mileage may vary, of course. I have had two different mixed partners in the past (that I've played tournaments with) who have been much better players than any of these guys, and also much nicer people.
The problem with a 6.0 team is the same as 3.0 teams - you have 3.0 players with significant limitations. Guys often smash the ball without control and women tap the ball back and forth without power. Guys hate the softer women shots. Women hate the guy's unforced errors. However, if you are a 3.0 player, you will get better playing mixed to address your weaknesses. It may be more fun to play up to a better level of play, but who does not like playing with better players. However, if we all insisted on playing with better players, no one would ever play.
Play Coed - have fun. Don't let other's experiences deter you.
Also, if you play up, you wil have some good matches but you may run into some buzz saw teams. If you are a 3.0-3.5 player, you will play teams at 7.0 with 3.5+ players, who are oftern better than many 4.0s.
Play Coed - have fun. Don't let other's experiences deter you.
Also, if you play up, you wil have some good matches but you may run into some buzz saw teams. If you are a 3.0-3.5 player, you will play teams at 7.0 with 3.5+ players, who are oftern better than many 4.0s.
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todot62
Rookie
I captain my own teams and have always been a fan of partners vs individuals. So I try as much as possible to keep partners together. It seems to work because I've taken my last two 6.0 mixed teams to sectionals. Topaz is correct, there is a lot of testosterone in mixed and concentrating on playing good doubles not just “picking on the girl” will give you an advantage every time.
Tod
Tod
