Re-thinking the deuce court female player in mixed

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
So I've long been a strong proponent of the male player taking the ad side in mixed (providing he's the stronger player and both players are righties). It plays to his FH strength and gives him a chance to control the ad points which usually are the bigger pressure points. But last night I played social mixed with a group that was in the 3.5-4.0 range. 4 Teams rotating sets so we could play everyone over 2 hours.

I noticed that 3 teams played the woman in deuce and 1 team had her in ad. The team with the woman in ad really put us on our heels trying to hold my partner's serve. Teams with the woman in deuce were far easier to get a hold with.

Here's what I observed. The male returner in deuce could strike my partner's serve with enough pace and placement to avoid me easily. The female returner in ad was hard to poach because its a BH poach (less reach) and it was harder, if i did get a BH volley on it, to put that away. With women in deuce I can be a net monster with FH volleys (better reach and I can hit more firmly), so those points become more automatic.

Now admittedly it was a bit easier to hold my own serve with the woman in ad, but I didn't have much trouble holding my serve either way. I find mixed is really a lot about breaking the opponents female serve and trying to come up with a few holds for your female partner. So this positioning seems to help with breaking the females serve.

I'm not sure it will change how I play with my partner since she is a very good deuce court player with a wicked CC FH return. But I do think when I come up against that positioning scenario I'm going to have to think about trying some Australian to get that FH volley advantage back. Or really get better at my high BH volley putaways which are pretty tragic.
 

kylebarendrick

Professional
I am a big fan of having people return on the side where they are most comfortable. The ad player may be receiving the "pressure" points, but the deuce player sees more serves over the course of a match. Having people on the sides where their successful return percentage is high is likely a good thing :)

All things being equal (and assuming righties) , I do want the better overhead in the ad court. At the very least, the ad player needs to be able to put an overhead away.
 

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
If your opponent has a good ad side kick serve to the backhand, the returner that has an easier time returning this serve should probably play ad side.

The person with a better overhead and ability to chase down lobs to hit overheads in the air is also a good candidate for the ad side, assuming the opponents like to lob a bit. Sometimes just the threat of having a good overhead can allow you to play closer to the net.
 

J_R_B

Hall of Fame
So I've long been a strong proponent of the male player taking the ad side in mixed (providing he's the stronger player and both players are righties). It plays to his FH strength and gives him a chance to control the ad points which usually are the bigger pressure points. But last night I played social mixed with a group that was in the 3.5-4.0 range. 4 Teams rotating sets so we could play everyone over 2 hours.

I noticed that 3 teams played the woman in deuce and 1 team had her in ad. The team with the woman in ad really put us on our heels trying to hold my partner's serve. Teams with the woman in deuce were far easier to get a hold with.

Here's what I observed. The male returner in deuce could strike my partner's serve with enough pace and placement to avoid me easily. The female returner in ad was hard to poach because its a BH poach (less reach) and it was harder, if i did get a BH volley on it, to put that away. With women in deuce I can be a net monster with FH volleys (better reach and I can hit more firmly), so those points become more automatic.

Now admittedly it was a bit easier to hold my own serve with the woman in ad, but I didn't have much trouble holding my serve either way. I find mixed is really a lot about breaking the opponents female serve and trying to come up with a few holds for your female partner. So this positioning seems to help with breaking the females serve.

I'm not sure it will change how I play with my partner since she is a very good deuce court player with a wicked CC FH return. But I do think when I come up against that positioning scenario I'm going to have to think about trying some Australian to get that FH volley advantage back. Or really get better at my high BH volley putaways which are pretty tragic.
I played a match last year where they played with the woman on the ad side, and I found that on my partner's serve, it made it easier to poach on the ad side, and I was able to be more active at the net on both sides. I didn't get as many easy put away volleys off the man's return on the deuce as I get off a typical 4.0 woman's, but any poach volley usually put me in control of the point, and the fact that I was able to poach on both sides made holding my partner's serve easier, so I guess it depends. This was an 8.0 match. I am a 4.0 guy, I was playing with a 3.5 woman, and we beat two 4.0s.
 

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
I played a match last year where they played with the woman on the ad side, and I found that on my partner's serve, it made it easier to poach on the ad side, and I was able to be more active at the net on both sides. I didn't get as many easy put away volleys off the man's return on the deuce as I get off a typical 4.0 woman's, but any poach volley usually put me in control of the point, and the fact that I was able to poach on both sides made holding my partner's serve easier, so I guess it depends. This was an 8.0 match. I am a 4.0 guy, I was playing with a 3.5 woman, and we beat two 4.0s.

I guess I find the BH poach a little more problematic than the FH poach especially on the high looping return. I can rarely get a lot of oomph on the high BH volley so the opposing net player almost always reflexed it back. Whereas my FH volleys were pretty much all winners.

If your opponent has a good ad side kick serve to the backhand, the returner that has an easier time returning this serve should probably play ad side.

The person with a better overhead and ability to chase down lobs to hit overheads in the air is also a good candidate for the ad side, assuming the opponents like to lob a bit. Sometimes just the threat of having a good overhead can allow you to play closer to the net.

These are some of the reasons I like to play ad and i think it made a difference in our matches as I could control the middle with FH volleys and overheads.

Even with the challenges on my partner's serve, the good likely outweighs the bad.

I am a big fan of having people return on the side where they are most comfortable. The ad player may be receiving the "pressure" points, but the deuce player sees more serves over the course of a match. Having people on the sides where their successful return percentage is high is likely a good thing :)

That's why I stick with ad with my partner in deuce. High comfort level. But I play with a lot of other players that are agnostic about sides. In that case, I'd probably agree that best FH takes the ad side.
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
This is so hard to sort out because it is so individual.

I usually play deuce in Mixed. That's because I usually play deuce in ladies.

It's also because my OH is not great, so we will do better having my partner in ad to take OHs. And I don't mind hitting my BH volley from the deuce side.

But there are trade-offs. One thing that is nice about receiving on the ad side is that most people are less likely to poach aggressively with their BH, so I can usually lob the return over the opposing guy's BH or otherwise get it past him.

The one thing I really don't like about ad side is that if they serve up the middle to my FH, I cannot reliably go down the alley. I am actually more successful on the deuce side taking my BH DTL. Still, by the time I am trying that shot we are in real trouble. Far more successful is just crowding the service line when the woman is serving to take away the guy's time to poach.

So that's a long way of saying there just aren't any rules, and it is highly dependent on the skills each player brings.
 

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
But there are trade-offs. One thing that is nice about receiving on the ad side is that most people are less likely to poach aggressively with their BH, so I can usually lob the return over the opposing guy's BH or otherwise get it past him.

The one thing I really don't like about ad side is that if they serve up the middle to my FH, I cannot reliably go down the alley. I am actually more successful on the deuce side taking my BH DTL.

Your first point is what I was noticing yesterday.

Your second point is probably what I should have asked my partner to do. When I served to the woman in ad, I sliced most of my serves down the T to her FH and that got a bunch of easy putaway sitters for my partner. For some reason I find a lot of rec players won't lob their FH return so it becomes a poachable stroke if you can keep it out of their wheelhouse. If you go at the BH in ad you get a lot of lobbed returns as most people know its their weaker stroke and try to just get the ball past the net guy.

So that's a long way of saying there just aren't any rules, and it is highly dependent on the skills each player brings.

Stupid human variability. Makes it hard to apply logic and reason to these conundrums.
 

Moveforwardalways

Hall of Fame
I have won a couple of mixed tournaments with the woman playing ad side. There are a couple of reasons. The first is that the woman I played with always returned ad side when she was playing regular adult league. She was very comfortable there, and could easily avoid the opponent male net player’s poach by lobbing really well, which is a staple of 4.0-4.5 women’s tennis. Since she was returning the opponent female’s serve, this was no different than normal league for her. Returning the opponent male’s serve was a wash anyway, since she could not return it well no matter what side she was on. That left me to play deuce. I have never had more fun teeing off on forehand returns than when the opposing female was serving in these matches. Lots of weak slice serves right into my bread basket on the forehand side. I hit the opposing male net player twice before he moved back to play two back. Then it was open season. We broke her serve every time, held ours every time, and lost the opponent male’s serve every time. Lots of 6-2 sets.

Now there are downsides to this set up, of course. But it is one way to get your team’s biggest weapons in play more often. The biggest obstacle is for the male player to get over this idea that deuce side is for the weaker player and not “feeling like a man” for letting the female play ad side.
 

kylebarendrick

Professional
Now there are downsides to this set up, of course. But it is one way to get your team’s biggest weapons in play more often. The biggest obstacle is for the male player to get over this idea that deuce side is for the weaker player and not “feeling like a man” for letting the female play ad side.

Watch pro mixed to help with that. A lot of pro women receive on the ad side in those matches. The best example is the Swiss team. Bencic takes the ad side leaving some bloke (I think his name is Federer or something like that) playing deuce. To me there is no better example that "stronger player plays ad" is a fallacy.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Watch pro mixed to help with that. A lot of pro women receive on the ad side in those matches. The best example is the Swiss team. Bencic takes the ad side leaving some bloke (I think his name is Federer or something like that) playing deuce. To me there is no better example that "stronger player plays ad" is a fallacy.


The most basic question to answer is what combination is better for us as a team. I may be better on the Ad than on Deuce but my partner might be a lot better on Ad than Deuce so it makes sense for her to take Ad. Too often the logic stops with whatever side the guy is better at.

And Federer/Bencic play only "casually". Check out both Hingis/Murray and Kontinen/Watson [3 of the 4 top doubles players in the world]: the women are playing Ad.

 

FiReFTW

Legend
When at net, the Ad side righty has his FH in the middle where most of the action will be.

Well yea but not when exchanging from the baseline. And not when partner or you are serving from ad (partner) or deuce (you).

I dont really see any advantage for someone, most righties with stronger fhs prefer the deuce side.
 
I find crosscourt backhands easier than insideout backhands, and insideout forehands easier than crosscourt forehands. So I prefer the ad side as a returner. My forehand is stronger.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Well yea but not when exchanging from the baseline. And not when partner or you are serving from ad (partner) or deuce (you).

Then it comes down to how much time you spend at the net vs on the BL.

I dont really see any advantage for someone, most righties with stronger fhs prefer the deuce side.

If I think you prefer your FH and you're playing Deuce, I'm not going to be serving to your FH.
 

Moveforwardalways

Hall of Fame
If I think you prefer your FH and you're playing Deuce, I'm not going to be serving to your FH.

That's true for male players. However, the next female 4.0-4.5 player I meet who can reliably serve down the T on the deuce side in a way that a 4.0-4.5 male player can’t turn it into a huge forehand will be the first. Almost every serve they hit is slice into the forehand or at best into the body.

Guys always win their serve in mixed, so how a guy is going to serve is essentially a non-factor. In fact, if the guy isn’t winning his serve easily, the team has bigger problems than who is returning on what side. Mixed is all about whether the female players can hold serve. That’s the difference in every match.
 

OnTheLine

Hall of Fame
That's true for male players. However, the next female 4.0-4.5 player I meet who can reliably serve down the T on the deuce side in a way that a 4.0-4.5 male player can’t turn it into a huge forehand will be the first. Almost every serve they hit is slice into the forehand or at best into the body.

Guys always win their serve in mixed, so how a guy is going to serve is essentially a non-factor. In fact, if the guy isn’t winning his serve easily, the team has bigger problems than who is returning on what side. Mixed is all about whether the female players can hold serve. That’s the difference in every match.

I can hit my spots .... and I target that T on deuce ... I rarely see a 4.0 guy running around their BH to get to their FH .... I may even say I haven't seen that ....

HOWEVER, usually the males playing deuce are either lefties OR are not terribly strong .... going back to the topic of the thread the men are generally playing Ad. So, this just isn't something we see all that often.

And you can just trust me, my deuce serve to the T .... the women, even the lefties, don't deal with it all that well.
 

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
Well yea but not when exchanging from the baseline. And not when partner or you are serving from ad (partner) or deuce (you).

I dont really see any advantage for someone, most righties with stronger fhs prefer the deuce side.

Disagree. Since my partner has her half of the court covered, I can easily step around a lot of BH's to hit FH from the ad corner. From there I can take any short ball inside in or inside out as forcing shots. From the deuce side if I get a FH it's an outside ball and much harder to hit DTL in that setting (although i have made a few spectacular DTL FH from out wide over the years). Inside balls from deuce come to my BH and I struggle with good inside out BH's.

Also any high ball in the middle is a FH smash for me which is also much easier than a BH smash from deuce.

So i find i can control points from the baseline and the net better from the ad side. From the deuce side I tend to just get into a FH CC war of attrition and I don't come in as much as I'm facing BH volleys off my feet too much.
 

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
That's true for male players. However, the next female 4.0-4.5 player I meet who can reliably serve down the T on the deuce side in a way that a 4.0-4.5 male player can’t turn it into a huge forehand will be the first. Almost every serve they hit is slice into the forehand or at best into the body.

Guys always win their serve in mixed, so how a guy is going to serve is essentially a non-factor. In fact, if the guy isn’t winning his serve easily, the team has bigger problems than who is returning on what side. Mixed is all about whether the female players can hold serve. That’s the difference in every match.

My wife is 3.5 and can serve down the T from deuce. And its flat and low bouncing and even 4.5 guys and women struggle to put anything on it as they try to run around it. I told her early on when we were working on our mixed game that I needed her to learn to serve down the T from deuce so practice it every time until you can do it. Now she can and it's been a god send to holding her serve. I don't think enough people really think about aim on their serves.

And guys don't always win their serve in mixed. I've broke a fair number of men in the 3.5-4.0 range. Serve to my FH goes inside in at the opposing net woman. Serve to My BH goes deep CC and then the next shot I run around to FH and hit DTL at the opposing net woman. My wife hits the first shot she gets good wood on at the opposing net woman and I pounce on the volley. She just needs to get one weak volley.

My wife plays against strong 4.0 serves all the time so Men's serves rarely fluster her. In fact the harder the better.

And of course I've been known to get broken on occasion when my first serve percentage goes out the window.
 

FiReFTW

Legend
Disagree. Since my partner has her half of the court covered, I can easily step around a lot of BH's to hit FH from the ad corner. From there I can take any short ball inside in or inside out as forcing shots. From the deuce side if I get a FH it's an outside ball and much harder to hit DTL in that setting (although i have made a few spectacular DTL FH from out wide over the years). Inside balls from deuce come to my BH and I struggle with good inside out BH's.

Also any high ball in the middle is a FH smash for me which is also much easier than a BH smash from deuce.

So i find i can control points from the baseline and the net better from the ad side. From the deuce side I tend to just get into a FH CC war of attrition and I don't come in as much as I'm facing BH volleys off my feet too much.

95% of righties with a strong fh prefer the deuce side, same on the pro tour.
 

Moveforwardalways

Hall of Fame
I can hit my spots .... and I target that T on deuce ... I rarely see a 4.0 guy running around their BH to get to their FH .... I may even say I haven't seen that ....

HOWEVER, usually the males playing deuce are either lefties OR are not terribly strong .... going back to the topic of the thread the men are generally playing Ad. So, this just isn't something we see all that often.

And you can just trust me, my deuce serve to the T .... the women, even the lefties, don't deal with it all that well.

Maybe you do. I’m sure it happens. I’m just saying it’s not that common for a 4.0 female to serve down the T consistently. It’s not like they are serving big kick serves. And it’s an easy way to get an advantage in mixed.
 

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
95% of righties with a strong fh prefer the deuce side, same on the pro tour.

Not what I've seen. Many strong FH's like to have that wing in the middle. It's probably pretty close to 50:50 in my casual look at Youtube videos of mixed pro matches.

But pros definitely have nothing in common with 8.0 mixed. They are strong off both wings.
 
True but he might in 9.0. Just as a 4.0 might not hold in 8.0. To me there is no rationale for a 4.5 male to play 8.0. Man up and play 9.0. :p
Or maybe playing 8.0 is the real "manning up", because there he has to do a lot more to compensate for the 3.5 partner :-D
...this coming from a 3.5 who has recently tried her hand at 8.0 - I feel sorry for the 4.5 guys who have had to play with me
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Or maybe playing 8.0 is the real "manning up", because there he has to do a lot more to compensate for the 3.5 partner :-D
...this coming from a 3.5 who has recently tried her hand at 8.0 - I feel sorry for the 4.5 guys who have had to play with me

They are different games that might require different approaches. No different than any doubles match where you and your partner have different skill sets.
 

kylebarendrick

Professional
Well, I suppose context matters. But there is no excuse for a 4.5 male to lose his serve in 8.0 mixed.

Nonsense. Depends on match-ups and execution. As an example... I (a 3.5) regularly play 8.0 mixed with my 4.5 wife. I used to be a 4.0 and have spent a lot of time playing against 4.5s in both combo and mixed. My wife thrives on pace. We played a 4.5 with a good hard topspin serve. Unfortunately for him that nice topspin, which I'm sure gives the 3.5 ladies fits, bounced right into my strike zone. My wife (as she does) gave his power right back to him. He struggled all night holding serve and his 3.5 lady partner wasn't going to be able to help him out.

Now that said, if the 4.5 male struggles to hold serve in 8.0 mixed then his team is probably going to lose.
 

KOFS

Rookie
Always play the better player on deuce side, they get more returns and usually people serve best to deuce side.
 

J011yroger

Talk Tennis Guru
Or maybe playing 8.0 is the real "manning up", because there he has to do a lot more to compensate for the 3.5 partner :-D
...this coming from a 3.5 who has recently tried her hand at 8.0 - I feel sorry for the 4.5 guys who have had to play with me

Not even close.

9.0 is much harder than 8.0.

J
 

Raul_SJ

G.O.A.T.
The ad player may be receiving the "pressure" points, but the deuce player sees more serves over the course of a match.

Unless the score goes to 40-15 and server closes out the game, each player will see the same number of serves every game.
Don't see this as a significant factor... Anybody have stats on this?
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Unless the score goes to 40-15 and server closes out the game, each player will see the same number of serves every game.
Don't see this as a significant factor... Anybody have stats on this?

There are 4 possibilities:
- Holds/loses at love: 4 points
- Holds/loses at 15: 5 points
- Holds/loses at 30: 6 points
- Deuce: 8 + 2n points

In 3 out of the 4 cases, Ad and Deuce will receive the same # of serves [even #]. Therefore, assuming a random distribution, at most 25% of the time [depends on how big "n" is] the Deuce player will get one more receive than the Ad player.

Whether this balances out the "big points" being played on Ad is another question. Gotta call O'Shannessey.
 
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Raul_SJ

G.O.A.T.
There are 4 possibilities:
- Holds/loses at love: 4 points
- Holds/loses at 15: 5 points
- Holds/loses at 30: 6 points
- Deuce: 8 + 2n points

In 3 out of the 4 cases, Ad and Deuce will receive the same # of serves [even #]. Therefore, assuming a random distribution, 25% of the time the Deuce player will get one more receive than the Ad player.

Whether this balances out the "big points" being played on Ad is another question. Gotta call O'Shannessey.

Played several doubles sets over the weekend. My serves practically all went to 30-30 and then often followed by Deuce. Can't remember any 40-15 or 15-40. :unsure:
I suspect that is the common pattern between two evenly matched teams. So IMO, the "Deuce player sees more serves" is not an impotrant consideration when deciding sides.
 

kylebarendrick

Professional
There are 4 possibilities:
- Holds/loses at love: 4 points
- Holds/loses at 15: 5 points
- Holds/loses at 30: 6 points
- Deuce: 8 + 2n points

In 3 out of the 4 cases, Ad and Deuce will receive the same # of serves [even #]. Therefore, assuming a random distribution, at most 25% of the time [depends on how big "n" is] the Deuce player will get one more receive than the Ad player.

Whether this balances out the "big points" being played on Ad is another question. Gotta call O'Shannessey.

And that is the question. The fact (and if even one game is decided at 15-40 or 40-15 then it is a mathematical fact) that the deuce player sees more serves does not mean that it is the deciding factor in who should return where. For me the most important factors are (1) which sides are the players comfortable returning? and (2) Get at least one strong forehand/overhead in the middle.
 

zaskar1

Professional
i believe that its the strengths of the players and team chemistry that determine which side they play on.
in mixed, i play the ad with some partners, and deuce with others.
usually the team should put the more consisent player in the ad court, as more game points are determined on the ad side,
but again, it depends upon who is playing.
z
 

Traffic

Hall of Fame
My sister (strong 3.5) and I played together once on a 7.0 match. We played against a 4.0M/3.0F. I played Ad and sister played deuce. We got beat 6-1.
She wanted to switch sides for the 2nd set. Basically told me, "you had your chance at Ad, give it up". We won the 2nd set 6-2. We won the super tie 11-9.

What we found out was that, though my net play was ok, I wasn't super aggressive (too much 3.0 and 6.0MXD recently) at net. Just put the ball into play. Meanwhile, my sister's game is at net. She can return everything from the baseline, but there was no pressure and many times, if our opponents hit a strong FH shot cc to her, her defensive block was in the wheelhouse of the 4.0M at net or approaching net. Opponent female also had this slap FH that was pretty consistent and had a lot of pace and angle. Her volleys and OH were also aimed towards the deuce side. Meanwhile, both opponents had a weaker BH and weaker I/O FH.

So with me on the deuce, side, they were hitting into MY strike zone and I was easily returning their FHs with interest. That put them on the defensive and allowed my partner to have a field day up front. So for that match, against that opponent pair and our relative play that day, me on deuce and she on Ad worked much better.
 

blablavla

G.O.A.T.
My wife is 3.5 and can serve down the T from deuce. And its flat and low bouncing and even 4.5 guys and women struggle to put anything on it as they try to run around it. I told her early on when we were working on our mixed game that I needed her to learn to serve down the T from deuce so practice it every time until you can do it. Now she can and it's been a god send to holding her serve. I don't think enough people really think about aim on their serves.

And guys don't always win their serve in mixed. I've broke a fair number of men in the 3.5-4.0 range. Serve to my FH goes inside in at the opposing net woman. Serve to My BH goes deep CC and then the next shot I run around to FH and hit DTL at the opposing net woman. My wife hits the first shot she gets good wood on at the opposing net woman and I pounce on the volley. She just needs to get one weak volley.

My wife plays against strong 4.0 serves all the time so Men's serves rarely fluster her. In fact the harder the better.

And of course I've been known to get broken on occasion when my first serve percentage goes out the window.

@Dartagnan64 yes you are correct, one can run around and play FH from the BH side, like Sock did in doubles at Laver Cup.
But that only works if the opposite team stays baseline, and when the BH is a weak shot, and the opponent as well doesn't run around.

Now, as a good double team will likely attack the net, it will be difficult to run around and play FH.
Also, if you have a good FH, playing DTL shouldn't be an issue.
Lastly, if your opponent has a good BH, or at least a good slice, it will neutralize your run-around to play FH strategy. It's not that easy to run around and play only FH against me for example. And when you do so, your partner will likely move to cover the middle, a point at which I have the DTL open either for spin or slice. The more you are pushing me wide, the easier is DTL BH, and even a floating slice at proper moment can generate troubles to the net person. No chance vs good top spin, simply re-directing your pace. No chance vs a good slice.
 

chatt_town

Hall of Fame
So I've long been a strong proponent of the male player taking the ad side in mixed (providing he's the stronger player and both players are righties). It plays to his FH strength and gives him a chance to control the ad points which usually are the bigger pressure points. But last night I played social mixed with a group that was in the 3.5-4.0 range. 4 Teams rotating sets so we could play everyone over 2 hours.

I noticed that 3 teams played the woman in deuce and 1 team had her in ad. The team with the woman in ad really put us on our heels trying to hold my partner's serve. Teams with the woman in deuce were far easier to get a hold with.

Here's what I observed. The male returner in deuce could strike my partner's serve with enough pace and placement to avoid me easily. The female returner in ad was hard to poach because its a BH poach (less reach) and it was harder, if i did get a BH volley on it, to put that away. With women in deuce I can be a net monster with FH volleys (better reach and I can hit more firmly), so those points become more automatic.

Now admittedly it was a bit easier to hold my own serve with the woman in ad, but I didn't have much trouble holding my serve either way. I find mixed is really a lot about breaking the opponents female serve and trying to come up with a few holds for your female partner. So this positioning seems to help with breaking the females serve.

I'm not sure it will change how I play with my partner since she is a very good deuce court player with a wicked CC FH return. But I do think when I come up against that positioning scenario I'm going to have to think about trying some Australian to get that FH volley advantage back. Or really get better at my high BH volley putaways which are pretty tragic.

Okay, so my take on that is this. It depends on several things. My wife and I have played since about 2003 and we've won a tourney at every level(6.0 mixed to open). What I've found over the years is this. It depends on the day and who you are playing. Many things come into play. Playing 8.5 and 9.0 mostly now it depends on how strong of a kick does the other guy have. My wife has a 2hbh. So she will return a high kicking kick serve better. The other thing is she can put an overhead away. Although she had the 2hbh, she couldn't play over there until she got that overhead together. I'd be willing to bet our losses are in single digits to teams that have the woman playing ad and it's not because she's weak persay, but we shoot everything over the woman's head or at her. We basically don't even use the deuce side of the court accept on return if we have to, otherwise if we can control the return everything goes to the back hand corner. The other thing is we serve 99 percent of whoever is on the ad side down the middle to cut down on angles...but particularly with women. Most have better bh than fh and assuming everyone is right handed...why would you ever serve a ball to a woman's bh on the ad side I have no idea. I remember once we played this couple and told them what we were going to do and they still couldn't do anything about it. lol They guy insisted they were going to switch and he was just going to cut it off out of the air....and it didn't matter because we are coming in behind it and not worried about him hitting overheads and certainly wasn't worried about her hitting them. Some women can put a ball away right on top of the net, but as long as you get the lob close to the service line...it's near impossible to do anything with it. We did have an asian couple in atl(doc Lee and his wife) that carved our @$$es to pieces with our own medicine but he was on the ad side but man I thought we threw up some lobs...sheeeesh...that match took almost 2.5 hours and we still lost it 2 and 2....lol So it just all depends man. We are going to Mobile in a few weeks...so we will see what happens.
 

BretH

Semi-Pro
Stronger player on deuce means a greater chance of opponents starting games at 0-15 and the psychological advantage that may give.
 

xFullCourtTenniSx

Hall of Fame
Well yea but not when exchanging from the baseline. And not when partner or you are serving from ad (partner) or deuce (you).

I dont really see any advantage for someone, most righties with stronger fhs prefer the deuce side.

Most successful players with big forehands prefer to spend a lot of time in their backhand corners hitting forehands. In doubles, you actually have the ability to effectively guarantee a forehand on every shot without giving up a size of court your opponents can consistently get to. You can't do this on the deuce side. It's by far the most successful strategy in singles.

I find crosscourt backhands easier than insideout backhands, and insideout forehands easier than crosscourt forehands. So I prefer the ad side as a returner. My forehand is stronger.

This is the experience for most players with their weaker wings, and an excellent example of why the player with the better backhand return should go deuce.

If I think you prefer your FH and you're playing Deuce, I'm not going to be serving to your FH.

The best part of this is, the best serve location in doubles is the T. If you play your strength to the wide return, you're seeing that wing less often against smart servers. If they realize there's a big gap between the two wings, you're seeing it even less.
 

J011yroger

Talk Tennis Guru
Most successful players with big forehands prefer to spend a lot of time in their backhand corners hitting forehands. In doubles, you actually have the ability to effectively guarantee a forehand on every shot without giving up a size of court your opponents can consistently get to. You can't do this on the deuce side. It's by far the most successful strategy in singles.



This is the experience for most players with their weaker wings, and an excellent example of why the player with the better backhand return should go deuce.



The best part of this is, the best serve location in doubles is the T. If you play your strength to the wide return, you're seeing that wing less often against smart servers. If they realize there's a big gap between the two wings, you're seeing it even less.

In singles most people try to keep the ball away from my forehand so I have gotten used to hitting balls from the left side of the court.

In real doubles I play both sides but in mixed I always play ad. A lot of times in 5.0 my partner will be stronger at net so they will play ad.

J
 
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