Help Required With Tactical Play In Mixed Doubles

[StuartJohnston]

I just played a game of mixed doubles and received an education. 15-1 & 15-5
For some odd reason my lady kept lifting the shuttle to the man and only 3/4 court length.
Hence the man kept smashing. This is not a problem as I high returned 90% but couldn’t break the cycle as the opposition’s lady was like a pouncing tiger and killed everything I tired to gain the attack.
i.e. Pushes to either side, slice drops, fast drives and mass deception including dummy shots ! I even tried to smash a smash!
I tired talking to my partner and advised a net game, which started to work but she then said that the opposition’s lady was to strong for her and started back on the lifting tactic!
I know my partner was stronger than the opposition’s but she lacked the self-belief.

So how do I re-install this while in a game ?
How can I break the cycle and gain the attack ?
Do I play singles around her ?

She plays really well when we are leading or slightly behind but not when a large margin develops.

Best Rgds

Stuart

[Pglews]

Hi Stuart,
I used to play with a similar mixed partner (in terms of the confidence thing) and I'm not always the most confident person myself.
The best way to break a cycle is not to let it develop, hence taking the game to them. As for playing singles round her, if it works, fine, but it may not necessarily work to boost her confidence if you start taking her shots! From what I can grasp, the best thing is to try and take as much control of things early on in the game. It does put more pressure on your role in the game, but it will pay off in the long run. Try and pressurise the opposition's lady and be as positive as possible with your return of serve, rather than getting into a defensive position when you are receiving. Set your partner up when the opportunity arises. Easy put aways will boost her confidence, even if you have to work yourself into the ground to do it!
You can obviously communicate well enough with your partner, so just keep doing that and being as positive as possible with her. Eventually it will rub off on her.
Just keep it all positive and best of luck. Hopefully you'll get some replies from more qualified mixed players than myself soon though!
All the best!

[chris0011]

Hi Stuart

Peter suggested a good idea, i.e. busting a gut for the lady to make an easy kill at the net. However, there are a few ideas you might like to consider:

1. If your lady is "slow" at the net, then play shots from the rear of the court wherever she is standing. This will allow her to take shots within easy reach.

2. Ask your partner to lift x-court away from herself. This will give her extra time to take up a defensive stance in the mid-court.

3. Reverse the positions of your opponents, i.e. lady to the rearcourt, man to the forecourt.

4. Push the shuttle to what my old coach used to call the point of indecision, i.e behind the lady and in front of the man.

5. Ask you partner if any shots that you play actually put her under pressure and learn to play alternatives.

6. Try and get your partner to cover x-court shots only - you cover the rest of the court.

Finally, use the off-season to work on the above aspects to see if it works!!! Short-term I would suggest options 3 and 5.

Good luck

Regards
Chris

[Martin Dew-Hattens]

The best advice I can give you is get a chair and place it beside the court.

Carefully instruct your lady that she may serve and receive serve. The only shot she may respond with is a lift to the back line. After that she MUST walk to the sideline and sit on the chair until the rally is finished.

You may laugh but actually Mike Tedgett did that to me once. He went and sat on the bench until I was finished since he thought the game was too easy. Actually I cannot blame him since I was playing the rally with my right hand instead of my left. (I won the rally).

Yes - this was in an international match against Austria in the Europeans in Preston many years ago.

Life is full of little stories like this.