Featured Image: Pierre-Yves Beaudouin
Returning serve in mixed doubles can be quite challenging. Unlike in level doubles, where the receiving player would take the forecourt, there has to be more tact in mixed. The return needs to be as such so that the woman becomes the forecourt player and the male can move into the rear court.
Returning Serve – Positioning
The positions of both the male and the female player vary depending on who is receiving the serve.
Female Returning Serve
When the female receives serve she stands close to the service line. This is in order to get to the shuttle early and force the lift. The male player stands just behind her in the midcourt. This is a similar approach to level doubles.
Many female club players, particularly in a mixed context, do not feel comfortable standing so close to the service line. They feel exposed to the flick serve. Therefore, they stand closer to the midcourt area. While this is better to cover their weakness of moving into the rear court, it does mean they wouldn’t be able to meet the shuttle as early. It’s a double-edged sword.
The best way to combat this is to develop strength and power in order to quickly move back to these flick serves.
Male Returning Serve
When the male receives serve, they also stand close to the service line in order to meet the shuttle early. The female will stand level or just behind their partner. She can’t be in front of the male player as she would be impeding his return of the serve and the mid/rear court would be exposed.
You might initially think that this puts them at a disadvantage. Following the above logic, it means that the male player would end up in the forecourt and the female player would be taking shots in the rear/midcourt. Of course, this can happen and often does. In order to mitigate this, the male player will play shots which facilitate the partnership’s movement into the preferred formation.
Again in a club capacity, men also might stand a little further back to receive serve. This might be because they are not quick enough to return the low serve and move back into the rear court. They may also be slow onto flick serves. Or they lack trust in their partner in the rear court.
This creates more of a problem in that they have to move forward now to cover short serves, therefore potentially letting the shuttle fall below net height before they are able to reach it. The distance may not seem significant but it’s these little intricacies which can affect a game. This also means the ensuing rally might initially be to the pairs disadvantage as they have had to give away the lift so early on.
Shot Choices When Receiving Serve
Female Receives
When the female receives serve, she should play shots which either kill the rally, set up weak replies to the net or lifts for their partner to attack. This is the same situation as in level doubles so there is more detail here.
Because the male player is in the mid/rear court, the female should be confident in playing attacking returns on serve (within reason) as their partner can cover any replies to the mid and rear court.
Male Receives – The Dilemma
When the man is receiving serve it is a little more complex. The male needs to be conscious of the shots they are going to play because they need to ensure they are able to move back into the rear court. Therefore, certain shots would be detrimental to achieving this.
Playing back to the net, for example, means the male will be in the front and the female is in the rear court. The male could play the net shot and move out, allowing his partner to come and cover the potential next net shot. However, the delay in the movement between the female and male play to switch positions might be inefficient, and the shuttle may fall below the net during this transition, which means it’s more likely you will have to concede the attack.
Furthermore, if the male pounces on the serve, the momentum of that shot carries them forward. Meanwhile, the female is also looking ready to cover the net after the serve. If the male’s attempted kill is returned, it will be played to the rear court at pace. Neither player will have enough time to recover to the backcourt because this sequence of events happens so quickly.
It’s more effective for the male player to be patient and play shots which buy them time to move into the rear court. Placing the shuttle into the
If the male’s return of serve puts enough pressure on the opponent, they can stay forward to finish the rally. Moving backwards after the pressure is applied will close this small window of opportunity. In this scenario, the female must be prepared to move into the rear court.
The male’s return of serve might not always result in both players being in their strongest formation. It is also dependent on the opponent’s third shot. They too are trying to move you out of position. This will be discussed in another article.
Returning Serve In Mixed Doubles Conclusion
Returning serve in mixed doubles can be tricky. Particularly if you are not used to the concept of the mid-court. When I first started playing badminton, I only saw the frontcourt and
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