Mixed Doubles – Attacking In Mixed Doubles

Attacking in mixed doubles has a well-defined formation. The man in the rear court and the female in the front court. The man has the power to force weak replies from the opponents and the female has the delicate touch and speed to finish rallies from the front.

As in level doubles, the rear court player should play primarily smashes from the rear court to set their partner up in the frontcourt. The frontcourt player should set up the rear court player for attacking opportunities and kill any weak replies to the net. The only difference here is that the rear court role and frontcourt role are clearly designated. We have previously discussed these roles which are linked above.

Some Don’ts Of Attacking In Mixed

For this article, we will discuss some common mistakes that people make about mixed. These assume that the partnership is in the attacking formation in mixed doubles with the male in the rear court and the female in the frontcourt.

The Male Should Not Play Singles Around His Partner

Often an almost caveman-like approach for male players to take on the opposing male player in a weird hybrid game of singles to assert some kind of dominance. Mixed is not singles with interference. It is a doubles discipline and playing singles around the female is not only insulting to her but also an incredibly inefficient way to play mixed.

By doing this, the male is just tiring himself out and not utilising the skills of the female at the front of the court. It cannot be expected of her to make effective interceptions or set up her partner while he is playing singles. This shows an obvious immaturity in his approach to the game. Perhaps they can get away with it against weaker opponents but against stronger opponents, this tactic will certainly not pay off.

Mixed doubles is as much a partnership as level doubles and should be respected as such by both players.

Ask Too Much Of The Female

This often goes hand in hand with the previous point. Because the male is playing “singles” this does not work to their partner’s strengths. Then if she makes an error because the male puts them in a compromised position, they might feel like it’s their fault or even be blamed by their partner for said mistake. This is totally unfair.

This also shows a fundamental lack of appreciation for the front court position. It is reasonable to expect the female to put away easy kills, make calculated interceptions and set up the rear court player. It’s not reasonable to expect her to intercept every shuttle or to not make some errors.

How well she does her role is determined by how effective the male player is at facilitating it. If he does not play tactically to allow his partner to do this, then he is in the wrong, not her. However, some male players cannot see this themselves, only that they’re working hard in the rear court while their partner makes mistakes. Yet in level doubles, they would never put the same kind of pressure on their partner in the front court.

The best advice I heard while watching a badminton match once was “You should aim to make your partner look good.” This can only be achieved if both players work in unison to create winning opportunities. Both players should appreciate the relative difficulties of the rear and frontcourt roles.

Always Target The Woman

Wrong! If you read that and immediately agreed then you might want to rethink your mixed tactics. This strategy has been a common staple among clubs for a while. This assumes the woman has a weak (or weaker) defence than the man. However, this is not the way you should view your opponents.

If the female player is legitimately weaker in defence than her male counterpart, then yes definitely target her. However, if the male player is weaker in defence, of course, you should target them rather than the female. You shouldn’t base your strategy based on the sex of the opponent but on their abilities. In the same way, you would if you were playing levels.

As the level of play increases, there is minimal difference in the defensive capabilities between the female and male players. In fact the female player is often more creative in defence as they need to make their way forward to the frontcourt. They are the ones more likely to turn the game in their team’s favour. In mixed, it is often the strength of the female player that makes the difference in a game.

In addition, taking this approach shows a fundamental lack of tactical knowledge. If you do not adequately assess your opponents and just assume the woman is weaker, you tend to forget the other tactical implications of the play.

For example, you start smashing cross court to the woman. Remember, that the cross-court takes a longer time to travel and therefore gives the opposing female time to react to that shot. If she’s capable, she will play a straight reply, putting you under pressure. Therefore you’ll learn the hard way it’s important to remember the basic tactics of doubles before assuming you can just target the woman.

The Final Word

I am highlighting these “don’ts” because they seem to be persistent in their application at lots of clubs. This is not a targeted attack at male players. It is highlighting the issues which exist in many clubs. When attacking in mixed doubles and the male is in the rear court and the female is in the frontcourt, their respective roles are exactly the same as in level doubles. So play should reflect this.

In the next article, we’ll discuss the attack when the female is in the rear court and the male is in the frontcourt.

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