Mixed Doubles Strategy: How to Play Smart (Without Picking on Anyone)

Good mixed doubles strategy is the same as good doubles strategy: play to your team's strengths, target the other team's weaknesses, move together and communicate. The best mixed teams don't plan their game around gender. They plan it around the actual players in front of them, and keep the game fun and respectful for all four people on court.

This guide covers how to set up as a team, serve and return tactics, net play, and the etiquette questions that come up in mixed play.

Start with your team's strengths

Before the match, talk about who does what best:

• Who has the stronger forehand? That player often takes the deuce side or the middle.
• Who's better at the net? That player should look to poach and finish points.
• Who returns better on the ad side? Big points are often played there (such as 30–40 and ad-in).
• Is one of you left-handed? A right-hander and left-hander combination can put both forehands in the middle.

There's no rule that one player always takes the same side. Pick the arrangement that gives your team the most strength where it matters most.

Serving

• First-serve percentage matters more than speed. A strong first serve in lets your partner at the net be aggressive.
• Serve to the returner's weaker side. Find it in the first few games.
• Mix up placement: wide, at the body and down the T. Body serves are especially effective in doubles.
• Use signals. Agree with your partner on whether they'll poach on this point.

Want a more reliable serve? See Fix Your Serve in 30 Days.

Returning

• Crosscourt and low is the default return, away from the net player.
• Lob over an aggressive net player occasionally, to keep them honest.
• Down the line now and then, if the net player poaches too much.

See How to Return Serve Better for more on returns.

At the net

• Stay active. Move with the ball and fake toward the middle. A still net player is easy to avoid.
• Poach on weak returns, and when you've signaled it.
• Cover the middle. Most balls in doubles go down the middle. Agree in advance who takes it, usually the player with the forehand in the middle or the one who hit the previous ball crosscourt.
• Watch the lob. If you're both at the net, decide who covers the lob, and switch sides if needed.

Our guide to doubles positioning mistakes covers this in more detail.

Targeting: play the weakness, not the person

Every team has a weaker link on any given day. It might be a weaker backhand, slower movement or less comfort at the net. Playing to that weakness is normal tennis tactics, whoever it is. A few guidelines keep it fair and sporting:

• Base your choices on what you see, not assumptions. Many players are stronger than their opponents expect.
• Hitting at a net player is legal. Aiming at their feet or hip to win the point is a standard tactic. Deliberately hitting at someone's head or upper body at close range, when you have an open court, isn't good sportsmanship, in any format.
• Don't "poach" your partner's shots just because you assume you're the stronger player. Let them play their shots, and back them up.

Communication

• Before the point: agree on serving targets and whether the net player is poaching.
• During the point: call "mine," "yours," "switch" and "out" clearly.
• After the point: keep it positive. Talk about the next point, not the last mistake.

Etiquette in mixed doubles

• Treat all four players as competitors and teammates, not as categories.
• Don't coach your partner during the match unless they ask.
• Make fair line calls, and accept your partner's calls. See Tennis Etiquette for Recreational Players.
• Keep the atmosphere friendly. Mixed doubles is often the most social format in the club.

Keep learning

• Find a mixed doubles partner in our player directory.
• Thinking about joining a league? Read League or Ladder?
• Run a mixed social with our round-robin generator.