My Summarised Tips: Mixed Doubles Most men in mixed doubles relish the opportunity of intimidating the opposing woman by smashing her serve directly back at her. This tends to have a compounding effect as the fear of the smash leads to a poorer service. The consequent effect is an intimidated woman and her irritated partner because of her inefficient service. Therefore, the woman in mixed must practice the following: A short service which is very low to the net. What is important is that the serve is close to the top of the net, how far back it lands in the court is largely irrelevant as the return will not be smashed if it is a low serve! The woman should also develop a second serve - either a flick or a flat drive service - which is disguised until the point of contact to appear as a short serve.  The Service Since the man in conventional mixed covers the court area bounded by the front service line, the side lines and the back line, he must serve from the centre of this area so he will be in position for the ensuing return. This will seem more apparent when it is remembered that the service being struck below the waist is therefore a defensive stroke. The man should serve, therefore, from about four or five feet back from the front service line and standing very close to the center court line. Since he is further back, his serve takes longer to cross the net and thus allows the opponents more time to rush in and smash it down. Therefore, the man's service must be particularly close to the net and should be hit fairly quickly to obviate the speed question already mentioned. Again, it is largely irrelevant how far back of the front service line the bird lands, provided it passes close to the top of the net. Like the woman, the man should practice variations of service disguised as much as possible and should mix these serves in a game. Of course, both women and men should consistently exploit any obvious weakness in their opponents' reception of serve. .   Anticipation: Anticipation and readiness are key here. The woman should be "Hunting" for the shuttle with racket up , The man should be aware of his boundaries and in particular remember to place drop shots directly in front of his partner when ever possible. Thus elevating the need for her lateral movement on court. Anticipate the most likely return and be ready in your mind or your return shot. And with any pairing you must communicate. If you are a relatively new pairing establish a few predetermined calls i.e. is "Yes" a call for your partner to take the shot or for you ? Many pairings would see the same call differently.  Observation : I can't stress the importance of this. How many times have you seen a player continually play his/her favorite shot regardless of where his opponents are within the court. Use your peripheral vision to establish where the opposing players are. Also monitor the success of your shots in particular your serves , if a particular serve is consistently met with a good return then change it , It sounds all so easy and it is but I'm continually amazed at how many players seem to be oblivious to the effectiveness of there key shots!  Playing the Lift : T he bird should never be lifted in mixed except in emergencies. If you do lift, try to lift it as high and deep to a back corner as the gym permits. The woman should position herself a few feet back of the front service line diagonally to the smash. Because of the greater distance on the diagonal, her position now is the same distance as her partner is, therefore both partners have equal chance of playing the next defensive stroke :. .   A Few Reminders: Here are just a few final reminders. The woman at the net in mixed is in a very vulnerable position. She cannot see the play developing as can the man from the back court. She is almost always in a crouch. The man in mixed should be considerate in this regard and avoid a style of play which will make her task more difficult. Like men's or ladies' doubles, mixed is a team game. Partners must complement each other and work to be greater than the sum total of two individuals. There is no room for the women's libber or the male chauvinist on the mixed court.  Back to top