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How to play pickleball mixed doubles: Male & female roles

If you want to get better at pickleball mixed doubles, your first step is understanding your role as the male or female player. Learn more about your specific role in mixed doubles in pickleball.

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Barrett & Danea Bass

01/29/2025

If you want to get better at pickleball mixed doubles, your first step is understanding your role as the male or female player. Where should you be standing? How can you hit the ball to lead to a putaway on the next shot? And why does the male partner get so much of the court? Learn more about your specific role in mixed doubles so you and your partner can complement each other on the pickleball court to help you win your next game.

The female role in pickleball mixed doubles

As the female in a mixed doubles pickleball game, you will have certain responsibilities. Learn more about how to work with your partner, where you should be standing, and what your responsibilities are.

1. Moving your dinks around the court

One of your responsibilities as the female player in mixed doubles includes moving your dinks around the court — this is true for all pickleball doubles but especially for mixed doubles.

Many players work to hit to the person in front of them, but in mixed doubles it's important to move your dinks around, especially in the crosscourt section, because that's going to be the best way to get your partner involved.

When you're just playing straight in front of you, it's very hard for your partner to get involved in the point, so that crosscourt dink is imperative — but you don't want to just hit to the same spot. One thing you can do is go to “outside foot, inside foot, outside foot, inside foot” because that's really going to be moving your opponent around their box.

2. Don’t be married to the crosscourt dink

Something that's going to be really imperative for you to look for is an opening behind your male opponent. Many times a male is going to be playing the side of the court in front of you, and a lot of times you'll find that they're going to be cheating the middle because they want to get involved in the crosscourt dink. This is a really good time to be hitting a shot that will surprise the male on their sideline.

This is going to be really strategic because they're not going to be able to just hang out in this middle spot and poach a lot of balls, especially if you're keeping them honest and on their side of the court. You should be looking for the opening, and with that, make sure that you're also mixing in some attacks to the male in front of you.

3. Erne

When you're in a crosscourt battle and have the opportunity, go for the Erne shot, especially if you see your opponent tip their cap down. That's a prime time to go, but even if you don't get the Erne, it puts a lot of pressure on your opponent mentally so he won’t cheat as much in the middle. It makes them both have to play the whole court, which is to your advantage.

The male role in pickleball mixed doubles

From the male perspective, there are many strategies and responsibilities you can employ in mixed doubles.

1. Middle ball controversy

There's a lot of controversy over what the middle ball means and how far the male should come over. You should always remember the pickleball court is not “my half, your half.” It's advantageous for the male partner to come into the middle of the court for a couple of reasons:

As the male partner, you probably don't want to come more than halfway across the court because the moment you get beyond halfway you're leaving a lot of court open and exposed. Depending on how fast you are and how much you can cover will depend on how far you can come over past the middle: You should always be able to make it back to your sideline if somebody comes behind you with the dink, so the speed at which you move does come into play.

2. Shifting your weight

When you're covering 60 to 70 percent of the pickleball court, it can be very easy (as the male) to lean onto one leg. All of your weight starts to shift as you anticipate the middle ball, but this could cause you to become off balance, leaving one side exposed.

Instead, when you're moving and covering one part of the court, try to keep your weight evenly distributed on both legs. This will ensure that you don't get beat behind you and it will also keep you in more of a flow and a rhythm, and you won't be surprised by a speed-up shot that goes to a different location.

3. Communication & the 3rd shot

It's important as the male to communicate very well on the third shot, whether you're hitting a drive or a drop. Just like when you're dinking, you can take balls that come onto the middle of the court, but beware that you're not leaving too much court exposed for your opponent to go behind you.

Make sure that you communicate well with your partner so they have an understanding of what they're responsible for.

4. Be your partner’s biggest cheerleader

As the male partner in mixed doubles you should always be hyping your partner up, even more than in men's doubles. If your partner does something well, you will find that you're at a great advantage to be her biggest cheerleader during the match, which can help you win even more games.

Watch these tips in action in the video above.

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