A mixed doubles badminton team consists of one male player and one female player. Mixed doubles badminton follows the same rules as women’s doubles and men’s doubles badminton. Doubles teams must follow certain rules regarding serving and receiving. The Badminton World Federation’s Laws of Badminton describe all specific rules that apply to doubles.
Court Dimensions
The standard badminton court for doubles measures 44 feet long and 20 feet wide. The net must measure 5 feet high at the center of the court and 5 feet 1 inch at the sides. Each side of the court has a service line 6 feet 6 inches from the net and parallel to the net. Center service lines divide the area behind the service lines into two equal service courts.
Points
Doubles badminton follows the same rules for winning points as singles badminton. Teams can win points on their own serve or on the opposing team’s serve. Teams win points by hitting serves or shots that land in bounds on the surface of the opposing team’s court. Teams also win points when the opposing team makes errors, such as hitting a shot into the net or out of bounds, hitting a fault serve, touching the net, or reaching over the net.
Scoring
A team must win 21 points with a two-point lead over the opposing team to win a game. If two teams reach a tie at 29-all, the first team to reach 30 points wins the game. A team must win the best of three games to win the match.
Serving Position
The server must stand in the right service court to serve when her team has no points or an even number of points. The server must stand in the left service court to serve when her team has an odd number of points. The server must always serve crosscourt to the service court diagonally opposite. The player on the receiving team standing in that service court must receive the serve. Players on a team switch sides of the court only when they win a point on their side.
First Service
A coin toss before the start of the match determines which team serves first in the first game. The team winning the coin toss can choose to serve or receive first, or it can choose which side of the court to play on first. The team that wins the first game gets to serve first in the second game, and the team that wins the second game gets to serve first in the third game if the match continues this far.
Serving Order
Either player can serve or receive first within each doubles team. After the first serving team loses a point, the partner of the player who received the serve first must serve next. When that team loses a point, the partner of the player who served first for the opposing team must serve next. When that team loses a point, the player who received the serve first serves next. Players must follow this same serving order for the duration of each game. In subsequent games, players on a team can change the order in which they serve. For example, the player who served first for the team in one game might serve second in the next game.
Rallies
Once the receiver returns the serve, players no longer have to follow any order for playing the shuttlecock. Any player can hit the ball from any position on the court until the rally ends. Each can contact the shuttlecock only once before returning it over the net.
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