USTA mothers day doubles tournament this coming weekend, I signed up to play 4.5 mens and mixed.  Turns out I and my partners were the only entrants, they bailed and I got paired with a 3.5 for 4.0 mixed.  Which do you think is the stronger team in theory, two 4.0's, 4.5 male and 3.5 female, or 3.5 male and 4.5 female?

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The team can only pick on the player if they’re able to.  If they’re always getting fast paced balls at their feet with topspin from the 4.5 then maybe they’ll be more prone to pop up put away floaters to the weaker player at the net?  Or if the 4.5 is able to focus on shots where they are out of position?

Two 4.0s. Usually the other team picks on the weakest player

Agreed.  It’s very dependent on the actual individuals.

I think it's strongly dependent on how strong the net play is from the weaker player on the team? Ratings don't represent this accurately

Even a strong server can lose their games if partner is weak at net, but weaker servers can get protected by strong net players