My game vs. the pushers game

[baseline08thrasher]

So I went up to Clovis to play a tournament, and I'm number one on my team.

We won our division (3), and we scrapped out a few good wins, most of them were relatively easy.


I'm a freshmen, and I was playing mostly seniors.

I only had one match where I actually thought the guy was better then me and he was great.

I played some tight matches, and I started to hit to the middle a little too much.

I wasn't painting the corners and moving my opponent around like I usually do.

I think I was just really fatigued.

Had to play 6 matches, all of them seniors (except for one sophmore)

Then I was up against some dreaded pushers (my two last matches)

Did not feel like playing at all...

But, nontheless, I played well at the beginnning.

I was up 2-0, and then 3-0 in the first set of each of those.

Then they start pushing, because their coaches know that I am really tiered, and I can beat them if they use pace, because that's the way I play, and I have a lot of pace.

So I was creaming them while they were rallying with me.

And then they go to this lob/pusher's game.

And I make all of these unforced errors.

I start deaccelerating on my shots, and I get really tight.


I didn't know what to do, they just kept pushing and pushing.

Their coaches told them that was the only way to beat me.

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?

I was not patient at all.

Once I realize they start pushing, do I need to be patient as soon as possible, so they know they have no chance beating me with that game?

Or what?

A senior who beat me (really close match) told me that I was just deaccelerating, and I needed to move them around the court with a 60% of my pace ball, and then when I get a short one, just put it away.

I think it's a matter of patience, and accuracy.

I'm guessing, because we were having some long rallies, and I just hate those.
Unless there is pace involved, because I'm a pace player.

What to do???

My coach said that these players can't beat me by rallying with me so they have to push.

It gets me frusterated and I beat myself..

Help?

[a_2c+]

to play their own game, cut every ball back.

take advantage of midcourt floaters by forehand them down the line or deep crosscourt.

and etc....


go google urself on how to beat pushers. there's lots of articles for that there. ;-)

[Frank Silbermann]

If you can take the ball on the rise, hit from inside the baseline. When they're hitting one that's going to be deep, hit it with a full swing before it bounces.

[Blake0]

Take the ball early and place it well, take away time from your opponent, keep them moving, come in and volley, take advantages of short balls, hit more shorter angles, slice the ball, sneak volley if they're good lobbers, use more variety, and the for the last part be patient and don't let them make you beat yourself.

[Djokovicfan4life]

I saw the word patience in your OP a lot. I'd go with that.

[maverick66]

start thinking in cross-court patterns. pushers need you to give free points as thats the only way they beat you. so start hitting 80-90% crosscourt. he will get nervous seems hes not getting the freepoints hes used to. hit like 3-4 balls crosscourt then loop one down the line then repeat. whatever you do dont give him free points. if hes pushing like you said he wont be able to hurt you so hopefully he starts coughing up short balls and youve won the match.

[baseline08thrasher]

Thanks guys, I know there were a lot of posts on this topic and I looked at some of them, but you guys really helped me reassure myself with my problem against pushers.

I did have a strategy which was the 3 to 1 pattern, but I didn't stay with it long enough at all, and later down the match I was an aimless train wreck.

Thanks a ton.

[cl76]

Hit heavy topspin ground stroke and move them around. If you manage to get them out of position then attack the net and expect a weak lob 9/10 times (or an easy volley).

[halalula1234]

consistency mix of pace and rhythm and construction of points

[LuckyR]

First of all, congrats on playing number 1 as a Freshman. That is clearly on your mind and eventually is part of your undoing by high percentage players. As you state openly you have a low percentage game. When you entice others to play that style against you (you call it "rallying") you tend to win. Not suprisingly when a high percentage player enticed you to play their game (you call it "pushing") you tend to lose.

There is often a certain stigma to the high percentage style (and a related bravado to the low percentage one). It seems you have bought into this a bit by the tone of your post. This is what I meant by my second sentance.

If a player is so much above another player in quality, they will have no problem with a non-threatening player. Those folks don't ask for advice because they win those matches 1 and 0. You're asking for advice because you aren't way above these guys. True part of your losses was Mental. But you wouldn't be taxing your Mental Game if your strokes were winning you points consistantly.

If your ability to hit winners was good enough to solve the problem you would have won. Since you didn't, you need to change to Plan B and become more selective. You need to make the high percentage player pay for his style selection, that is you need to make him run after angled shots off of his high percentage shots. True those guys are in great shape and can run all day. But none of them are in better shape than Michael Chang at his prime and even he was run to the point of collapse eventually.

Good luck.

[SaunderS]

I play with a pusher every week. All i do is keep in the rally 'til he makes an UE, push back.

[Nellie]

A senior who beat me (really close match) told me that I was just deaccelerating, and I needed to move them around the court with a 60% of my pace ball, and then when I get a short one, just put it away.

This is some great advice. I think the problem with pushers is that you just start rolling back shots and lose aggressiveness. The pusher is usually more consistent, so you cannot win long rallies. So, remember that you cannot win on 10 shot+ rallies.

So you need to stay aggressive but don't go for dumb shots that will lead to a lot of errors. So you cannot win on 1-2 shot rallies, either.

So what is left is medium length rallies. Look at a pro match and you will see that they are are holding ground and waiting for a short shot. The pushers is waiting for you to fail, so you need to drive the point safely with heavy shots. For example, think of 4 shot combinations with each shot hitting wider in another direction, with the last shot being you trying for a winner after running the other person end-to-end three times. If you want to be really safe, go fo wide angles but not pace. Also keep moving in, while trying to move back the opponent.