DavaiMarat
Professional
I played a mixed doubles match the other day for an Inter-County mixed league for my friends team. I played with my girlfriend Kristine, a fairly competent volleyer with a wicked two handed backhand. We played the #1 position and I was pretty confident coming into the match having won a tournament with Kristine recently.
We started to warm up and I was flabbergasted. I was rallying with the guy and couldn't even keep the rally going. It's like he never seem topspin before?!? He could only slice his backhand and even that was a choppy looking abbreviate stroke. I tried to keep a straight face but it was down right hysterical.
I didn't seen much of Kristine's warm up but I noticed they lady on the other side wasn't moving much. Any ball out of her reach she let go and only hit the ball that was coming directly to her.
To my error, I thought we had the match won before we even finished the warm up.
Then the match started. The both stayed on the baseline. I was like, how the heck did these people get to play #1 and A? We broke the man right away 15-40 game. The only point we lost was a ball I miss the side line by 2 inches going down the line, passing the immobile lady (Amy).
Ok then it started. I hit 2 service winners and dumped a volley into the net. 30-15. I was fine let's keep it going. I spun a slice serve in to the lady and pop, there it was, the backspin lob, high and expertly hit with a little bit of slice to make sure that when it landed it was devoid of all momentum.
A feeling of dread came over me, one that hasn't hit me in a long while, the 'it's going to be one of those matches' feeling.
I run around it and hit a inside out forehand to her, making sure to get enough top on it to keep it inside the court (you hit a dead ball flat = out). Again, up in the air, high as can be same lob, deep, over Kristine's head and to me. Ok, fine I take the overhead and hit it long. That was the beginning of the end of the 1st set.
The 1st set was incredulous, there was nothing but lobs coming from them. Obviously they practice this style of just lobbing everything that comes to them. Mind you, the lobs were deep and without pace and the harder we seem to send them back the deeper the seem to place the lobs. I tried bringing them to the net and even from a position where they could of attacked a little, nope, up 30 feet in the air near the baseline. We started to make alot of errors.
Then the typical things that kills players against pushers began to settle into my mind. How bad a player they were. How cowardly they were. How they had no appreciation of how to play 'good' doubles. The fact was they were causing us to make errors off of deep balls with no pace, they were doing what they had to do to win the match. Obviously they were less skilled then us, but they were crafty, they were winning by forcing us to make errors. You may have the most beautiful looking forehand or overhead in the world but if you rip it out, then it still counts against you. They were consistent to, nothing wasn't a lob. Obviously, we were frustrated and insulted to be even on the same court as these two debutants.
To make a long story short, we lost the 1st set 1-6. Alot of deuces but we couldn't stop making the unforced errors. We refused to change it up, sticking to the same style, I was stubborn and mad and I felt like just throwing the match, something I've never done ever. We were losing to people probably a whole point and half lower then us.
During the change over, I took a long drink and took stock of the situation. Then it hit me, something one of my oldest coaches told me, 'respect the pusher'. My old coach, who actually played junior doubles with kalfenikov told me that, the way a pusher beats you, is make you disrespect him. Then any shout from him you almost feel indignant to hit. The thoughts about 'why are you even on the court with my 'greatness'' start to flow thru your mind. Coupled with the conumdrum of a new deep pace-less ball deep sitting in front of me starts to make you reckless and impatient. Boom. You begin to implode and start thinking about things you rather be doing then playing tennis.
So then I told Krissy. 'Obviously they are here to frustrate us and it's working. Let's change it up a little bit maybe we can turn the tables.'
We had to admit whatever they were doing was working against us, if was a bitter pill to swallow considering I saw them as 'bad players'. It helps you to find solutions when you admit there 'is' a problem.
We started to close only to the service line and no closer. We knew they weren't coming up to volley (I think I saw the man hit only one/two the whole night and the lady never left the baseline). I notice the man had problems hitting a lob on low balls and his lobs usually landed short when he had to pick it up off the ground. I told Kristine, lets not hit it hard but keep it low to the dude and see what happens.
Boom, short lobs, the kind that you can put over the fence. We broke him again the 1st game of the second set. Every ball we hit when to him with slice, the funny thing is he started to get mad and his partner even madder.
I notice the lady didn't like to move off the baseline unless she had to, the male would cover the service court for her. I start to slice the ball low just short of the service line so she had to take some step forwards to hit under the ball. She didn't like this either. As soon as I saw her coming up I took like 3 steps back from the service line. Again a short lob and an easy put away. However, most of the balls went to the guy low. He got frustrated and his partner that hadn't hit a ball in ages start to scream at him as the 2nd set wore on. The started to implode, it was nice to see, considering they were the ones who fed on others getting frustrated.
To make a long story short, we won the next two sets 6-2,6-3 pretty easily. It was a long match, over 2 1/2 hours but it was worth it. In the end, the good guys won but only because we didn't fall into the trap of getting frustrated and giving up. Or being stubborn and refusing to mix it up thinking my usual game is good enough! Always have a plan B.
Lastly, respect the pusher. If you don't you'll be sorry. You can only hit winners/drives off dead balls so long before you begin to miss and trust me that pusher can push back all day. Instead, be a little smarter, there's plenty of time during a match to observe what that player doesn't like. Even pushers have a weakness, find it out and exploit it. You might find the other guy start to implode rather then the other way around.
I hope this little tale encourages a few of you that have problems with pushers. Keep it cool, then you've got 75% of their strategy already beat.
Cheers,
Mike
We started to warm up and I was flabbergasted. I was rallying with the guy and couldn't even keep the rally going. It's like he never seem topspin before?!? He could only slice his backhand and even that was a choppy looking abbreviate stroke. I tried to keep a straight face but it was down right hysterical.
I didn't seen much of Kristine's warm up but I noticed they lady on the other side wasn't moving much. Any ball out of her reach she let go and only hit the ball that was coming directly to her.
To my error, I thought we had the match won before we even finished the warm up.
Then the match started. The both stayed on the baseline. I was like, how the heck did these people get to play #1 and A? We broke the man right away 15-40 game. The only point we lost was a ball I miss the side line by 2 inches going down the line, passing the immobile lady (Amy).
Ok then it started. I hit 2 service winners and dumped a volley into the net. 30-15. I was fine let's keep it going. I spun a slice serve in to the lady and pop, there it was, the backspin lob, high and expertly hit with a little bit of slice to make sure that when it landed it was devoid of all momentum.
A feeling of dread came over me, one that hasn't hit me in a long while, the 'it's going to be one of those matches' feeling.
I run around it and hit a inside out forehand to her, making sure to get enough top on it to keep it inside the court (you hit a dead ball flat = out). Again, up in the air, high as can be same lob, deep, over Kristine's head and to me. Ok, fine I take the overhead and hit it long. That was the beginning of the end of the 1st set.
The 1st set was incredulous, there was nothing but lobs coming from them. Obviously they practice this style of just lobbing everything that comes to them. Mind you, the lobs were deep and without pace and the harder we seem to send them back the deeper the seem to place the lobs. I tried bringing them to the net and even from a position where they could of attacked a little, nope, up 30 feet in the air near the baseline. We started to make alot of errors.
Then the typical things that kills players against pushers began to settle into my mind. How bad a player they were. How cowardly they were. How they had no appreciation of how to play 'good' doubles. The fact was they were causing us to make errors off of deep balls with no pace, they were doing what they had to do to win the match. Obviously they were less skilled then us, but they were crafty, they were winning by forcing us to make errors. You may have the most beautiful looking forehand or overhead in the world but if you rip it out, then it still counts against you. They were consistent to, nothing wasn't a lob. Obviously, we were frustrated and insulted to be even on the same court as these two debutants.
To make a long story short, we lost the 1st set 1-6. Alot of deuces but we couldn't stop making the unforced errors. We refused to change it up, sticking to the same style, I was stubborn and mad and I felt like just throwing the match, something I've never done ever. We were losing to people probably a whole point and half lower then us.
During the change over, I took a long drink and took stock of the situation. Then it hit me, something one of my oldest coaches told me, 'respect the pusher'. My old coach, who actually played junior doubles with kalfenikov told me that, the way a pusher beats you, is make you disrespect him. Then any shout from him you almost feel indignant to hit. The thoughts about 'why are you even on the court with my 'greatness'' start to flow thru your mind. Coupled with the conumdrum of a new deep pace-less ball deep sitting in front of me starts to make you reckless and impatient. Boom. You begin to implode and start thinking about things you rather be doing then playing tennis.
So then I told Krissy. 'Obviously they are here to frustrate us and it's working. Let's change it up a little bit maybe we can turn the tables.'
We had to admit whatever they were doing was working against us, if was a bitter pill to swallow considering I saw them as 'bad players'. It helps you to find solutions when you admit there 'is' a problem.
We started to close only to the service line and no closer. We knew they weren't coming up to volley (I think I saw the man hit only one/two the whole night and the lady never left the baseline). I notice the man had problems hitting a lob on low balls and his lobs usually landed short when he had to pick it up off the ground. I told Kristine, lets not hit it hard but keep it low to the dude and see what happens.
Boom, short lobs, the kind that you can put over the fence. We broke him again the 1st game of the second set. Every ball we hit when to him with slice, the funny thing is he started to get mad and his partner even madder.
I notice the lady didn't like to move off the baseline unless she had to, the male would cover the service court for her. I start to slice the ball low just short of the service line so she had to take some step forwards to hit under the ball. She didn't like this either. As soon as I saw her coming up I took like 3 steps back from the service line. Again a short lob and an easy put away. However, most of the balls went to the guy low. He got frustrated and his partner that hadn't hit a ball in ages start to scream at him as the 2nd set wore on. The started to implode, it was nice to see, considering they were the ones who fed on others getting frustrated.
To make a long story short, we won the next two sets 6-2,6-3 pretty easily. It was a long match, over 2 1/2 hours but it was worth it. In the end, the good guys won but only because we didn't fall into the trap of getting frustrated and giving up. Or being stubborn and refusing to mix it up thinking my usual game is good enough! Always have a plan B.
Lastly, respect the pusher. If you don't you'll be sorry. You can only hit winners/drives off dead balls so long before you begin to miss and trust me that pusher can push back all day. Instead, be a little smarter, there's plenty of time during a match to observe what that player doesn't like. Even pushers have a weakness, find it out and exploit it. You might find the other guy start to implode rather then the other way around.
I hope this little tale encourages a few of you that have problems with pushers. Keep it cool, then you've got 75% of their strategy already beat.
Cheers,
Mike
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