ask1ed
Semi-Pro
You're allowed to win that way. Gilbert was a pusher who drove Becker nuts. Also mcenroe, who Gilbert learned from in the first place, how to slice, hit short and softly and change the pace with a flat forehand up the line deep into the bh corner. I knew Gilbert when he was a punk kid scalping Raider and A's tickets, hogging court time, getting into regular fights with anyone who would call him a hooker, and so on. He was hated in the locker room, just as much as Chang and Hewitt. (Gee, a pattern is emerging.)
Practice with pushers or someone imitating their weak soft short style. Practice your approach shots into the corners, your overhead. Bring them in with short soft angled slices to their bh. Look out for answering drop shots or chips down your forehand line when you bring them in. They love to just suck your power shots dry, chip and bunt weakly down the middle, and run down every overhead.
Chip/charge the pusher and get the chip deep to bh side. Don't close too far into net. Practice low volleys on weak angled shots at your ankles by volleying from the service line during practice. Even Santoro can take sets off Fed. Change tactics if not working, such as serve/volley or stay back randomly. Juke around on your return so pusher has to think about his weak serve even more. Practice attacking weak serves with deep corner inside out returns and soft drops to short diagonal corners. Don't overhit. Don't under hit and try to beat the guy at his own game. Make him volley/hit overheads off back hand side. Hit kick serves to bh on ad side, and attack weak returns with fast sliced approaches. Only come in when you hit a great shot, even if you didn't plan to come in, come in when you see he's hurt and on the dead run to an angle or corner. Pushers will close too close to net and are vulnerable to top spin lobs, esp. if you have that shot off bh side. Anyone can volley off a high passing shot if you close tight. Take away his best serve and run around your bh return to pound forehands inside out. Fake your power shot and then hit a not too perfect short slice. (Not going for a winner, only a force him up to the net so you can pass him tactic.) Remember to bullet some into his racquet arm pit. Don't have to always lob or pass to beat bad volleyers. Bring some ice water, some Juvenon, cause you'll be doing a lot of running. Use the classic pusher's psych on the pusher, "Oh man.. Oh no, I wanted another shot.", after the pusher makes an unforced error. When the pusher starts to cheat, as you start to beat him, don't let it take you off center. He's only cheating cause you're winning. Take it as a compliment, and as an admission, that his game isn't good enough to beat you fair and square. Find a good pusher and play sets to practice and hone your match strategy.
Practice with pushers or someone imitating their weak soft short style. Practice your approach shots into the corners, your overhead. Bring them in with short soft angled slices to their bh. Look out for answering drop shots or chips down your forehand line when you bring them in. They love to just suck your power shots dry, chip and bunt weakly down the middle, and run down every overhead.
Chip/charge the pusher and get the chip deep to bh side. Don't close too far into net. Practice low volleys on weak angled shots at your ankles by volleying from the service line during practice. Even Santoro can take sets off Fed. Change tactics if not working, such as serve/volley or stay back randomly. Juke around on your return so pusher has to think about his weak serve even more. Practice attacking weak serves with deep corner inside out returns and soft drops to short diagonal corners. Don't overhit. Don't under hit and try to beat the guy at his own game. Make him volley/hit overheads off back hand side. Hit kick serves to bh on ad side, and attack weak returns with fast sliced approaches. Only come in when you hit a great shot, even if you didn't plan to come in, come in when you see he's hurt and on the dead run to an angle or corner. Pushers will close too close to net and are vulnerable to top spin lobs, esp. if you have that shot off bh side. Anyone can volley off a high passing shot if you close tight. Take away his best serve and run around your bh return to pound forehands inside out. Fake your power shot and then hit a not too perfect short slice. (Not going for a winner, only a force him up to the net so you can pass him tactic.) Remember to bullet some into his racquet arm pit. Don't have to always lob or pass to beat bad volleyers. Bring some ice water, some Juvenon, cause you'll be doing a lot of running. Use the classic pusher's psych on the pusher, "Oh man.. Oh no, I wanted another shot.", after the pusher makes an unforced error. When the pusher starts to cheat, as you start to beat him, don't let it take you off center. He's only cheating cause you're winning. Take it as a compliment, and as an admission, that his game isn't good enough to beat you fair and square. Find a good pusher and play sets to practice and hone your match strategy.
