playing against a pusher with a good serve

[itracbui3]

i was playing my uncle this morning, he was a pusher.. he would slice my serves over and would just tap every single balls. he had a great 1st serve but a ding second serve. his second serve barely goes over the net and doesnt even bounce high. i won the set 7-5 but there was so many flaws. what are somethings i can do to dominate?

[Cody]

Originally Posted by itracbui3

i was playing my uncle this morning, he was a pusher.. he would slice my serves over and would just tap every single balls. he had a great 1st serve but a ding second serve. his second serve barely goes over the net and doesnt even bounce high. i won the set 7-5 but there was so many flaws. what are somethings i can do to dominate?

Attack his second serve, stand close and pound the ball to the corner.

Follow a good approach to the net and if he dinks it should be any easy putaway, learn to defend against lobs, make sure you have solid overhead.

Pretty much play all court tennis, work on your game not his.

[LeeD]

When you return his second serve, stand in 3' and hit it deep into the open court. DEEP, like within 4' of the baseline, but better closer. Take net position at service line and hit the first volley into open court.

[jswinf]

Why do you need to "dominate" your uncle?

[darthpwner]

Stand further back to return his 1st serve to try to get him to change strategies and use angles. When he misses, stand in close and kill the return. Come to the net and finish off his slices before they bounce

[xFullCourtTenniSx]

If you can successfully punish his second serve, then his first serve will either drop in percentage due to pressure, or be slower as he tries to avoid playing second serves.

Just treat him like any other opponent... Slow groundstrokes? Take them early, punish them side to side, and finish at net. Slow serve? Kill it. Average serve? Do the usual.

[GuyClinch]

I think it starts with realizing you have flaws in your game and fixing those. There isn't one trick for domination.

1) Learn to attack the second serve. The "just barely over the net" dink is the hardest one to do something with. The smarter dinkers all use that. Because of the low bounce you need to either hit a slice approach or a heavy deep topspin ball.

Both shots IMHO are not that easy to hit.

2) For dinking in general.. I say don't change your game. Just improve it. If your a baseline guy work on adding alot of spin to those dinks and pounding them cross court until he hits something short then try to attack down the line.

If you like the net - then slice approach shots are fine. But be ready for the dink lob. I play a buddy with the exact same game (who moves very well) and he has a great touch lob.

You won the set anyway so your obviously good enough. Just refine your technique more..

Pete

[Blake0]

Consistency, control, patience. The key to beating pushers.
Play consistent, don't try to crank winners into corners all the time, unless its working ofcourse.
Control, control the pusher, don't let him control you. Move him around side to side, drop shot and lob, hit slices, anything you can do to keep him on the run and out of position. (you don't need to hit great shots on the line, just hit shots you know you can hit consistently that moves your opponent around).
Patience. Don't get frustrated and randomly try to kill a ball during a rally, you'll often lose more points then win this way. Take your time, set up the point to hit your winner, or (better option) set yourself up by moving up to the net.

Go up to net, it's one of the easiest ways to beat pushers. If they are good lobbers, look out for the lobs and approach to around the service line..don't be too aggressive and charge the net. Even if they try to pass you, it's almost impossible for a pusher to pass you. Most of the time the pusher will try to force an error out of you if you move up to net. You don't really have to hit the volley hard, just hit it away from him, and put away the ball at the first opportunity you get.

[tennisdad65]

Originally Posted by jswinf

Why do you need to "dominate" your uncle?

Good thing he is not asking for tips to dominate his Granddad..