Play terrible against an unranked pusher, win against a top ranked L-4 player.

[skyzoo]

What is going on with me. I play a college club level player who pushes to the max and I lose. I've always had trouble with this kid and have found no solution. My coach even said don't wory about it. Than later that night I play a kid who is 16 and plays level 3,4,5 sectional tournaments and I beat him. Whats wrong with me. Im 17.

[The_Steak]

Don't worry about it. What specifically happened when you were playing the pusher? Did you self destruct?

Note, I still am fighting he waves of pushers thrown at me in all of my current tournaments. I learned that being aggressive was the best solution. A tactic that worked for me was throwing up a lob, and when they lobbed back a short ball, attack and destroy that ball. Sometimes even feed the a short ball and see what they do with it.

[CallOfBooty]

The top two reasons for losing to a pusher are allowing him to play his defensive game and your mental capacity. Do not allow him to play defense. Always stay aggressive, against a pusher you should never be hitting open. Pushers hit slow enough that you can always set up the closed stance and take shots on the rise and strike the ball aggresively before it drops. This also conquers the mental aspect of beating a pusher because if you hit the ball at the highest point, then you will be making less errors and creating more angles for yourself. You will beat the pusher by not allowing him to prolong the rallies and feeling confident after hitting a winner or putting away an easy volley.

[ubermeyer]

I'm sure that club player could actually play in tournaments if he wanted to; don't worry about it.

[firstblud]

maybe his skill is not that of an unranked pusher like ubermeyer implies

[HunterST]

I started a thread with this basic idea last week, and I've noticed a lot of people post with similar stories. It seems to be fairly common for ones level of play to reflect the quality of their opponent. That is, when you play someone not so great, you will play not so great. Not sure how to stop it though!

As for beating this pusher, here is what Brad Gilbert suggests:

1. Be patient
2.Get to the net
3. make them come to the net
4. don't try to kill the ball to hit a winner
5. Don't put much on your serves. (idea being not to give them pace to use, make them create their own).

[user92626]

Don't worry about it.

[longnt80]

You beat the "better player" because your coach prepared you for that style of tennis. You're more comfortable with his strokes. However, you are not prepared to play against the pusher's strokes. The solution is: have your coach feed you the ball similar to how the pusher gave you.

[jwbarrientos]

Originally Posted by HunterST

I started a thread with this basic idea last week, and I've noticed a lot of people post with similar stories. It seems to be fairly common for ones level of play to reflect the quality of their opponent. That is, when you play someone not so great, you will play not so great. Not sure how to stop it though!

As for beating this pusher, here is what Brad Gilbert suggests:

1. Be patient
2.Get to the net
3. make them come to the net
4. don't try to kill the ball to hit a winner
5. Don't put much on your serves. (idea being not to give them pace to use, make them create their own).

Good advice!!!

[Noaler]

I would only go for winners only if I absolutely knew the ball for go in.

[skyzoo]

Alright guys, thanks for the advice. I know that other people in l-7 tournaments beat this pusher pretty easy and those players ussualy lose to me, so he really isn't tournament ready. I guess I always try and set my self up but it never works because the kid just will not miss. It's terrible because he fast as hell to. I'll try getting to net more i guess

[bigserver]

beat him at his own game. if you are a higher level player then you should be able to out rally him and hit one more shot than he does every time. as for the mental side of things it sounds like you almost set your self up with a mental block about beating this guy. focus and think about a game plan and you will win.

[skyzoo]

Originally Posted by bigserver

beat him at his own game. if you are a higher level player then you should be able to out rally him and hit one more shot than he does every time. as for the mental side of things it sounds like you almost set your self up with a mental block about beating this guy. focus and think about a game plan and you will win.

I havn't beat this kid since last spring during the season for the #1 spot at my school. I barely beat him and almost broke my racquet. My mental is terrible with this kid

[Flyingpanda]

Originally Posted by bigserver

beat him at his own game. if you are a higher level player then you should be able to out rally him and hit one more shot than he does every time. as for the mental side of things it sounds like you almost set your self up with a mental block about beating this guy. focus and think about a game plan and you will win.

I dunno if I'd advise this, I think pushers love it when you try to push back.

[bigserver]

Originally Posted by Flyingpanda

I dunno if I'd advise this, I think pushers love it when you try to push back.

I didn't necessarily mean push back. The way i see it is that if you are the better player you should be able to out-hit him and last longer. This is just my opinion and i have found this tactic to be successfull when playing pushers

[bigserver]

Originally Posted by skyzoo

I havn't beat this kid since last spring during the season for the #1 spot at my school. I barely beat him and almost broke my racquet. My mental is terrible with this kid

It's a hard thing to do but try not to think about playing 'him'. If you can remove all thoughts of previous experiences against this guy from your head when playing you will be more likely to win. Do not set your self up for defeat by walking on to a court knowing he irritates you as this gives him an immediate advantage.

[jserve]

Its pretty common for people to have trouble with consistent counter-punchers. The key to beating them is to avoid getting in long drawn out groundstroke rallies because that is where they are most comfortable. Get them out of their comfort zone by applying pressure to them. Approach to net, draw them to net, or use short angles to get them off the baseline all seem to work well.

[LeeD]

Maybe the college pusher can beat the junior no problem too.....
Just because they don't hit hard with topspin don't mean they don't have a game.
You can find slicer/dicers at any level up to 7.0, and they never look good, but they sure can win thru attrition, consistency, and smarts.

[North]

Originally Posted by bigserver

It's a hard thing to do but try not to think about playing 'him'.

I eventually learned to beat pushers by applying this concept in a somewhat different sense. When I play a pusher I try not to think of a human being across the net, just a human-shaped ball machine permanently stuck on the "pusher" setting. Then it is just like a VERY boring practice session where I work on being aggressive and focused as I try to get to the net as much as possible. Mentally it helps because then I am more patient and not resentful of the pusher trying to make the match so exceedingly boring for me (a ball machine can't help being boring) and it becomes a challenge to outwit the machine. I know it sounds strange but it's what I found worked for me to beat pushers.

[BullDogTennis]

Originally Posted by skyzoo

What is going on with me. I play a college club level player who pushes to the max and I lose. I've always had trouble with this kid and have found no solution. My coach even said don't wory about it. Than later that night I play a kid who is 16 and plays level 3,4,5 sectional tournaments and I beat him. Whats wrong with me. Im 17.

well the "college level pusher" would prob beat the "young tourny playing kid" a lot worse than you did.