All Good Players are Pushers

[Frank Silbermann]

When new tennis players start to develop the ability to rally, they seem to separate into two mentalities. One type accepts his limited tennis skills and being somewhat athletic, relies on his legs and eyes to win. He holds the racket gently throughout and his shots are sufficiently unambitious as to allow his to hit the ball safely repeatedly. These are called "pushers."

The other type of player sees the really good players hitting the ball near the boundary, hard and with lots of topspin. They want to hit like that so they use all the strength in their fingers, hands, wrists, biceps and shoulders that they can muster to add power and spin to the ball, aiming for winners. I call them "the players who are better than the pushers who beat them."

The conventional wisdom is that pushers win only at the lowest levels of competition, but I disagree. Players who win at the higher levels of play, even at the pro level, are more similar to the pushers than they are to the better players that pushers beat. If you look at the typical pro player:

• Most of the shots he hits carry significantly less power and topspin that he is capable of hitting, with placement so conservative that he could make the shot a dozen times in a row if he wished. You can see Roger Federer in a long rally working his opponent out of position, and then suddenly puts the ball away with a bullet of a shot. Well, if he could put that ball away with a bullet of a shot, then he must have been holding back quite a bit on all those shots he hit in that rally up until that point -- shots that by comparison didn't fly like bullets.

• You can see slow motion videos of Federer's forehand in which he hits the ball off-center and the racket face twists up or down immediately after the ball is contacted. This could not happen unless he were holding the racket gently, high racket-head speed notwithstanding.

It seems to me that the best players are just pushers with better strokes -- strokes so efficient and well choreographed that they are capable of generating tremendous racket head speed despite pushing. (By "pushing" I of course mean "refraining from using a strong muscular exertion to force the racket into moving fast" and "avoiding the risks that would be required if one were determined to make one's next shot unreturnable.")

 

[NLBwell]

To get high velocity on a shot, you need to have a loose hand/wrist/arm. Pushers are probably more likely to hold the racket tightly and use more force - more control and less whip. Tightness and trying to exert too much force reduces flexibility and power.

In response to the main point of the OP, I would say that all good players CAN be pushers - when it suits them. Even John Isner will win a long rally some time.

 

[SinjinCooper]

Nah.

 

[atp2015]

Nope, good players are pullers and not pushers. They pull with the butt cap and dont push the racket.

 

[Frank Silbermann]

Nope, good players are pullers and not pushers. They pull with the butt cap and dont push the racket.

Yes, but the "better players that pushers beat" at the 3.0 level don't pull from the butt cap, either. All lower level players push the racket; the ones who are called pushers tend to push it gently, whereas the ones who have more power and topspin (and get beaten by the pushers) push much harder.

 

[Mr. Bingington]

When you don't get paid to play, when the results ultimately mean little, the question is this...how do you WANT to play? Do you want to be safe, let an opponent beat himself, or you want to dictate, take chances, go for it?

Personally I want to dictate, I want the satisfaction of forcing my will on an opponent, rather than surviving their mistakes. I know it's "off topic" because you asked if Pro's are "pushers" but I think if you're honest with yourself this post came from the fact that you've been called a "pusher", If so embrace it if that is what you enjoy..but me..I'm taking that swinging volley out of the air..why? Simple..when it misses, oh well, when it's in BEST FEELING EVER! Never felt pumped leaving the court knowing my opponents UE's got me the win....that's just me. However to each his own, but don't try to spin Pro's are pushers!

 

[TennisCJC]

Federer did not push in Aussie Open final against Nadal or in other wins there. He also doesn't push against anyone.

Good players don't play overly aggressive to the point where they lose due to unnecessary errors nor do the push. Federer, Agassi, Sampras, McEnroe, Connors, Edberg, Becker, Rafter, Laver and Isner are all world class players that play aggressively. They may not all kill the ball with pace but even McEnroe who hit relatively soft groundstrokes was a very aggressive player because he would step in on anything short, hit an accurate approach shot and follow it to net.

Hewitt, Djokovic, Murray and sometimes Nadal are world class players that depend a lot more on defense but even these guys play aggressively at times in order to win on faster courts.

I also have known many rec players between 3.5 and 5.0 who play aggressively and do very well.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

When new tennis players start to develop the ability to rally, they seem to separate into two mentalities. One type accepts his limited tennis skills and being somewhat athletic, relies on his legs and eyes to win. He holds the racket gently throughout and his shots are sufficiently unambitious as to allow his to hit the ball safely repeatedly. These are called "pushers."

The other type of player sees the really good players hitting the ball near the boundary, hard and with lots of topspin. They want to hit like that so they use all the strength in their fingers, hands, wrists, biceps and shoulders that they can muster to add power and spin to the ball, aiming for winners. I call them "the players who are better than the pushers who beat them."

The conventional wisdom is that pushers win only at the lowest levels of competition, but I disagree. Players who win at the higher levels of play, even at the pro level, are more similar to the pushers than they are to the better players that pushers beat. If you look at the typical pro player:

• Most of the shots he hits carry significantly less power and topspin that he is capable of hitting, with placement so conservative that he could make the shot a dozen times in a row if he wished. You can see Roger Federer in a long rally working his opponent out of position, and then suddenly puts the ball away with a bullet of a shot. Well, if he could put that ball away with a bullet of a shot, then he must have been holding back quite a bit on all those shots he hit in that rally up until that point -- shots that by comparison didn't fly like bullets.

• You can see slow motion videos of Federer's forehand in which he hits the ball off-center and the racket face twists up or down immediately after the ball is contacted. This could not happen unless he were holding the racket gently, high racket-head speed notwithstanding.

It seems to me that the best players are just pushers with better strokes -- strokes so efficient and well choreographed that they are capable of generating tremendous racket head speed despite pushing. (By "pushing" I of course mean "refraining from using a strong muscular exertion to force the racket into moving fast" and "avoiding the risks that would be required if one were determined to make one's next shot unreturnable.")

I don't see how this

strokes so efficient and well choreographed that they are capable of generating tremendous racket head speed

is simply a better version of this

He holds the racket gently throughout and his shots are sufficiently unambitious as to allow his to hit the ball safely repeatedly.

I see them as being two different types of players. Yes, with enough semantic gymnastics you could trace the evolution from the latter to the former but I consider it more revolutionary than evolutionary.

 

[travlerajm]

I endorse this thread.

I used to hate losing to players that I am better than. But now that my mentality has evolved, I now often enjoy beating the players that are better than me.

 

[Kalin]

Interesting POV from the OP but I, alas, mostly disagree. Of course, you can define 'pushing' to be anything less than a 100% full-on blast so yes, by that definition everyone is a pusher but that's completely missing the finer points. It's akin to saying Nadal is not a baseliner since he sometimes goes to the net or that Karlovic is a weak, 'pusher' server because he can hit 150 MPH but usually only serves at 125. It's not how tennis works