Any of you Pushers?

[dizzlmcwizzl]

I have played about 8 competitive matches and about 6 were against pushers. Many more pushers than people who admit they are pushers methinks.

Many players resort to a pusher mentality during matches that count. I think as the stakes get raised people become much more passive and play not to loose. However it occurs to me that even though I have played many pushers the only time I walk away from he court muttering is when I played an effective pusher.

I guess what I am trying to say is ... if you play a pusher and you beat him easily does anyone even notice?

 

[cghipp]

Many players resort to a pusher mentality during matches that count. I think as the stakes get raised people become much more passive and play not to loose. However it occurs to me that even though I have played many pushers the only time I walk away from he court muttering is when I played an effective pusher.

I guess what I am trying to say is ... if you play a pusher and you beat him easily does anyone even notice?

That seems like a consequence of nerves, to me - not so much a playing style. When I think of pushers, I'm not thinking of someone who has powerful/offensive shots but is afraid to use them when it counts. I'm thinking of someone whose shots are so defensive they practically come full circle to the offensive side!

 

[chpolo88]

At times I enjoy being a pusher, something about running your opponent around and making them do all the work while I just keep returning their shots using their pace is just so satisfying. Once you push them around long enough and they've been broken mentally and physically that is when I start playing real aggressive ending points at the net maybe mixing in drop shots just to make them run some more:twisted:.

 

[tennisguy2009]

pretty simple in my opinion

a pusher is someone who can't hit a clean winner at all, the shot where you do no even get your racket onto the ball (excluding lobs and drops).

someone who can hit outright winners, but only chooses to do so on certain balls, is not a pusher, but playing defensively.

Being a true pusher sucks if you are thinking of adopting it as a style of play, you will never get any better, you will forever be stuck losing to most 4.5 players, and you will lose 100% of the time to a 5.0 player.

And you will never get better because the style of play encourages mental and physical stagnation.

 

[tennisguy2009]

One of the guys in this video should give you a good idea of what a pusher plays like. Notice how hard the other guy has to work, but he has the right patience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8SZynE4N1w&feature=youtube_gdata

this video is ridiculous

guy in blue has decent speed on court

shirtless guy can only play the weakest of backhands, super weak backhands

guy in blue shirt should be serving only to shirtless backhands, and serve and volley on every single first serve.

and guy in shirt should run to net on almost every single rally shot that goes deep to shirtless backhand.

 

[tennisguy2009]

Fine, you found me out - I'm a pusher. Here are the reasons:

.

doesn't it bother you that you will forever be stuck at 4.0 level ceiling and never improve?

i could never imagine playing a sport without the goal of improvement

the same pushers who I used to lose at when i was improving at tennis who i used to lose 6-0 and 6-1 to, now lose 6-0 6-0 and 6-0 to me

they are exactly the same players i played 3 or 5 years ago.

consistently trying to do something with the ball other than pointlessly pushing it back is the only way to improve at tennis.

 

[ProgressoR]

The video in post 50 is great.

I like how the regular guy got to the net at about 50 seconds and two shots later was back on the baseline rallying.

Also the pusher has great economy of movement, he just strolls around, and his stance to receive serve is to just stand like he is waiting for a bus.

Good stuff

 

[tennisguy2009]

The video in post 50 is great.

I like how the regular guy got to the net at about 50 seconds and two shots later was back on the baseline rallying.

Also the pusher has great economy of movement, he just strolls around, and his stance to receive serve is to just stand like he is waiting for a bus.

Good stuff

yah

2 such patsys

shirt hits the shot, waits till it gets to the opponent, THEN only starts running to net, and the shirtless guy hits so soft that shirt STILL has time to get to the net

and then shirt doesnt put away his volley

and then shirt doesnt put away his smash

and then shirt runs back to the baseline instead of pushing up

/PUKE

 

[West Coast Ace]

Counter punchers and pushers are not close to being similar styles.

That is the correct answer. Counter punchers wait to go offensive; a pusher never does.

Being a true pusher sucks if you are thinking of adopting it as a style of play, you will never get any better, you will forever be stuck losing to most 4.5 players, and you will lose 100% of the time to a 5.0 player.

Very true. There was another thread about a pusher at the 5.0 level. Myself and a few other posters got ripped for saying we didn't think it was possible for a real pusher to compete at that level.

And you will never get better because the style of play encourages mental and physical stagnation.

I'm with you on this too. I like winning. But I'm more interested in getting better (probably why I practice a lot more than I play these days).

 

[PushyPushster]

Being a true pusher sucks if you are thinking of adopting it as a style of play, you will never get any better, you will forever be stuck losing to most 4.5 players, and you will lose 100% of the time to a 5.0 player.

95% of casual tennis players will lose to a 5.0 player whether they are a "pusher" or not, so I don't see a huge downside.

doesn't it bother you that you will forever be stuck at 4.0 level ceiling and never improve?

What's your rating (just curious)? Anyhow, it doesn't bother me. I've moved from 2.5 to 4.0 over the last several years and that progression is fine with me. If I never make it to 4.5 it won't give me any heartburn.

the same pushers who I used to lose at when i was improving at tennis who i used to lose 6-0 and 6-1 to, now lose 6-0 6-0 and 6-0 to me

Just because you hit the ball hard doesn't mean that you'll eventually improve. Sometimes it just doesn't "click" - the improvement never comes. I look at some guys and can't help thinking they'd win a lot more games if they'd just take about 25% off most of their shots. They've been at the same level for a long time and (ratings-wise) I don't see them going anywhere.

i could never imagine playing a sport without the goal of improvement

I play to have fun and get excercise. Since I'm not going to win any prize money it doesn't really matter to me whether I top out at 4.0 or 5.0.