Beaten by a Pusher

[Syfo-Dias]

Yesterday I got beat by this pusher and now I understand what everyone is talking about when it comes to this. It was like playing against a brick wall or something. He just blocked everything back just to get it in play. I mean, most of his shots had no spin or pace, but he just always got it back somehow. The funny thing is that when he actually did hit shots with good pace, I usually won the point. I blame myself for the loss though because once I had him figured out I started making a comeback, but then my serve kind of fell apart when I was down 5-4. Still, playing this kind of opponent is frustrating. What are some of the best way to deal with pushers like this? I was thinking that using more overhead smashes on those shorter moonballs might help. That's one shot I definitely need to work on more.

 

[5263]

I guess you saw the sticky above.

You got to love a pusher.
They give you a super chance to see how well you can execute when you have the ball right there to do with as you will.

 

[Syfo-Dias]

Doh! I usually look at the stickys before posting, but I forgot this time. My bad.

 

[Munj]

I know there are several threads on this subject. I played a pusher last week and lost in 3 sets. During that match I tried serving and volleying, chip & charge, and attack the net on all short balls. I thought that I needed to end the points early and I ended up giving him too many looks at passing shots and lobs. Once I lost the second set I started getting nervous that I'm losing to what I thought was an inferior opponent. The nerves led to tightened muscles, poor form, and I ended the match pushing just to keep the ball in play. It played right into his hands.

This week I played him again and I just told myself that my strokes are superior and there is no need to charge the net at all times. I went into the match thinking this was a great opportunity to hit a lot of balls and not to worry if I hit the occaisonal UE. I am not going to counteract his pushing with more of my own. I was content to hit aggressively and attack the short-medium sitters that are sure to come. There are so many angles when hitting short balls and I won in 2 relatively easy sets.

The lesson I learned was to not give the pusher too much credit. It wasn't necessary for me to attack the net. It wasn't necessary for me to push back. I just needed to hit with authority, attack his weak serve, and stay loose. The key is to stay lose and play MY game.

The worse thing to do during the match is tell yourself things like "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy! This is embarrassing! I should beat this guy easily!" Once you have that mindset muscles get tight and form breaks down.

 

[Steady Eddy]

When I took up tennis I wanted to measure my progress against a friend who had a headstart in learning the game. He wasn't playing much, so I was looking forward to when I could beat him. I was more consitent, so I probably could have beaten him by just keeping the ball in play. But when I'd do that, he'd say, "Is that all you can do? Don't you have any power?" So then I'd try blasting the ball, and that boomeranged, just like it did with you. The only way I could beat him was to ignore his comments. But it took me a long time to figure this out.

So I'd try that when playing a pusher. Say, "Geez, no power, huh?", and see if that doesn't get him ripping on it a bit more than he should. Most males are vulnerable to this sort of taunt.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

The lesson I learned was to not give the pusher too much credit. It wasn't necessary for me to attack the net. It wasn't necessary for me to push back. I just needed to hit with authority, attack his weak serve, and stay loose. The key is to stay lose and play MY game.

The worse thing to do during the match is tell yourself things like "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy! This is embarrassing! I should beat this guy easily!" Once you have that mindset muscles get tight and form breaks down.

This is so right lol. I'll never forget all the losses I suffered to my pusher cousin and who I considered to be inferior to me, he even bagled me many times! I think I could blame impatience foe those losses, wanting to impose authority on his cream puffs only to rack up UE and watch him grinn like an idiot. In the end ogf those past matches, it was exactly as you said: I started pushing back and played like if it were my first time, scared, humiliated and very bad, but thankfully that's all over now and pushers are no longer a problem

 

[2nd_Serve]

Pushers are the worst :sad:

 

[raiden031]

My normal game is to hit hard forehands and try to force errors by my opponent. That doesn't work well against pushers who can handle any type of shot and use your pace against you. Instead if you throw in more slices they will hit weaker shots since they have to generate pace, which can set you up for more offensive shots. Also if you have a decent net game, now is the time to use it because pushers aren't good at hitting passing shots. Although some are great lobbers so watch out.

 

[grizzly4life]

you have to have a good attacking game. or just push back.. work on attacking his serves and get to net, so good volleys and overheads........ or as i said, just push back. i've seen 3 minute rallies in the A tournament at my club (my club overrates players i think)

 

[rockbox]

Against less accomplished pushers, you can sometime hit shorter balls without fear of them putting them away and then blast deep balls while they are out of position.

 

[TonyB]

I still think this is one of the best summaries on how to beat the pusher:

http://www.tennisserver.com/turbo/turbo_98_7.html


I've found that the tips that work best for me are to hit the occasional moonball and to use extreme angles with lots of spin. You really need to be focused and maintain YOUR game. Make sure you hit your strokes properly and cleanly. You can't just assume that because the pusher has no pace and isn't aggressive that you don't need to even hit the ball. You do. And you need to hit it WELL. Again and again. You can't make mistakes very often, because you know the pusher won't. So you have to actually BEAT the pusher, he'll never lose by himself. But that doesn't mean you have to blast every shot into the fence. It means being smart and using angles, spin, and variety against him. Pushers love pace. They also love flat balls. So, your job is to give them neither. Give them lots of spin, lots of short balls that they have to move diagonally to reach, and don't forget the moonball.

I've never lost to a pusher once I started realizing what I have to do to beat them. It's actually quite easy, you just can't get OVER-confident and you cannot get frustrated. Once you do that, you'll lose for sure.

 

[Djokovicfan4life]

You could try using short slices and/or drop shots to draw the pusher into net. These kinds of players love moving side to side, but usually freak out when they are forced to move forward.