Beating swift pushers?

M

Moorgatetennis

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My little bro. 12 years old hits as hard as anyone I know. He's number 1 in his county in his age group. Very powerful player.
When he plays big hitters he beats them easy. Loves the power. He struggles with kids that play high deep balls. He hits line after line from the back of the court. These kids are lightning. Everything comes back till my bro runs out of steam.
How does he beat these kids?
His volleys are coming on but he's not fully confident in taking balls out of the air.
 
That's the same problem that your little bro's victims face when against him! He's too fast and returns every powerful shot back to them until they miss a step.

How your pusher brother would lose is the answer how the other pusher kids would lose to him.
 
Pusher is harsh actually. They are obviously very good players. They just play high percentage shots every time. My bro attacks. Too much sometimes.
 
Don't know what it's like in U.S. But in UK it seems all kids are taught to play the same way. High percentage balls. High net clearance. It's rare I see a final with 2 really attacking players in it. Think it's quite tough at the net for younger kids. Think it will be beneficial in the long run tho.
 
Hit short, drop shot, bring the pusher in. Can he volleys, hit overheads, run in and out. Good time to work on you passing shots, lobs.
 
Well, those guys are playing the game the way it works. Unless you can hit winners regularly or close off the net, it's pretty much a defensive game, right?
 
LakeSnake said:
Well, those guys are playing the game the way it works. Unless you can hit winners regularly or close off the net, it's pretty much a defensive game, right?
Click to expand...

Yep. It does work. Even at the very top. The best guys Djokovic , Murray, nadal. Play high percentage games. That just doesn't come natural to my bro. He really needs to improve certain parts of his game to beat these top kids.
 
He will beat them(win) only by beating them. They have gotten very good at "not loosing", winning by letting the opponent loose more. Nothing wrong with that, but if you are not going to go that way, you have to learn strategies that will allow you to win points. I think the drop shot/lob strategy is an excellent strategy to try. Physically and psychologically coming to the net and being lobed is so hard on a player.
"Hitting hard" is a strategy, but not much of one, and it is clearly not enough at this level. If he can push through this he will come out a much improved player, and he'll feel confident that he can solve problems on court.
 
Lance has it right. Just hitting hard is not a strategy. Your brother needs to learn to construct points. It sounds like now he is hitting risky shots, but then allowing his opponents to run them down and reset the point. He has to learn to close out points after he has the upper hand. Studying the Wardlaw directionals would be a basic first step. Getting comfortable taking mid court balls out of the air would help too I imagine.
 
RetroSpin said:
Lance has it right. Just hitting hard is not a strategy. Your brother needs to learn to construct points. It sounds like now he is hitting risky shots, but then allowing his opponents to run them down and reset the point. He has to learn to close out points after he has the upper hand. Studying the Wardlaw directionals would be a basic first step. Getting comfortable taking mid court balls out of the air would help too I imagine.
Click to expand...
Yep you guys got it bang on. He can construct points. He hits hard yes. But he is excellent at hitting the lines and can outrally 95% of the kids he plays from the back. The other 5% is where he needs to improve. Your right about taking balls out of the air. That would be massive for him. Also going to work on bringing them in. Changing things up.
 
Discussion about so called pushers is always funny and usually has no practical value specific to "pushers".

The advices offered work for every type of players. Basically, don't miss. If you are to hit a winner, make sure it's a winner. Do a variety of things to put opponents out of comfortable zone. Out-stamina your opponent because it's a sport after all.
 
Against fast moving players, it's often better to hit AT them, waiting for a weaker, shorter reply, then he can move forwards and put away the short ball.
Take the speed out of a fast player's game, and he needs to hit better. Can he?
Fast players love to run alley to alley, and have better angles doing so. Hit up the middle, wait for a weak reply.
 
I"m glad MY strategy against FAST RUNNING pusher's wasn't listed in that instructional vid.
A young FAST running pusher get's to short balls, get's to lobs over them, then continues to hit semi moonballs testing stamina and wind, concentration and toughness against opponent's.
You can't outpatient a pusher, so you have to end points.
 
LeeD said:
You can't outpatient a pusher, so you have to end points.
Click to expand...

It's usually not patience. Patience is only a disguise or an excuse for lousy hitting, which too many losers conveniently use.

If you executed your ground strokes correctly it'd be "the pusher" that does the running and eventually exhaust and cough up points.
 
I played a similar kind of player last week, extremely consistent, high and deep balls, great placement close to the lines and he could run all day.

What I did was be patient and wait for my opportunity, while still being aggressive without going for winners all the time.
I knew that I was not gonna be hit off the court, so it made no sense to take unnecessary risks. Got plenty of free points off my serves, and once the rally started, just used good variety. Mix things up, some topspin, some slice, some high, some low, sooner or later a shorter ball came, that allowed me to be more aggressive, either with drop shots or angles, or pace, whatever. A few swinging volleys too.

Most important thing is to always expect the ball to come back and be prepared to hit a few good attacking shots in a row to win points.
 
I must admit i'm tracking this topic to see what advice gets posted.
There is this guy called Will on our courts. Hits high topspin shots and is fast, the ultimate pusher.
I want to beat him bad....
 
janm said:
I must admit i'm tracking this topic to see what advice gets posted.
There is this guy called Will on our courts. Hits high topspin shots and is fast, the ultimate pusher.
I want to beat him bad....
Click to expand...

Haha . You fool. I'm not like these young pushers. They can run twice as fast as me ... And they keep it deep. My shots drop too short
 
Try hitting it really hard straight up the middle of the court. It takes the pusher's angles away and usually produces a short ball within 2 or 3 hits. It's worth a try.
 
Moorgatetennis said:
My little bro. 12 years old hits as hard as anyone I know. He's number 1 in his county in his age group. Very powerful player.
When he plays big hitters he beats them easy. Loves the power. He struggles with kids that play high deep balls. He hits line after line from the back of the court. These kids are lightning. Everything comes back till my bro runs out of steam.
How does he beat these kids?
His volleys are coming on but he's not fully confident in taking balls out of the air.
Click to expand...

Wow, he's number one county at 12 with a big game? That is impressive, all the juniors round here just bash the ball forever with loads of net clearance. I thought he was 16! He is big. I wouldn't worry too much at the moment, try to get him to focus on staying calm and not thinking too much or putting pressure on himself("I SHOULD BEAT THIS GUY"). Without getting too complicated Janm said it well, most "solid" players, have better backhands, so you can attack the forehand and open the court to the crosscourt shot to their backhand. Another thing is, he should be expecting a mental battle where not one point should be wasted, concentration at all times.
 
If he works on point construction and his net game, he'll be fine. Once he grows up, his power will be too much for the pushers as long as he develops a well rounded game.

BTW when I read the thread title, I thought the OP has some sort of grudge against Taylor Swift fans :)
 
Aretium said:
Wow, he's number one county at 12 with a big game? That is impressive, all the juniors round here just bash the ball forever with loads of net clearance. I thought he was 16! He is big. I wouldn't worry too much at the moment, try to get him to focus on staying calm and not thinking too much or putting pressure on himself("I SHOULD BEAT THIS GUY"). Without getting too complicated Janm said it well, most "solid" players, have better backhands, so you can attack the forehand and open the court to the crosscourt shot to their backhand. Another thing is, he should be expecting a mental battle where not one point should be wasted, concentration at all times.
Click to expand...

Ha, yeah he's a unit. Scary how strong he is for his age. Your exactly right. He puts too much pressure on himself to win. I keep telling him it'll come. He doesn't like to lose to kids his age at all. Doesn't happen often. The very top kids are just too consistant at the moment.
 
mikeler said:
Time for little bro to improve his net game and overhead.
Click to expand...

/end of thread

You have to take time away from the pusher. That means moving forward and not letting them loop the ball over and over. He needs to be patient and wait for a short ball. Once he gets one, go for a bigger shot and follow it to the net. That means he's going to have to finish with volleys and overheads. The catch is that these aren't easy for a small kid. He will get more confident with practice.
 
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