Getting feet moving when playing with low intensity opponent

[EddieBrock]

Recently I've played a few matches/practice sets and even though I won the worst I played was vs. someone that had very little intensity and movement and I kind of mimicked him. Then today I played against a great player who is the opposite of that who has tons of energy, lots of adjustment steps and I was mimicking that style today.

With the low intensity opponent I got a lot of dink shots and a few moonballs and I would have played much better with good footwork getting up to the ball and adjustment steps to set properly, but instead I had lazy feet and just played steady until I had an obvious shot to attack and came in. For some reason seeing a guy standing flat footed without any split step hacking at the shots makes me lazy and flat footed too. With the dink and no pace shots I got jammed and didn't hit many shots in my ideal strike zone.

Today from the 1st ball to the last one I was on my toes, split stepping, doing crossover steps, etc and it came naturally since part of my brain told me if I didn't do this I would have no chance. Most of my shots I had great spacing and clean contact despite the pace and spin.

Is there a way to trick your brain so that no matter what the guy on the other side is doing you'll have the same intensity/footwork?

 

[Fintft]

Run after all the balls, even if they are out by a lot, starting with the warmup.

 

[StringSnapper]

In order to hit good shots, you'll need to move. No matter what the opponent is doing. You need to be in position to rip winners.

If you play some altered lazy style because you can out rally the much weaker opponent, try to imagine how that won't work against better opponents and how you need to play to beat them

At the very least, on your serve try to hit good serves, elicit weak replies, and rip winners. If you start missing you'll get frustrated and start moving your feet hopefully

 

[MyFearHand]

Recently I've played a few matches/practice sets and even though I won the worst I played was vs. someone that had very little intensity and movement and I kind of mimicked him. Then today I played against a great player who is the opposite of that who has tons of energy, lots of adjustment steps and I was mimicking that style today.

With the low intensity opponent I got a lot of dink shots and a few moonballs and I would have played much better with good footwork getting up to the ball and adjustment steps to set properly, but instead I had lazy feet and just played steady until I had an obvious shot to attack and came in. For some reason seeing a guy standing flat footed without any split step hacking at the shots makes me lazy and flat footed too. With the dink and no pace shots I got jammed and didn't hit many shots in my ideal strike zone.

Today from the 1st ball to the last one I was on my toes, split stepping, doing crossover steps, etc and it came naturally since part of my brain told me if I didn't do this I would have no chance. Most of my shots I had great spacing and clean contact despite the pace and spin.

Is there a way to trick your brain so that no matter what the guy on the other side is doing you'll have the same intensity/footwork?

This is something I still haven’t figured out even at 5.0 to be honest.

 

[optic yellow]

Dink and no pace shots give you plenty of time so they are forgiving on your footwork which then tricks your brain into thinking it doesn't need to try. You don't need the same level of intensity as you do against a power baselining opponent but you do need to have your mind engaged. Just remind yourself stay light on your feet but don't worry about needing to split step or whatever and focus the rest of your energy on the task of doing something destructive with all the opportunities he is giving you to dictate the points.

 

[EddieBrock]

In order to hit good shots, you'll need to move. No matter what the opponent is doing. You need to be in position to rip winners.

If you play some altered lazy style because you can out rally the much weaker opponent, try to imagine how that won't work against better opponents and how you need to play to beat them

At the very least, on your serve try to hit good serves, elicit weak replies, and rip winners. If you start missing you'll get frustrated and start moving your feet hopefully

Something that annoyed me was he'd hit these off pace, short returns off my serve and I was slow to move up for them. I go so frustrated with myself I started to do S&V since it happened so often.

Next time I'll try what you suggested and imagine there's a tough opponent on the other end.

Dink and no pace shots give you plenty of time so they are forgiving on your footwork which then tricks your brain into thinking it doesn't need to try. You don't need the same level of intensity as you do against a power baselining opponent but you do need to have your mind engaged. Just remind yourself stay light on your feet but don't worry about needing to split step or whatever and focus the rest of your energy on the task of doing something destructive with all the opportunities he is giving you to dictate the points.

I think that's it. I see him not putting much energy into his shots or movement and my brain thinks I shouldn't do that either. When I play someone who moves likes Nadal my brain goes into overdrive and I bring the same intensity.

 

[socallefty]

Wonder if your opponents are posting on another forum on how to play better against a low intensity player? The answer is in your thread title - stop being low intensity yourself. If you had a more offensive mindset, you’ll want to get to short balls and slow balls faster so that you can hit a more forcing shot before the ball drops too much.

 

[nyta2]

Recently I've played a few matches/practice sets and even though I won the worst I played was vs. someone that had very little intensity and movement and I kind of mimicked him. Then today I played against a great player who is the opposite of that who has tons of energy, lots of adjustment steps and I was mimicking that style today.

With the low intensity opponent I got a lot of dink shots and a few moonballs and I would have played much better with good footwork getting up to the ball and adjustment steps to set properly, but instead I had lazy feet and just played steady until I had an obvious shot to attack and came in. For some reason seeing a guy standing flat footed without any split step hacking at the shots makes me lazy and flat footed too. With the dink and no pace shots I got jammed and didn't hit many shots in my ideal strike zone.

Today from the 1st ball to the last one I was on my toes, split stepping, doing crossover steps, etc and it came naturally since part of my brain told me if I didn't do this I would have no chance. Most of my shots I had great spacing and clean contact despite the pace and spin.

Is there a way to trick your brain so that no matter what the guy on the other side is doing you'll have the same intensity/footwork?

that is the siren song of the pusher/bunter/lobber... they hypnotize you with slow play, and lull you into a false sense of "i have all the time in the world to get their ball".
only way to cancel their song is by making noise of your own. squeeky feet. that is the antidote.

 

[Morch Us]

No need to fool the brain. Just learn to play with 100% intensity on every ball. I just posted something very related in another thread.

The reason for you to slow down with low-intensity player, is because your brain is trying to match the speed and intensity of the ball to get the bare minimum result needed which is essentially get the ball across the net. You don't need to "fool" the brain, if you just practice to play every ball with full intensity, it becomes natural. Do not worry about "preserving" energy. After EVERY rally ... recover fully before you start next point.

Is there a way to trick your brain so that no matter what the guy on the other side is doing you'll have the same intensity/footwork?

 

[sovertennis]

Eddie--This is a conundrum many of the players I coach face. There's no easy solution ("fooling the brain" only works sporadically, IMO). Perhaps you could, right from the warm up, employ the "double split step" as part of your recovery/prep routine. This will keep your feet moving, albeit slightly, for the duration of the rally and enable you to arrive at the contact point more efficiently.

 

[EddieBrock]

Eddie--This is a conundrum many of the players I coach face. There's no easy solution ("fooling the brain" only works sporadically, IMO). Perhaps you could, right from the warm up, employ the "double split step" as part of your recovery/prep routine. This will keep your feet moving, albeit slightly, for the duration of the rally and enable you to arrive at the contact point more efficiently.

What is the double split step? 2 smaller split steps?

 

[Fintft]

What is the double split step? 2 smaller split steps?

Or hop all the time like the pros.

OP do you jump rope? Or can you do 1000 jumps in a row?

 

[zaph]

I love these questions because there is always endless complaints about pusher style players but the OP will never admit they lost.

If you can beat these players, why are you bothering to ask the question? You can't expect to blow a defensive player off the court, it isn't going to happen. I mean I can consistently beat pusher but I rarely destroy them and often drop sets to them. They are tough opponents.

If however you lose to pushers, be honest about it and then maybe people help you with your problem.

 

[zaph]

Eddie--This is a conundrum many of the players I coach face. There's no easy solution ("fooling the brain" only works sporadically, IMO). Perhaps you could, right from the warm up, employ the "double split step" as part of your recovery/prep routine. This will keep your feet moving, albeit slightly, for the duration of the rally and enable you to arrive at the contact point more efficiently.

I think you're over complicating, you don't really need good footwork against a pusher because they don't hit the ball that fast. You generally have plenty of time to run down any shot and set it up.

 

[zaph]

Wonder if your opponents are posting on another forum on how to play better against a low intensity player? The answer is in your thread title - stop being low intensity yourself. If you had a more offensive mindset, you’ll want to get to short balls and slow balls faster so that you can hit a more forcing shot before the ball drops too much.

I am not 100% convinced that is the right advice because in generally reaching a pushers shots isn't really that difficult. By definition they are slow balls, you have loads of time. Next time you play a pusher, just stop and watch one of their shots. Count how long it takes to reach your side of the court, land, bounce and then bounce again. It will be a lot more time than you think.

A lot of the time what you actually need to do is slow down and be considered, take your time setting the shot up. No need to rush.

 

[Fintft]

I am not 100% convinced that is the right advice because in generally reaching a pushers shots isn't really that difficult. By definition they are slow balls, you have loads of time. Next time you play a pusher, just stop and watch one of their shots. Count how long it takes to reach your side of the court, land, bounce and then bounce again. It will be a lot more time than you think.

A lot of the time what you actually need to do is slow down and be considered, take your time setting the shot up. No need to rush.

Not so sure about that. What if we are talking about short, sliced ROSes, taken on the rise? It was very hard to get to those in time.
That guy is a Santoro type of pusher.

 

[optic yellow]

I love these questions because there is always endless complaints about pusher style players but the OP will never admit they lost.

If you can beat these players, why are you bothering to ask the question? You can't expect to blow a defensive player off the court, it isn't going to happen. I mean I can consistently beat pusher but I rarely destroy them and often drop sets to them. They are tough opponents.

If however you lose to pushers, be honest about it and then maybe people help you with your problem.

He's recognizing a deficiency he has when playing against a certain profile player and seeking advice on how to address it...

 

[optic yellow]

No need to fool the brain. Just learn to play with 100% intensity on every ball. I just posted something very related in another thread.

The reason for you to slow down with low-intensity player, is because your brain is trying to match the speed and intensity of the ball to get the bare minimum result needed which is essentially get the ball across the net. You don't need to "fool" the brain, if you just practice to play every ball with full intensity, it becomes natural. Do not worry about "preserving" energy. After EVERY rally ... recover fully before you start next point.

I don't think you need to be quite as frantic against pusher shots.

 

[Jonesy]

Play with the same level of energy, no matter the opponent. You probably underestimated the dinker, that is the privilege of rec players.

What you need is the pro mentality, would a pro treat the junker easier? No, a pro doesn't have that leeway, a pro would give his all no matter the opponent and so should you.

Also, we need to question your technical aspect too. Could you learn better footwork? What about anticipation skills? There is always room for improvement even for a pro.

 

[sovertennis]

What is the double split step? 2 smaller split steps?

Do a standard split step and add an additional "hop", ie split once, hop twice.

 

[sovertennis]

I think you're over complicating, you don't really need good footwork against a pusher because they don't hit the ball that fast. You generally have plenty of time to run down any shot and set it up.

Disagree. As a well known and far-more accomplished coach than me once said "If you're running, you're losing." Good footwork is vital, no matter what sort of player is across the net.

 

[zaph]

Disagree. As a well known and far-more accomplished coach than me once said "If you're running, you're losing." Good footwork is vital, no matter what sort of player is across the net.

That is the point, a lot of the time you don't need to run, the ball aint travelling that fast. You've got more time than you think.

 

[zaph]

He's recognizing a deficiency he has when playing against a certain profile player and seeking advice on how to address it...

Fine if you believe the OP is being honest, fair enough. However I have seen a ton of these threads about pushers and amazingly in virtually all them. The op is beating the pusher, which I call bull on.

This matters because one of the issues against pushers is mental. If you go onto court thinking pushing isn't real tennis, they are hack, dinkers and low intensity. You will lose. A player who is a human wall and gets every ball back is low intensity? Pull the other and show a bit more respect.

Pushers, unless you are really good, are hard to beat. Go onto a court expecting to blow them into the weeds, with minimal effort and you are going to lose.

 

[Jonesy]

Fine if you believe the OP is being honest, fair enough. However I have seen a ton of these threads about pushers and amazingly in virtually all them. The op is beating the pusher, which I call bull on.

This matters because one of the issues against pushers is mental. If you go onto court thinking pushing isn't real tennis, they are hack, dinkers and low intensity. You will lose. A player who is a human wall and gets every ball back is low intensity? Pull the other and show a bit more respect.

Pushers, unless you are really good, are hard to beat. Go onto a court expecting to blow them into the weeds, with minimal effort and you are going to lose.

Interesting take, are you saying that even at level 4.5 a player would never have an easy time beating that style?

 

[Fintft]

Interesting take, are you saying that even at level 4.5 a player would never have an easy time beating that style?

But what if the pusher is 4.5 himself? See the slicing guy I mentioned above.

 

[zaph]

Interesting take, are you saying that even at level 4.5 a player would never have an easy time beating that style?

If I understand the American tennis rating system properly, then a 4.5 level player should have no problem beating the kind of pusher who make us lower level players work for the win but a higher level of that style? A junk ballers of similar level or a pusher is becoming more of counter puncher? Yes they would have problems if they went onto the court thinking their opponent wasn't a real player and they would knock them over easily.

The things, I asked about the American rating system on these threads a while ago and from what I was told 4.5 level or above is the minority of players. Most are below that level and such players can not disrespect pushers. It is a hard style to beat and you cannot go onto court thinking they are not real players and you should be double bageling them every time. If you do that, you will more than likely lose.

 

[EddieBrock]

Fine if you believe the OP is being honest, fair enough. However I have seen a ton of these threads about pushers and amazingly in virtually all them. The op is beating the pusher, which I call bull on.

This matters because one of the issues against pushers is mental. If you go onto court thinking pushing isn't real tennis, they are hack, dinkers and low intensity. You will lose. A player who is a human wall and gets every ball back is low intensity? Pull the other and show a bit more respect.

Pushers, unless you are really good, are hard to beat. Go onto a court expecting to blow them into the weeds, with minimal effort and you are going to lose.

Of course I'm being honest. What would I have to gain by lying? I'm at the borderline between high 4.0 and low 4.5 and if I'm firing on all cylinders play really well, but seem to scale my level to my opponent and can also get tight.

I posted this right after playing with a former college player and I was on my toes the whole time, making adjustment steps and sprinting up to short balls and playing about as well as I can. I still lost badly, but the intensity and shots I was hitting were a whole other level from when I played the dinker guy.

I was rather upset with myself for not moving properly against the dinker and not going for my shots the way I normally do. That gave him time to run down shots despite not having much intensity. Not just against him, but in general I feel like my level that day is very dependent on my footwork and spacing to the ball. When I get nervous or don't move well I get jammed a lot and am not hitting my normal shots.

The 1st 2 points here show the way he was hitting, although he didn't move like the pretend junk baller in the video. Especially the 2nd point with the no pace shots.

Also they address that people's feet tend to slow down

 

[Jonesy]

But what if the pusher is 4.5 himself? See the slicing guy I mentioned above.

It would be even harder.

 

[Tranqville]

Against low intensity opponent, I believe we should perform intensity build-up while executing each shot. Start with normal high-intensity split, and recognizing an easy slow ball, take relaxed steps towards the bounce. As you approach the ball, start raising your intensity, taking adjustment steps and gradually loading the legs, sitting lower with each step. My mistake when I had too much time on the ball was to wait on straight legs, then try to load them at the last moment, losing balance and rhythm.

 

[nyta2]

I think you're over complicating, you don't really need good footwork against a pusher because they don't hit the ball that fast. You generally have plenty of time to run down any shot and set it up.

pushers&moonballers are attacking your strikezone vertically... hence you need good footwork, and anticipation to figure out how far up or back you need to move.
in contrast, it's super easy to play against hard hitters than just hit through the middle... 1-2 steps and you're there, and the ball is already at the right height.
in 12U, the primary attack is a high ball to the bh, which works until ~14U (eg. their footwork is good enough to take the ball on the rise, and/or they get taller)

 

[zaph]

Of course I'm being honest. What would I have to gain by lying? I'm at the borderline between high 4.0 and low 4.5 and if I'm firing on all cylinders play really well, but seem to scale my level to my opponent and can also get tight.

I posted this right after playing with a former college player and I was on my toes the whole time, making adjustment steps and sprinting up to short balls and playing about as well as I can. I still lost badly, but the intensity and shots I was hitting were a whole other level from when I played the dinker guy.

I was rather upset with myself for not moving properly against the dinker and not going for my shots the way I normally do. That gave him time to run down shots despite not having much intensity. Not just against him, but in general I feel like my level that day is very dependent on my footwork and spacing to the ball. When I get nervous or don't move well I get jammed a lot and am not hitting my normal shots.

The 1st 2 points here show the way he was hitting, although he didn't move like the pretend junk baller in the video. Especially the 2nd point with the no pace shots.

Also they address that people's feet tend to slow down

So lets get this straight. You were happy when you lost and want no advice on how to play better in that match? Yet you do want advice on how to play better against a player you claim you beat and a style of play you can consistently beat?

You do understand that tennis isn't a dancing competition, there is no set of judges marking your game based on the quality of your football or how nice your shots looked? if you beat junkers and you do it consistently, carry on with what you're doing.

What you should be doing is asking for advice on how to beat the people you actually lose to. If you are being honest in this post.

 

[d-quik]

This is something I still haven’t figured out even at 5.0 to be honest.

Recently I've played a few matches/practice sets and even though I won the worst I played was vs. someone that had very little intensity and movement and I kind of mimicked him. Then today I played against a great player who is the opposite of that who has tons of energy, lots of adjustment steps and I was mimicking that style today.

With the low intensity opponent I got a lot of dink shots and a few moonballs and I would have played much better with good footwork getting up to the ball and adjustment steps to set properly, but instead I had lazy feet and just played steady until I had an obvious shot to attack and came in. For some reason seeing a guy standing flat footed without any split step hacking at the shots makes me lazy and flat footed too. With the dink and no pace shots I got jammed and didn't hit many shots in my ideal strike zone.

Today from the 1st ball to the last one I was on my toes, split stepping, doing crossover steps, etc and it came naturally since part of my brain told me if I didn't do this I would have no chance. Most of my shots I had great spacing and clean contact despite the pace and spin.

Is there a way to trick your brain so that no matter what the guy on the other side is doing you'll have the same intensity/footwork?

Playing on a really slow surface in cold weather (add in slower balls too if you want to go all the way) prevents this from being an issue. Virtually zero pace to feed off of and having to generate your own pace on virtually every shot will force you to be more aggressive.

And by aggressive I mean aggressive movement/footwork, not swinging harder (although that will come naturally if the footwork is actually better)

 

[johnmccabe]

So lets get this straight. You were happy when you lost and want no advice on how to play better in that match? Yet you do want advice on how to play better against a player you claim you beat and a style of play you can consistently beat?

You do understand that tennis isn't a dancing competition, there is no set of judges marking your game based on the quality of your football or how nice your shots looked? if you beat junkers and you do it consistently, carry on with what you're doing.

What you should be doing is asking for advice on how to beat the people you actually lose to. If you are being honest in this post.

Your post reads like you are a junk baller proud of that style. Maybe I read it wrong

 

[EddieBrock]

So lets get this straight. You were happy when you lost and want no advice on how to play better in that match? Yet you do want advice on how to play better against a player you claim you beat and a style of play you can consistently beat?

You do understand that tennis isn't a dancing competition, there is no set of judges marking your game based on the quality of your football or how nice your shots looked? if you beat junkers and you do it consistently, carry on with what you're doing.

What you should be doing is asking for advice on how to beat the people you actually lose to. If you are being honest in this post.

When I lost I was happy because I played up to my ability and basically know what I did wrong. As an extreme example I'm sure you can understand why I'd be happier losing 1 and 1 to someone like Djokovic where I'm in every game than winning vs. a junkballer with low intensity. With the junkballer match I had the issues I posted about so didn't feel like I played up to my ability and mainly due to my lack of footwork/intensity was reaching for balls I normally get.

The match vs. the better player was just for fun and my opponent gave me some tips. I think it's mainly execution so I'm not really sure what to ask about. Basically I need to place my serve better, get more returns deep, and not go for so much when I see a small sliver of opportunity.

Of course I'd welcome tips on how to beat this player that I lost to as well. One of the biggest differences is his returns come back deep and seems to take control of the point and get me on a string. He's very aggressive and likes to take shots on the rise and hit hard, deep shots and angles. I'm not moving up for a lot of short balls unless I hit a very good shot. His feet are moving constantly and anything I hit that sits up or is short gets destoryed.