How to play against a much better player?

[Pitti]

Hi everyone. I’m playing in a few hours a friendly match against one of the best guys at my club. I don’t know him and don’t know how he plays. Just that result-wise, he’s better than me.

What can be some generic tips for playing against these better rivals... or at least not getting bageled?

 

[junior74]

Put all the energy you have into your service games. Fight for them. If he attacks your 2nd serve, go for more instead of holding back.

A lot of very good players aren't that good when they get some junk to work with. Slice, hit short, hit angled. Have fun and try everything to see if you can find something he doesn't like

 

[chrisb]

good advice. If you are familiar with the term grinding it might be appropriate for this kind of match. The longer you can keep your opponent on the court the more pressure mentally he will experience. As stated above feeding him awkward shots is helpful Also staying with the shots you can control and staying away from pressing might help too. i don`t know if you have rituals to help u relax but if you focus on keeping your hands relaxed and preparing early you will have more fun

 

[Mark Bosko]

Relax and have fun, the pressure should be all on the stronger player who is expected to win. Don't go for more than you are capable of, play your game, instead of a slew of unforced errors. If you can, make them beat you with their weakest shot. Don't scream and yell every time you miss a shot, thank them for the beat down when you are through and ask to do it again periodically.

Return the favor and play down as well.

 

[Pitti]

Thank you for your advice, @junior74 @chrisb and @Mark Bosko

More data about me: I'm an all-court player. I play with flatter shots than most people I play against, although I can use a bit more spin if necessary. I feel comfortable playing anywhere on the court, attacking the net or being back. I prefer offensive game. My weapon is the drive, although it's not great. My serve is usually reliable but not very strong. I use a 1hbh that could be more consistent. I tend to slice it if I see the ball is coming difficult, but I like to attack and open angles with my topspin BH.


As for your advice, I'll try to follow your tips. I'll probably lose anyways, but I'll have fun. I'm not the kind of player who yells at each mishit, although I'm quite competitive. My only "ritual" consists on bouncing twice or thrice the ball before serving in the same way. Well, I'll tell you later how it went!

 

[junior74]

Thank you for your advice, @junior74 @chrisb and @Mark Bosko

More data about me: I'm an all-court player. I play with flatter shots than most people I play against, although I can use a bit more spin if necessary. I feel comfortable playing anywhere on the court, attacking the net or being back. I prefer offensive game. My weapon is the drive, although it's not great. My serve is usually reliable but not very strong. I use a 1hbh that could be more consistent. I tend to slice it if I see the ball is coming difficult, but I like to attack and open angles with my topspin BH.


As for your advice, I'll try to follow your tips. I'll probably lose anyways, but I'll have fun. I'm not the kind of player who yells at each mishit, although I'm quite competitive. My only "ritual" consists on bouncing twice or thrice the ball before serving in the same way. Well, I'll tell you later how it went!

Many of the players you consider better than you bit "perfect" topspin shots, but that's not always the case when you get them in the forecourt. If attacking ang coming in is what you enjoy, then do it! You will get chances.

If your 1hbh is a weakness, use the slice more, unless your confidence level allows you to go for it. Against better opponents, variation is always better than a not so consistent baseline game.

If your serve is reliable, but not a weapon, I suggest you try to use it for variety instead of power. Try aiming closer to the lines.

Best of luck!

 

[Moveforwardalways]

If it’s a friendly match, do as recommended above. But if you meet a much better player in a match that you want to give yourself the best chance to win without regard to keeping things friendly, the answer is junk ball all day long start to finish.

 

[ChaelAZ]

Hi everyone. I’m playing in a few hours a friendly match against one of the best guys at my club. I don’t know him and don’t know how he plays. Just that result-wise, he’s better than me.

What can be some generic tips for playing against these better rivals... or at least not getting bageled?

• They will have some weakness, so try to figure out what they don't do as well and try to use that against them. Be it lateral or up/back movement, maybe a weaker side, don't handle pace or no-pace well, etc.
• Try to set yourself to use your stronger shots more often.
• Have a competing mindset, focusing on staying in points and making them have to hit one more shot and don't worry about winning.
• Have fun and see it as a learning experience to grow from.

 

[stapletonj]

if you run out of gas, you run out of gas.

dont give up on any ball until you see it bounce twice, even if it means you flip up a duck.

good advice in general, but especially in this situation.

 

[Pitti]

I'll see what can I do. We'll start in an hour and a half.

The guy has been pretty nice. We don't know each other, and we're rivals on our next doubles match. He's playing 1st tier single matches at our club. Me and my partner are playing 6th tier singles (we've just started this year and hope to promote soon!). So my rival yesterday offered everyone to play our doubles match, but it happens that only I could play at that hour. Then we agreed to play a "singles friendly" so that we can meet each other. So my tennis aim is double: getting to know him (and how does he play), and "intimidate" him a bit, or at least show him that it won't be easy to win me, make him some slight discomfort.

Asides from that, it's a challenge for me. I want to see how do I "resist" against a theoretically better player than me, who is doing well at the club and probably hits more consistently and with better pace than I do.

 

[MathGeek]

It's still a matter of attacking opposing weaknesses and optimizing your strengths.

This makes me question generic advice which fails to consider the weaknesses of the better player and strengths of the worse player.

I face different kinds of stronger players. One kind is the younger, stronger, more mobile player with a softer mental game and prone to streaks of UEs. When they start a UE streak, I work to keep the ball in, extend rallies, and keep games moving quickly trying not to say or do anything to reset their mental attitude when they are melting down. Another kind of better player is the older player with great racquet skills, great mental game, but reduced mobility and endurance. My goal against these opponents is to move them a lot - left and right and front to back. I'm still a junk baller and pusher, but my placement goals are very specific on each shot. Then there are other special cases - like the player whose overhead backhand is garbage and a deep well of UEs. Lots of lobs to their BH side.

Beating better players often requires more aggressive play and shot selection. But turning up the aggression with every shot is not nearly as productive as picking my spots exploiting their weaknesses while leveraging my strengths.

 

[Pitti]

Well. I just finished my match. I lost 6/2 6/4 in 1h 15’.

My rival was a quick player my age (around 30). He run very fast and well in every direction. He was sort of a counter-puncher. He didn’t play very offensively but absolutely killed each short ball. He punished me all match with good parallel shots that he didn’t miss. He also had a pretty strong serve.

I made lots of UE on the first set and didn’t serve very well. I started the 2nd in the same fashion but managed to concentrate and change strategies when I was 0-3 down and win 4 straight games. I found that by coming to the net I made him run more and since I’m also comfortable volleying, I started putting more pressure on him.

When we finished the match he told me he likes how I played, and said he will call me again to play more friendly matches until we meet each other at the main tournament. He also said that when I came to the net I put him in more trouble than some of the rivals he’s played recently.

Overall, we had a good match. If I reduce my UE, I will be able to have a chance against him on future matches.

 

[TennisCJC]

improve your serve. The serve is the single most important shot in tennis. go out and hit a bucket of 55-60 serves at least once a week and twice a week would be better. if you are comfortable coming to net, then work even more on volleys, overheads, approach shots as most rec players feel pressured when opponent comes in to the net.

You say you like to hit flat but I suggest you learn to work the ball with a little topspin and slice to improve baseline consistency.

 

[Deleted member 765266]

I recently played someone 3 levels higher in a UTR tournament. I played very deep on his serve, only goal was chipping, slicing back return and not giving away anything free. I went a lot bigger than I normally would on serve as well, especially down 0-40 or 15-40. I tried not to rally too much, I tried to take pace off a lot by using slices and chips and sneak into net. Biggest advantage was keeping the belief after getting down 4-0 in the first set. I think my opponent knew it was an easy match, but when you get down is when you fight harder. Most opponents will have a lapse, go for some riskier shots, or mentally let up a little when they are crushing you early in a match. When you get crushed early (which you most likely will) find that 2nd wind/gear and go all out. I ended up losing 6-2, 6-3 in a semi-competitive match.

 

[Powderwombat]

Slap everything and hope it's your day ala Soderling v Nadal 2009 FO.

 

[dominikk1985]

Seriously have fun and learn by losing. Sure you might steal a few points with dinking but imo try to play open rallies with him and have fun.

I had one of my best matches getting double bagled. The guy was really good (nationally ranked as a junior but backed of from playing every day as he was like mid 20s) and I played very good against him by playing open and offensive rallies (not swinging for the fences but just hard enough so I could hit the ball 3-4 times in before I would make an error.

I hit some nice winners and got to deuce like twice and he complimented me for the match and I felt great and learned something.

If you just dink or on the other side swing for the fences so you never make two shots in a row you might win a few points but you learn nothing.

So try to play open rallies and hit the ball offensively but controlled (good rule is about 70% of your max speed) and you will get the most out of it even though you likely lose badly.

 

[jm1980]

Put all the energy you have into your service games. Fight for them. If he attacks your 2nd serve, go for more instead of holding back.

A lot of very good players aren't that good when they get some junk to work with. Slice, hit short, hit angled. Have fun and try everything to see if you can find something he doesn't like

If it’s a friendly match, do as recommended above. But if you meet a much better player in a match that you want to give yourself the best chance to win without regard to keeping things friendly, the answer is junk ball all day long start to finish.

If you are comfortable hitting junkballs and it's somewhat part of your normal game, then sure. Otherwise this might be among the worst ideas when playing someone better than you

 

[mmk]

My biggest issue when I play someone much better than I am is that I try too hard. I try for winners, forcing shots instead of just playing the point.