Introducing the good 3.5 pusher...

mightyrick

mightyrick

Legend
This youtube video has been posted by latestgood in another thread, and I wanted to double post it with a new purpose.

We're talking a lot about pushers at 3.5. This short video is the best example I've ever seen of a good 3.5 pusher. It is the player in the white shirt. For those who are in USTA at NTRP 3.5, you have certainly seen this kind of player many times. They usually are in the top echelon.

latestgood actually has a pretty decent 3.5 serve. But it doesn't matter. Whiteshirt always gets the ball back high and deep without pace. He tries to "out-consistency" whiteshirt. No luck. Eventually the unforced error comes. latestgood gets more aggressive and hits some pretty good heavy-ish topspin shots to whiteshirt... even to the backhand... no luck. Whiteshirt gets it back every single time... no pace... high and deep... over and over again.

The only choice that latestgood has is to try to play closer to the lines. Play more dangerously. "Go for his shots". More and more unforced errors.

Whiteshirt is a nightmare for 95% of NTRP 3.5. But the point is, you will not beat whiteshirt by improving your serve. Whiteshirt could probably handle a 4.0 serve with relative ease.

The only way to be whiteshirt is to improve your groundstrokes. Unless someone has a better idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3st8uQ4fsfo
 
So that's typical 3.5? Cannot know, I'm not american.

That's about the level of my opponents. I've said that I go for my shot, hit the forehand flat and hard. The biggest difference compared to either of the two is the much flatter trajectory I use when I go for the killer blow.When I miss I typically hit the net. The whiteshirt gave a lot of the type of balls I have been hitting on or inside the baseline, his opponent didn't do it and should have. IMO, the whiteshirt would be beaten when you can hit 2-3 such forehands placed well enough.

And remember, hitting from inside the baseline is easier, as the court opens up.
 
Whiteshirt takes a full swing and many of his shots look like they have a reasonable amount of pace and spin to me. He hits softer shots when he is in a defensive position. He doesn't go for winners (almost everything is DTM) but in my opinion he's not hitting a particularly attackable ball.

So I wouldn't call him a pusher. I'd call him a retriever, and a good one.
 
torpantennis said:
So that's typical 3.5? Cannot know, I'm not american.

That's about the level of my opponents. I've said that I go for my shot, hit the forehand flat and hard. The biggest difference compared to either of the two is the much flatter trajectory I use when I go for the killer blow.When I miss I typically hit the net. The whiteshirt gave a lot of the type of balls I have been hitting on or inside the baseline, his opponent didn't do it and should have. IMO, the whiteshirt would be beaten when you can hit 2-3 such forehands placed well enough.

And remember, hitting from inside the baseline is easier, as the court opens up.
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There is no "typical" 3.5. 3.5 is a results driven level definition and it's the largest level of recreational players in the US, so you're going to see almost every style of and some really strange stuff in between at 3.5. The common denominator is that eveyone is just average at whatever they play.

As for the whiteshirt guy, he's going to be a top 3.5 if he's actually a USTA 3.5 league player, and he could certainly win a fair share of 4.0 matches as well just being that consistent.
 
Whiteshirt has more than consistency going for him-- his movement is also very good. This allows him to run around the backhand almost every time.

The point at 3:08 or so where he falls down and comes back to win the point is pretty sweet.
 
Whiteshirt has a terrible serve. If you're losing to this guy, start trying to pound his serves for winners and come in behind your return.

He leaves a lot of balls in the middle of the court and high. You can drive those to the corners or hit a short angle. The other guy is just pushing them back.
 
RetroSpin said:
Whiteshirt has a terrible serve. If you're losing to this guy, start trying to pound his serves for winners and come in behind your return.

He leaves a lot of balls in the middle of the court and high. You can drive those to the corners or hit a short angle. The other guy is just pushing them back.
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A 3.5 trying to be this aggressive will get killed by mistakes. No, don't throw me in that briar patch, misser.
 
1. The guy in black needs to finish points at the net.

2. The guy in black needs to bring the guy in white into the net more. 3.5 pushers usually hate volleying. The drop shot+lob combo is your best friend.

I wouldn't recommend 'going for the lines' more. Move the ball around the court, finish points off at the net. Use the drop shot, the guy in white is 4-5 feet behind the baseline all the time.

Drop shot + lob or easy pass will win you majority of the points.
 
OMG that was painful to watch. The dude in black had so many opportunities to end points quickly. He was doing a great job at keeping the ball nice and deep -- and then, once he got what he was supposed to be looking for: a short reply on or behind the service line, what does he do? He follows up with a gentle ground stroke right back to the guy in white.

What you're supposed to do when you're given the gift of a short reply, is to hit an approach shot DTL and hope for an easy volley put-away to end the point.

And another thing he does wrong: he keeps hitting right back to the guy in white.

One more thing he does wrong, clearly the guy in white hates hitting back hands, he runs around everything. just pound away at his backhand side until he gives you and easy overhead slam for the win.


The guy in white, however, is a solid pusher. I don't agree with pushing as a tactic, but it works for him and he's pretty good at it. All the more power to him.
 
mightyrick said:
This youtube video has been posted by latestgood in another thread, and I wanted to double post it with a new purpose.

We're talking a lot about pushers at 3.5. This short video is the best example I've ever seen of a good 3.5 pusher. It is the player in the white shirt. For those who are in USTA at NTRP 3.5, you have certainly seen this kind of player many times. They usually are in the top echelon.

latestgood actually has a pretty decent 3.5 serve. But it doesn't matter. Whiteshirt always gets the ball back high and deep without pace. He tries to "out-consistency" whiteshirt. No luck. Eventually the unforced error comes. latestgood gets more aggressive and hits some pretty good heavy-ish topspin shots to whiteshirt... even to the backhand... no luck. Whiteshirt gets it back every single time... no pace... high and deep... over and over again.

The only choice that latestgood has is to try to play closer to the lines. Play more dangerously. "Go for his shots". More and more unforced errors.

Whiteshirt is a nightmare for 95% of NTRP 3.5. But the point is, you will not beat whiteshirt by improving your serve. Whiteshirt could probably handle a 4.0 serve with relative ease.

The only way to be whiteshirt is to improve your groundstrokes. Unless someone has a better idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3st8uQ4fsfo
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Whiteshirt (WS) might be a nightmare for 3.5's because he's good. This is not pushing, imo. In this excerpt, WS is a better player than Blackshirt (BS) in almost every way.

At a higher level, let's say 4.0, WS would be forced to play his BH on both return of serve and in BH rallies. BS was unable to find WS's backhand often enough. WS covered the court well. Recovered properly (in most cases). Hit with decent pass, topspin, and demonstrated directional control. This is high level 3.5, imo. Incidentally, many of the serves were cut from the clip (for some reason) and it would appear that WS did not alter his serving strategy to deal with the Lefty return (maybe he can't).

I think WS would do fine at the bottom of 4.0, as he's probably maxing out at the top of 3.5.

I'm glad you've clarified that when you say "pusher" you really mean this guy (otherwise known as a good tennis player). Thanks for clearing that up.
 
TimeSpiral said:
I'm glad you've clarified that when you say "pusher" you really mean this guy (otherwise known as a good tennis player). Thanks for clearing that up.
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Absolutely. I've consistently said that good pushers are the best players within any and all of recreational skill levels. For you... you think that a pusher is a player who only can frame and bunt back a ball. That's fine. We disagree.

Pushers look different at different skill levels. But the things that are consistent amongst all of them -- they don't ever go for winners and they make almost no unforced errors.

A 4.0 pusher looks different than the 3.5 pusher.

The 4.5 pusher... would double-bagel almost everyone here. The video that most of us long-timers which reminds of this is the Baskin Park shirtless 4.5 pusher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8SZynE4N1w
 
mightyrick said:
Absolutely. I've consistently said that good pushers are the best players within any and all of recreational skill levels. For you... you think that a pusher is a player who only can frame and bunt back a ball. That's fine. We disagree.

Pushers look different at different skill levels. But the things that are consistent amongst all of them -- they don't ever go for winners and they make almost no unforced errors.

A 4.0 pusher looks different than the 3.5 pusher.

The 4.5 pusher... would double-bagel almost everyone here. The video that most of us long-timers which reminds of this is the Baskin Park shirtless 4.5 pusher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8SZynE4N1w
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Hahaha. That video is awesome! Shirtless guy is casually recovering after each shot and darshirt guy is working his arse off! Haha. Shame on Darkshirt guy for not altering his strat. 4.5's should be showing signs of altering gameplay based on opponents. 4.0's will do this too, to an extent.

It's hard to say whether or not someone is going for a winner, because that is intent, but I typically agree that a pusher's strategy ends at "getting the ball in play." But just to be clear, you can't win a point without the ball being in play, so "getting the ball in play" is at the ground level of every tennis strategy.

In my experience, pushers typically sail the ball high over the net, with little pace, and some spin (low level guys use backspin, higher level guys use topspin) and just continuously do that until the other person errs out of the match. Whiteshirt, from your OP, looked much less the pusher than Shirtless guy who was almost mocking his opponent with how casual he was recovering between moonballs.

A survival lesson from my climbing instructor (Imagine it delivered with a thick, dead-pan, French accent speaking English): Always take the easiest way, you know? When you're on the side of a mountain, no sense in making it harder on yourself, right?

If you can't hit through the pusher with your groundstrokes, then you must change strats.
 
this guy suck. he hit only 1 backhand the entire match. other guy doesn't have enough control to hit to his backhand which suck bad
 
I wouldn't call him a pusher either - he is a retriever. His serve looks is bad but likely usually goes in. Guy is proof that ground strokes are where it's at for rec players - just like Gilbert says.

You get people who claim that anyone who doesn't go for difficult winners are pushers. Real pushers just push the ball back. Pushers have unorthodox crap strokes. They have no shoulder turn and hit slight backspin. They basically spit on tennis. White shirt guy just plays conservative loopy but proper shots. He doesn't deserve to be called a pusher.
 
these look like good recreational baseliners who began playing without much coaching. They have effective strokes which may not look conventional. I think most of us are fooled into thinking that us recreational players look like rafa or roger when playing.
 
GuyClinch said:
I wouldn't call him a pusher either - he is a retriever. His serve looks is bad but likely usually goes in. Guy is proof that ground strokes are where it's at for rec players - just like Gilbert says.

You get people who claim that anyone who doesn't go for difficult winners are pushers. Real pushers just push the ball back. Pushers have unorthodox crap strokes. They have no shoulder turn and hit slight backspin. They basically spit on tennis. White shirt guy just plays conservative loopy but proper shots. He doesn't deserve to be called a pusher.
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I agree that pusher is a nebulous and misused term in out community. So are almost all the descriptors we use to classify pro player styles. That being said, I tend to agree with your hack-centric description of a pusher.

Every ball must be retrieved or you lose the point. Each ball must be put back in play or you lose the point. Yet, if you run into a guy who gets to everything and never misses--satisfying the most basic principles of tennis--and he gets ridiculed as the pusher.

It does seem that at the lower levels of rec play, the guys do not have a "weapon" to play with, so even if they get a sitting inside the baseline, they cannot put it away. This almost requires the match be decided on errors and not winners (even pro matches are typically decided this way) and because winners are not being hit (usually by either player, the "real" player and the one branded "pusher" by the real player) it's regarded as an overly defensive style of play. I would argue this is because we all think we're much better than we are, and also that we spectate professional tennis which gives us a misguided idea of what our tennis is supposed to look like.
 
GuyClinch said:
You get people who claim that anyone who doesn't go for difficult winners are pushers. Real pushers just push the ball back. Pushers have unorthodox crap strokes. They have no shoulder turn and hit slight backspin. They basically spit on tennis. White shirt guy just plays conservative loopy but proper shots. He doesn't deserve to be called a pusher.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it can be hard to draw the line. I used to argue with myself about what a pusher was or wasn't.

I got tired of it being so subjective. So I boiled it down to basically what the stats-line looks like -- which is really reflecting of the mindset of a player. If a player's primary strategy with basically putting the ball back in play and waiting for an unforced error, he's a pusher.

Using that definition, I can take it all the way up to NTRP 7.0/ITN 1 and classify Somdev Devvarman as a pusher.

I think the big problem is that some folks have a very negative stigma with that term. As you are saying, "they spit on tennis". I don't look at pushers this way. I think they love tennis as much as the next person. They simply approach the game with a different mindset than the rest of us.
 
I think the big problem is that some folks have a very negative stigma with that term. As you are saying, "they spit on tennis". I don't look at pushers this way. I think they love tennis as much as the next person. They simply approach the game with a different mindset than the rest of us.
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To be clear this guy isn't spitting at tennis. But the pushers I am talking about do. They essential say "I don't need to learn or try to hit with proper technique - I will beat you anyway. Tennis is a stupid game. Who needs to study or practice."

This is why losing to one of those players can literally drive people out of tennis. You go out - you study the pro style forehands. You try to mimic their style - only to lose to a weekend hacker who actually pushes the ball back with a 1/4 stroke. It's like being a wannabe race car driver in your BRZ and losing a race to some grandmother with a V-6 automatic Camry on track day.

On the opposite side of the coin you get all these people who try to goad guys like the white shirt into defeating themselves. They WANT him to play a high error style of play and complain that they 'push' if they don't do that. But that's not accurate since the guy has full complete strokes (more or less - obviously not on the serve).

You see this a lot in doubles too. New doubles players always complain the guys who lob a lot aren't playing 'real' tennis. But very often their court positioning/skill set dictates lobs.
 
at the 1:47ish mark when he had the white shirt guy at the net and clearly white shirt guy did not want any parts of that net is when he shoulda attacked the ***** out of him. white shirt starts to back peddle the second he gets close to the service line. make him pay.
 
I saw a point where the guy in black had a good serve, white shirt guy floated a return back, and the guy in black hit a softee shot UP THE MIDDLE? Also on the points where he could have put away an easy-ish volley/overhead he basically hit it back to him or up the middle.

I think the white guy is a strong 3.5 player but I agree that if you have a strong serve you have to back it up with at least SOME ground strokes. Dood in black could have done so much more than just hit up the middle on many of his shots.

I saw the shot where he fell and still won the point, good hustle by white shirt guy, bad shot selection by black shirt guy (why no drop shot when you are THAT close to net, I mean it doesn't even have to be a good one since your opponent is on the floor)

Shirtless guy was AWESOME!!!! Man the other dood was just huffing and puffin but he just kept doing the same thing over and over.
 
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TimeSpiral said:
Yep. Running around your backhand that often eventually stops working as soon as you run into opponents with higher level inside out FH's and topspin BHs.
Click to expand...

Funny thing is that in this match he was playing a lefty. So a decent CC forehand should have been enough to make him hit some backhands.

Takeaway for me is that running around the BH incessantly may be a more viable strategy than some think.
 
Avles said:
Thanks, I thought I was the only person seeing this.
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Nope.

MightyRick's definition of a pusher is just a good tennis player. This explains why--on other threads--he takes issue with the connotation it gets here and everywhere else, and continuously suggests that pushers are the best players at their level (lol).
 
TimeSpiral said:
Nope.

MightyRick's definition of a pusher is just a good tennis player. This explains why--on other threads--he takes issue with the connotation it gets here and everywhere else, and continuously suggests that pushers are the best players at their level (lol).
Click to expand...

TimeSpiral, stop it already. It's tiring.

That is not my definition. I have given very specific definitions in terms of match statistics. If you are going to restate my definition, at least do it using my words and not your own passive-aggressive annoying approach.

BTW, I am not the only person that holds this definition. People who define "pusher" fall into two categories: 1) People who think pushers are disgusting, fundamentally evil tennis players, and 2) Everyone else.
 
Avles said:
Thanks, I thought I was the only person seeing this.
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I'm not sure who the pusher is. They both play the same type of tennis. About the same pace. Both moonball and hit some flats. Both hit angles too. I didn't see enough serves, but from the little I saw, neither had "good" serves. They seem like avg 3.5 serves with little technique, pace, spin, placement, etc.

Shirtless is a pusher.
 
TimeSpiral said:
Yep. Running around your backhand that often eventually stops working as soon as you run into opponents with higher level inside out FH's and topspin BHs.
Click to expand...

What i saw was a total lack of strategy like others have mentioned. You have to setup points before just going for the winner.
 
TimeSpiral said:
Yep. Running around your backhand that often eventually stops working as soon as you run into opponents with higher level inside out FH's and topspin BHs.
Click to expand...

I have nothing against running around backhands - Nadal and Fed do it all the time. I was just saying that I don't have the energy to do it so I use the 1 handed BH (meant for lazy people).
 
That "pusher" hits with decent pace with a modern forehand :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:. True his serve and backhand are not good. But, that does not make him a pusher.

The only thing the opponent could have done better is to move the "pusher" to the net when he is behind the baseline. He was clearly uncomfortable at the net.

Harry
 
Tight Lines said:
That "pusher" hits with decent pace with a modern forehand :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:. True his serve and backhand are not good. But, that does not make him a pusher.

The only thing the opponent could have done better is to move the "pusher" to the net when he is behind the baseline. He was clearly uncomfortable at the net.

Harry
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Agreed. He also could have first hit the ball to the whiteshirt's forehand side and then hit to the backhand. By moving whiteshirt away from his backhand side first, he could have forced him to hit a backhand.
 
Just to clarify - is this is a 3.5 USTA tennis match? It doesnt seem like a competitive league match. There is no intensity. There are times where they just stand there with their arms by their side, having a scratch, expecting the ball to come straight back to them. It looks like a social cardio based hit around more than likely. That or they are still developing the concept of how to build a point. Most of their balls go straight to their opponent! And they just camp at the baseline, especially the dude in the blackshirt.

They also seem to have no ability to deal with short balls adequately yet. They just pop them back almost deliberately to give their opponent another chance to make a shot, then retreat to the baseline!

Im sorry, they wouldn't win a game yet alone any match in any competitive division, where I am anyway playing like this. No disrespect but these are the happy go lucky type of players you would find at Thursday night mixed social tennis. Not pennants. A decent serve and a half decent ability to put away short ball oppurtunities with placed approaches, and some semblance of a net game would smash both of them like guitars especially given their often weak and short or slow lolly pop lobbed returns. Imagine if they had to face a serve with some semblance of pace and spin...
 
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I see no pushing going on. It seems they both hit at about similar pace. The guy in white shirt does not have a backhand and does everything possible to avoid it including hitting defensive forehands when out of position.

That is not pushing.
 
HughJars said:
Just to clarify - is this is a 3.5 USTA tennis match? It doesnt seem like a competitive league match. There is no intensity. There are times where they just stand there with their arms by their side, having a scratch, expecting the ball to come straight back to them. It looks like a social cardio based hit around more than likely. That or they are still developing the concept of how to build a point. Most of their balls go straight to their opponent! And they just camp at the baseline, especially the dude in the blackshirt.

They also seem to have no ability to deal with short balls adequately yet. They just pop them back almost deliberately to give their opponent another chance to make a shot, then retreat to the baseline!

Im sorry, they wouldn't win a game yet alone any match in any competitive division, where I am anyway playing like this. No disrespect but these are the happy go lucky type of players you would find at Thursday night mixed social tennis. Not pennants. A decent serve and a half decent ability to put away short ball oppurtunities with placed approaches, and some semblance of a net game would smash both of them like guitars especially given their often weak and short or slow lolly pop lobbed returns. Imagine if they had to face a serve with some semblance of pace and spin...
Click to expand...

finally. Because I was getting worried. Almost 12hrs into a thread involving a video and NTRP, and there was no mention of 'in my neck of woods they would be lucky to get a game'. :rolleyes:
Seriously, if you think these are not at least top 3.5 level players you need to watch yourself on video.
 
jmnk said:
finally. Because I was getting worried. Almost 12hrs into a thread involving a video and NTRP, and there was no mention of 'in my neck of woods they would be lucky to get a game'. :rolleyes:
Seriously, if you think these are not at least top 3.5 level players you need to watch yourself on video.
Click to expand...

Im not from 'Merica so I dont know what a 3.5 level player is. Im not disputing that they aren't 3.5 level, if it is then well done to them. Im saying that I've incorrectly assumed this level was equal to the division I play in. Again, Im not sure this is even a competitive league match. More of a hit around it appears, cos surely there would be more intensity if youre playing with something on the line.

Ill take some vid of my pennants matches here and report back.
 
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HughJars said:
Im not from 'Merica so I dont know what a 3.5 level player is. Im not disputing that they aren't 3.5 level, if it is then well done to them. Im saying that I've incorrectly assumed this level was equal to the division I play in. Again, Im not sure this is even a competitive league match. More of a hit around it appears, cos surely there would be more intensity if youre playing with something on the line.

Ill take some vid of my pennants matches here and report back.
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ok, fair enough. If I may ask - what competitive league you are playing in?
 
I can see how these guys are 3.5 I guess. I don't know, it's ugly tennis, and yes I have filmed myself,and yes I have posted video.

White shirt guy needs a lot of balls hit to the ad side to expose his lack of backhand. If you can hit with any pace at all, you can get short balls that he cant get to.

Notice how back he stands and how his videos are edited to cut away fast on points he loses. At least one was a drop shot. There a million opportunities to drop shot a guy like this.

Also, you can attack a serve like that just by hitting it dtl with moderate pace. There is no excuse not to break a serve that weak.

I play a guy like this who is better. He is a 4.0 and actually has a backhand and strategy. I employ the same schemes on him, and they work well.
 
Not to be mean but which one is the pusher? I see two.... Kidding aside, they hit around the same speed. The big difference is in the serve, which literally is a tap in serve.
 
HughJars said:
Just to clarify - is this is a 3.5 USTA tennis match? It doesnt seem like a competitive league match. There is no intensity. There are times where they just stand there with their arms by their side, having a scratch, expecting the ball to come straight back to them. It looks like a social cardio based hit around more than likely. That or they are still developing the concept of how to build a point. Most of their balls go straight to their opponent! And they just camp at the baseline, especially the dude in the blackshirt.

They also seem to have no ability to deal with short balls adequately yet. They just pop them back almost deliberately to give their opponent another chance to make a shot, then retreat to the baseline!

Im sorry, they wouldn't win a game yet alone any match in any competitive division, where I am anyway playing like this. No disrespect but these are the happy go lucky type of players you would find at Thursday night mixed social tennis. Not pennants. A decent serve and a half decent ability to put away short ball oppurtunities with placed approaches, and some semblance of a net game would smash both of them like guitars especially given their often weak and short or slow lolly pop lobbed returns. Imagine if they had to face a serve with some semblance of pace and spin...
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hmmm

I hear what you are saying, and it certainly isn't attractive tennis.

However, remember this is singles, there is no imperative to hit CC like there is in doubles (much as the black shirt guy really should!) and this tends to produce rallies like this in low level competitive tennis.

I reckon they are a fair enough match for ITN 7/8 here in Australia, which is the lowest level in which there are organised pennants in our area, at least.

The blackshirt guy isn't that bad, technically, although tactically he's terrible (no offense, OP), whilst the white shirt guy is very ugly, technically, but he's a bit of a wall, and he moves reasonably well..

factor in the fact that video tends to take at least one NTRP/ITN level off whatever you're watching and I think they are ok 3.5 players, not top of the league, but not bottom either...
 
Just for clarification... because I saw a few posts questioning it... according to the original poster of this video (in another thread), this is a 3.5 league match.

And as far as anyone questioning intensity... what about the part where whiteshirt wipes out and falls... and gets back into the point?

Certainly not the most exciting tennis ever, but I saw quite a bit of intensity in this short video.
 
Video providing all stuff for Introduction on 3.5 Pusher. I fond This video is really help out to basic knowledge about 3.5 Pusher.:)
 
Power Player said:
I can see how these guys are 3.5 I guess. I don't know, it's ugly tennis, and yes I have filmed myself,and yes I have posted video.

Also, you can attack a serve like that just by hitting it dtl with moderate pace. There is no excuse not to break a serve that weak.
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Hard to believe, but that's 3.5. Looks ugly, but that's how most rec players look like.

That was a total powder puff serve that should have been attacked. If his first and second serve was like that, the returner should have dialed in on that during the course of the match. There's just no excuse for that esp. if he is at the 3.5 level. Even at the 3.0 level, I would expect that kind of serve to be attacked.

I wouldn't work on improving his groundgame to beat a pusher. I feel like that's not a winning strategy. Here's my take if I were him.
1. Attack opponent's serve!!!!!
2. Construct points better to open up backhand
3. Serve to backhand (no way he can run around that)
You always want to attack your opponent's weakness, and he said that was the serve and backhand.
 
Does the white shirt guy hit even one ts bh?

I won't call him a pusher, he is just playing hit percentage tennis and does not like to attack too much. It is not easy to tell because both players are the not attacker type. So both look like they are just pushing the ball back. But in fact, in 3.5, hitting the ball back is 10X better than doing a flat ball but missed, UE.
 
If I ran the world I'd make everyone watch a video of themselves play before they commented on the standard of others on video.
 
Typical 3.5 can take a floater at the baseline and direct it to a guys backhand... This guy isn't really a pusher though, his forehand isn't bad. He's just a retriever with no backhand or net game.

Strategies to beat him?

Hit to his backhand. When he camps out in his BH corner instead of bisecting your angles, hit to the open court.
 
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