MathGeek
Hall of Fame
In the last months, I was frustrated by an opponent who was a better pusher than I was, as well as younger and more fit to run most everything down, send it back, and wait for my exhaustion and unforced errors. The first match I tried serve and volley (and return and volley), I got beat, because he's also got a great lob, especially when the approach shot gives him time to see me coming and set his feet.
Tweaking my strategy a bit turned the tables. I got more conservative waiting for a better approach shot before charging the net and stopping right in front of the service line to give me more time to react, chase down lobs, and decide where to go with more aggressive volleys. I spent more time in "no man's land" daring him to try and make me pay with paced and deep rally balls (he couldn't). I also moved in to about half way between the base line and service line for return of serve, daring him to try and ace me. These factors combined to give me a 6-2, 6-3 victory; whereas, the most recent match before this was 7-5, 6-0 (was outta gas for the whole second set.)
Bottom line: most pushers are pushers because they have no pace - they can't beat you with pace and struggle keeping the ball in when they hit it hard. This makes approaching and staying at depths from just inside the service line to the middle of no man's land much more workable.
Tweaking my strategy a bit turned the tables. I got more conservative waiting for a better approach shot before charging the net and stopping right in front of the service line to give me more time to react, chase down lobs, and decide where to go with more aggressive volleys. I spent more time in "no man's land" daring him to try and make me pay with paced and deep rally balls (he couldn't). I also moved in to about half way between the base line and service line for return of serve, daring him to try and ace me. These factors combined to give me a 6-2, 6-3 victory; whereas, the most recent match before this was 7-5, 6-0 (was outta gas for the whole second set.)
Bottom line: most pushers are pushers because they have no pace - they can't beat you with pace and struggle keeping the ball in when they hit it hard. This makes approaching and staying at depths from just inside the service line to the middle of no man's land much more workable.