What"s The Best Way To Beat A "Pusher" In A Tennis Match?
During my freshman year at Cleveland State University, our group traveled to Florida to play a series of matches against teams down there. In the course of one particular match, I encountered a player who actually defined the phrase 'Pusher'.
This guy was rapid and had endurance. He had made the decision early on that he was in no hurry to get off the court, and would run down every single shot I threw at him and believe me, I was throwing heat. Right after losing the 1st set, I produced up my thoughts that I was not going to allow this guy beat me. Right after all, I was the 'better' player with 'better' strokes, right?
Just as I was about to stroll back onto the court to start off the 2nd set, a thought occurred to me: How was I losing points? I hadn't spoken to my coach (he was coaching another player at the time of the changeover), but that's the initial query I knew that he would've asked me.
I asked myself this question and the answer came back: "Unforced errors." Okay, so now I had some thing I could grasp. Fine. What was leading to the unforced mistakes? Impatience, and a lack of a very good strategy.I ultimately made the decision that I had to come up with a program on the fly. I did, and coupled with getting just a little a lot more patient, I came back to win the match in 3 sets.
In order to comprehend what I did and how to apply it to your game, you want to very first comprehend the pusher's thoughts set. This is really easy. The pusher is telling himself to just get every ball back over the net, no matter what. When playing a baseliner, the pusher is not also concerned about placement, and will normally finish up placing the ball into the smack dab center of the court, appropriate on the 'T'. When faced with a serve-and-volley player, the pusher will try out to run down every ball and lob constantly, hoping you either miss a volley or blow the overhead. When faced with an all-court player, the pusher will combine the two above mentioned tactics.
What do you do? Effectively, now that you know how the pusher thinks and plays, it's time to figure out exactly where his weakness is, and exploit it. The pusher has A LOT of weaknesses in their game - or they wouldn't just 'push' the ball back every single time! I want you to think lengthy and challenging about that, and really let that sink in. Okay, now let's see exactly where the pusher is weak.
1st of all, pushers do not have a command of 'power' ground strokes, if they have anything resembling very good ground strokes to commence with. From this alone, we can gain insight into numerous weaknesses:
o Pushers have a tough time generating electrical power and combining it with accuracy, which is a requirement of having 'good' ground strokes.
o Pushers have a challenging time hitting passing shots, for the very same factors just listed.
o If a pusher has weak ground strokes, they almost certainly have a weak serve as well.
o Pushers have a hard time with higher balls, once more for the motives listed above.
o Pushers hate for points to end swiftly, since these are points they possibly lost!
Now that we know the pusher's weaknesses, we can come up with a program to exploit them. The initial issue you want to do when playing a pusher is to make them do what they do not want to do and 1 of the things that pushers HATE to do is produce their very own 'pace', or energy when hitting the ball, due to the fact they can't control it. A single way to make the pusher do this is by hitting your ground strokes deep, about ? speed with A LOT of topspin. This forces the pusher back off the baseline and makes the pusher create their personal energy, rather than just making use of the power from a difficult shot you hit to them.
An additional way to get the pusher 'out of their game' is to serve and volley, because they can't hit passing shots extremely properly. (Once again, if they could, they wouldn't be a 'pusher'). If they try out to lob you, place the ball away if they are lobbing you well, hit the overhead anyway and stay at the net. Constant pressure will make the pusher buckle. If they are hitting you lobs above and more than, and you can't do anything at all about it, than you require to boost you serve ahead of you try this tactic.
But yet another way to beat the pusher is to 'chip-and-charge' take advantage of every quick ball the pusher hits you, and get to the net. Do not just get to the net for the sake of being there, or the pusher will just lob you all day extended. Get there on a short ball, make an excellent approach and be ready for the pusher's response.
Considering that the pusher's mentality is 1 of "I'm gonna run down each shot you hit", make him do just that - on YOUR terms. Hit a ? speed, properly positioned shot that angles off to the side then hit an extended, deep shot. This forces the pusher out of their 'moving-side-to-side' game (which they love to do) into moving up and back at awkward angles. When you ultimately get an opening to hit a winner, do not force the angle or the speed just hit another effectively placed, ? speed shot toward your meant target. Far more typically than not, even if the pusher gets the ball, the reply will be weak or a lob at finest.
This guy was rapid and had endurance. He had made the decision early on that he was in no hurry to get off the court, and would run down every single shot I threw at him and believe me, I was throwing heat. Right after losing the 1st set, I produced up my thoughts that I was not going to allow this guy beat me. Right after all, I was the 'better' player with 'better' strokes, right?
Just as I was about to stroll back onto the court to start off the 2nd set, a thought occurred to me: How was I losing points? I hadn't spoken to my coach (he was coaching another player at the time of the changeover), but that's the initial query I knew that he would've asked me.
I asked myself this question and the answer came back: "Unforced errors." Okay, so now I had some thing I could grasp. Fine. What was leading to the unforced mistakes? Impatience, and a lack of a very good strategy.I ultimately made the decision that I had to come up with a program on the fly. I did, and coupled with getting just a little a lot more patient, I came back to win the match in 3 sets.
In order to comprehend what I did and how to apply it to your game, you want to very first comprehend the pusher's thoughts set. This is really easy. The pusher is telling himself to just get every ball back over the net, no matter what. When playing a baseliner, the pusher is not also concerned about placement, and will normally finish up placing the ball into the smack dab center of the court, appropriate on the 'T'. When faced with a serve-and-volley player, the pusher will try out to run down every ball and lob constantly, hoping you either miss a volley or blow the overhead. When faced with an all-court player, the pusher will combine the two above mentioned tactics.
What do you do? Effectively, now that you know how the pusher thinks and plays, it's time to figure out exactly where his weakness is, and exploit it. The pusher has A LOT of weaknesses in their game - or they wouldn't just 'push' the ball back every single time! I want you to think lengthy and challenging about that, and really let that sink in. Okay, now let's see exactly where the pusher is weak.
1st of all, pushers do not have a command of 'power' ground strokes, if they have anything resembling very good ground strokes to commence with. From this alone, we can gain insight into numerous weaknesses:
o Pushers have a tough time generating electrical power and combining it with accuracy, which is a requirement of having 'good' ground strokes.
o Pushers have a challenging time hitting passing shots, for the very same factors just listed.
o If a pusher has weak ground strokes, they almost certainly have a weak serve as well.
o Pushers have a hard time with higher balls, once more for the motives listed above.
o Pushers hate for points to end swiftly, since these are points they possibly lost!
Now that we know the pusher's weaknesses, we can come up with a program to exploit them. The initial issue you want to do when playing a pusher is to make them do what they do not want to do and 1 of the things that pushers HATE to do is produce their very own 'pace', or energy when hitting the ball, due to the fact they can't control it. A single way to make the pusher do this is by hitting your ground strokes deep, about ? speed with A LOT of topspin. This forces the pusher back off the baseline and makes the pusher create their personal energy, rather than just making use of the power from a difficult shot you hit to them.
An additional way to get the pusher 'out of their game' is to serve and volley, because they can't hit passing shots extremely properly. (Once again, if they could, they wouldn't be a 'pusher'). If they try out to lob you, place the ball away if they are lobbing you well, hit the overhead anyway and stay at the net. Constant pressure will make the pusher buckle. If they are hitting you lobs above and more than, and you can't do anything at all about it, than you require to boost you serve ahead of you try this tactic.
But yet another way to beat the pusher is to 'chip-and-charge' take advantage of every quick ball the pusher hits you, and get to the net. Do not just get to the net for the sake of being there, or the pusher will just lob you all day extended. Get there on a short ball, make an excellent approach and be ready for the pusher's response.
Considering that the pusher's mentality is 1 of "I'm gonna run down each shot you hit", make him do just that - on YOUR terms. Hit a ? speed, properly positioned shot that angles off to the side then hit an extended, deep shot. This forces the pusher out of their 'moving-side-to-side' game (which they love to do) into moving up and back at awkward angles. When you ultimately get an opening to hit a winner, do not force the angle or the speed just hit another effectively placed, ? speed shot toward your meant target. Far more typically than not, even if the pusher gets the ball, the reply will be weak or a lob at finest.
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