I can't beat a pusher in my league?

Question

I am going into my senior year of college and my tennis team consistently gets second place in our league. I play #3 singles and every year we lose to the same team. Every year I play the same guy and he drives me crazy. He has the worst technique imaginable and he frustrates the h**l out of me.

His forehand is descent but he rarely goes for winners on it, he just hits it to my backhand on every single shot. His serve never tops 100, its slow and just dies when it hits the ground. He has a two handed slice backhand which spins to my forehand side. The only real strong part of his game is his volleys, he volleys extremely well.

I can't figure out how to beat him. My strokes are a lot better but he runs everything down and never misses. His spins can be confusing at times and when you start to play like him he comes up to the net and puts the ball away. He hits a ton of drop shots and his passing shots and lobs are really well.

He is also a d**k on the court

Answer 1

I know exactly what you mean. I was the #1 ranked player in my HS league and a top state player and I too fell victim to the occasional pusher or "junk baller." Believe me, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Even the pros aren't completely rid of this curse (ever heard of Fabrice Santoro?). Although I'm surprised your guy is such an ***, usually these types of players are overly polite and flattering because they usually know everyone wants to **** them up!

The toughest challenge you will face when dealing with this type of player is to keep it together mentally. NO MATTER WHAT, never give in psychologically till the match is over no matter what the score is, no matter how much your down by or how miserable you are out there, you're gonna have try your best to keep morale as high as possible! Remember, the pusher wants you to break, so don't give the prick the pleasure. You might not win, but you can at least keep your pride and dignity. I know, easier said that done, but you're gonna have to learn this if you ever want a chance at beating this b*****d. One of the pusher's primary objectives is to make you go insane to the point where you can no longer function properly on the court and you're so disgusted you've completely lost the will to compete. His game is designed to do this. Often loses to pushers are some of the toughest to get over, the bitter residual taste of loss tends to linger on the most with them. Suck it up and GET OVER IT as quickly as possible, the sooner you do this the sooner you can get to the important stuff of improving your game and learning from your mistakes so you'll be better prepared next time.

Next is technically, every pusher like every player is different. Your's sounds like a particularly tough pusher because pusher's are usually atrocious or mediocre at best when at net. How's your net game? Analyze strengths and weaknesses of you and your opponent. Your pusher also sounds like he constantly mixes up pace and shot type by putting a mind-boggling amount of "junk spin" on his shots. Again this is going to severely test your mental concentration and resolve. So the sooner you grow a thicker skin the better. A big part of tennis is game styles, and how they match up. I've found the best way to overcome weaknesses to particularl game styles is by doing your best to recreate the scenarios that gives you the most trouble and from there just train your *** off until you get used to it as best you can. For this you might need to find a bunch of really good pusher's to practice with or some really good coaches/players that can mimic this style as close as possible and just do competitive scenarios from there, over and over again. There's no definitive answer to beat a pusher or any player. Like anything in life, all you can do is try to prepare as best as possible, give your best effort, hopefully you'll create some opportunities and who then knows? Best of luck my friend!

Answer 2

It almost sounds like this guy graduated from table-tennis.

The most basic table-tennis strategy is just to make sure you get everything back. They also use 'push' strokes. It seems as though he just waits for you to make a mistake so he can pounce. These types of players sh*t me to tears. The only way to beat them is to stoop to their level.

Don't adopt his technique, but use his basic strategy. Top-spin forehands that leap off the court will be very hard for him to hit with a bad technique. Just keep them deep and force him way back behind the baseline. Eventually he'll give you something you can either blast past him or he'll get pinned so far back that you can get him with a drop-shot.

One more point: The best way to deal with an on-court 'd**k' is to be an even bigger one to him. If he ever makes a mistake: LAUGH AT HIM.

Answer 3

I know how you feel. I get that all the time.

What you should do is:

1. What is your weakness? Work on it (in my case is backhand, and that's why I lose)

2. What is HIS weakness? You've played with him before, observe him, and hit the ball to his weak points. eg. if he is bad at backhand, hit more to his backhand.

3. Don't panic, and knock the impression that you're better off your head. YOU. ARE. BETTER. (period) BUT don't expect to win, once you expect to win, you become tense, and then when you loose you become over stressed. That is the main point. DOn't expect to lose either, keep it in the middle, if you expect to lose, you will.

4. Stop critizing him in your head when you play (if you did that you would be typing here all the stuff he does), focus on the ball. Ignore everything but the ball.

5. Is he comfortable with Fast ball, high ball, low ball, or soft ball? Make sure you do something he's not comfortable with.

6. Don't do something predictable. Confuse your patterns like he does to you.

7. Make him emotional, if he starts losing or so, he'd get angry and probably play like c**p rather than play good. Most people play c**p when they're angry, if you think he could be that, then provoke him, but not too much.

8. Don't listen to him, you've got all the time in the world. Foget about what people would think for a second.

9. Be a d**k back!

10. Run Fast, a lot of people are saved in competitions because the run to the ball fast.

11. If you can't do that, make HIM run continuously. Everyone must get tired. And also sometimes just give him and easy shot because he's gonna be prepared for runs after a few times, giving him that shot takes him off guard. hit balls right, left, middle, high, close to the net, etc.

12. Believe in yourself. YOU CAN DO IT! If you try, but that doesn't mean you can always do it, you can lose too. DOn't be afraid of losing....

I seriously wish you luck! I hate it when a guy like that drives me crazy.... I mean, the thought of him actually made me play like a pathetic idiot the past few days and I lost to everyone! Grumbling at myself. I only got myself back today and won fair and square because i was RELAXED. and I didn't expect to win. That's what my dad taught me for gun, don't expect to do well. and somehow it works for tennis, as long as I don't keep thinking "whatever I'm gonna lose" Just think "I have my chance, he has his, I'll do my best even if he won 5-4 I've still gone that far, if I win him... I'll get the glory!"

Good Luck! And when you've beat this d**k, tell me!

Answer 4

Wow, there are a lot of great answers so I'll add what works for me.

1.)Don't become a pusher also (he is more experienced in that style of play and will beat you)

2.) Play smart tennis... Wait for a short ball, then put it away... You mentioned his strength is the net so keep your shots deep.  Don't try to "paint the lines," just move him around until he hits a bad shot.

3.) I really liked the suggestion about throwing his game off by taking longer breaks than normal, retossing the ball etc. complimenting his shots will also make you feel better about your mistakes

Answer 5

I know how you feel man. Sometimes, I get so frustrated and go crazy. I don't like sinking down to their level, but sometimes to beat ugly, you have to play ugly. One time I was playing a pusher who was terrible but was beating me whit his spins and consistency. I got fed up and started to play ugly and started hitting these really high topspin balls. Like really high loopy lob topspin shots near the base line. Drives them crazy and gets them angry, but it works. Ugly technique, but effective against the pushers.

Answer 6

do the same thing he does. and actually he's being smart by just returning every ball and not going for winners because that's the easiest way to win.

Answer 7

Ill give you some simple straight forward answers.

1 - do not whatsoever resort to the pusher's style of play. Who do you think well have the better pusher technique?

2 - 50% of the pushers game is psychological. thats why he's a d**k. Being a d**k back will only encourage him. Try throwing him a compliment once in a while - observe how he deals with it, this will ease your mental stress. E.g: Nice shot!

3 - Most Pusher's absolutely hate slow, high and deep topspin shots. These shots cause them to have to generate there own topspin and pace instead of using your momentum.

4 - Don't try to overpower the pusher.

5 - Don't rush the pusher

6 - go for placement not power - mellow the rally until you have a clear opportunity to win the point.

7 - What are his average shots like? try standing a few inches inside the baseline if his balls are always short - pounce on them.

8 - Practice your return of serve. If his serve is that bad then you should be able to dominate from the start of the rally.

9 - Do not use a predictable pattern when serving. mix it up. A pusher will generally be able to use your pace on flat serves, so use a slice serve or a topspin serve to keep him off balance.

10 - Do not let the pusher control the pace of the match.

11. Try some mental games with the pusher - during a recent game i played i actually bounced the ball 13 times - 2 times to

literally annoy the pusher. Try the throwing the ball in the air to only catch it again as if you did a bad throw - this will totally disrupt there concentration.

Goodluck!

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Answer 8

I agree. High, loopy heavy topspin shots are the way to go. If he always hits his backhand with slice, then loop those balls to his backhand and make sure you get them as deep as possible. Try following them to the net for easy putaways.