10 Best Child Tennis Player

Best Child Tennis Player in 2023

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Tennis Strategy 101: How to Beat a Pusher

A How-To guide on the different ways to beat the most frustrating type of tennis player... the pusher.

The biggest thing that separates good players from mediocre ones is patience. The pusher is the ultimate test for your own tennis skills, not only testing your consistency of your shots, but your mental toughness. The pusher forces his opponent to make the error by merely keeping the ball in play, and letting their opponent beat themselves. Say this with me now... "NEVER BEAT YOURSELF!" If you love tennis and like to feel good about the match you just played, whether win or lose, then all you have to do is to play your best. Of course this is FAR more easily said than done, but the biggest indicator of how you are playing is how many unforced errors you are making. The pusher thrives on these unforced errors, so if you make less of them then you have already won the match.

The absolute best way to beat a pusher is to come into the net often. A pusher keeps the ball in play, and therefore doesn't go for tougher shots usually, and consequently doesn't practice the riskier shots needed to hit a passing shot when you come to the net. Your first move would be to hit a deep ball to their weaker side, then approach the net, and this puts the pusher in a position which they are uncomfortable being in. By coming in, you limit their options to; hitting a lob... hitting a passing shot... or hitting it right at you. If they lob, you have an overhead, end of point, end of story. If they try a passing shot, it will either be slower since they are a pusher, or they will miss far more than they will make, and frustrate themselves. If they hit the ball right at you, you should be prepared to hit a solid volley and continue the point until completion. By coming to the net, you are forcing the pusher to end the point, and they HATE this!

The second best, and slightly related way of beating a human backboard is to bring them to the net. Against a player who likes to stay back and hit consistent groundstrokes, put them in a situation that they are uncomfortable with, such as being at the net. Once you have hit a short enough ball, go for the passing shot yourself, or lob them. Chances are, that they are not proficient enough at volleying to end the point, and you will be in a very good position to win that point.

Another way to beat a pusher is to be extremely aggressive. If you end the points before they have a chance to set them up, then you will win more points than you will lose due to less unforced errors. However, your own game must be good enough for you to do this, or I would stick with using an approach shot and coming to the net. You need to keep a generalized feeling of how many winners to unforced errors you are hitting, and if the errors start to outnumber the winners, then you should switch strategies.

The last way to beat a pusher is by trying to tire them out. Most pushers are in good physical condition because they are used to keeping the ball in play far longer than the rest of us, thus the points and matches are longer, and their stamina increases. But even the most seasoned pusher will get frustrated themselves, if you keep the ball in play and run them side to side, and give them a little taste of their own medicine.

The last thing I would like to mention is that you don't want to try and straight up out-push a pusher. This is the game that they have learned and stuck with for however many of years they have played, and most likely will be better at the consistency than you, so try to shy away from this.

We all have our certain "kryptonite-like" styles of opponents that are very difficult for us to beat. But now you can cross one of those off the list... pushers beware.