How to Beat a Pusher | Tennis Tactics

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In today’s tennis tactics tutorial, I teach you how to beat the dreaded pusher.
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[@IntuitiveTennis]

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[@deldridg]

My tiny 12yo son met a 15yo pusher today who is double my boy's size, who hit soft dribbly serves, absolutely no winners, loopy returns etc. He even played huge lobs to bounce the ball over my lad dozens of times to the embarrassment of his dad. The set went for almost 2 hours, with most rallies 20 shots or more - some closer to 40. My little 32kg fighter kept in the game (first to 8 games) with almost no errors and got to 6 all with some very gutsy hitting before finally running out of steam to lose 8-6. It was hard to watch at this level - quite high ranked juniors and everyone watching were shaking their heads in disbelief. Ultimately my son didn't have the strength to capitalise on the shorter, higher shots every time but he had the right mindset, though he did say he get pretty frutstrated! After watching this vid, perhaps we'll try to get more game time with this pusher. Great advice and much appreciated. Cheers from Sydney - Dave

[@Kevin-vb9ln]

That’s what brought me to this video! Kids at 12 don’t have the strength to hit winners, and come to the net at the wrong times getting lobbed easily.

[@yuyifu]

I think playing against pusher is the ultimate test of fundamental techniques.

[@tennisteuton]

I like to think of it as a privilege to play a pusher. You learn so much in your game, and you are really battle-hardened. If you can win against a pusher, I believe you can beat everyone else much more easily. If possible, look for a counterpuncher, it’s like a pusher who will hit a winner when the opportunity presents itself.

[@ST-ek6lf]

I think of them as human ball machines.

[@johnwoodstock1893]

Absolutely yes it is !!! So tough !!

[@rishinatarajan1859]

I think more than your fundamentals, it really tests your movement, because you can easily beat them if you get in the right position for your shots.

[@ST-ek6lf]

@@rishinatarajan1859 movement = fundamentals

[@pbalajiusaf]

I'm a 4.0-4.5 player who plays with aggressive serve + forehand combo and pushers are my kryptonite since I love pace. 100% agreed on mentality part because I go down rabbit holes where I dump the short +1 into net or hit it long and end up losing 6-2 6-1.

[@KazimDas]

Nikolai, Thanks for this video and for all the others too. I'm a 3.5ish player playing 3.0 USTA league and I like to play deep baseline. In my last USTA singles match, I faced a player whose shots never really fell outside the service line. Everything was a slow push or slice and I found myself slicing back leading to me losing first set 2-6 and losing my serve in the next set. Then I recalled this video and decided to play aggressively and go through my shots no matter what. I tried to deploy all the strategies from this video and eventually I managed to win the match in 3 sets. Your videos are so helpful and I really appreciate you for all the videos on this channel. I'm out on the west coast else I would've loved to have a private clinic with you for myself and teenaged daughter, Suzanne. Once again, thank you!

[@PFBruno3]

So needed this! In my experience, most pushers/moonballers, and cut/slice the ball a lot, which really gives you a short & low ball below the net. This is my biggest kryptonite because I don't have the patience needed to play long points and wait for the higher ball to put away. Sometimes you can push pushers back off the baseline, but many of them are good at lobbing too, so I often have to reset and get back to the baseline and start over. Its exhausting!

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Keep going Pete 🙌🙌

[@MrDKsix]

I have the same problem and no one can give you Tips to beat that scrap. Most time i slice it back and Look whats Happening 🤷‍♂️🤣

[@TheMg49]

Hey Peter! What up?

[@peterastor613]

I think you should change your strategy and start hitting shorter balls, not longer ones. The shorter the better. Pushers do great moving side-to-side and backing up. But bringing them up to net puts them in an awkward position - your regular forehand at that spot looks a lot faster and gives them no time to place the ball where they want.

[@darwin01us]

You have to keep angling shots and get them off balance... That's your training priority

[@karadagmert]

1.Shots' angles are very important, make the pusher run. 2.Come to the net more often for volleys 3. Pushers don't like short balls, their comfort zones are back, so diversify your shots. 2 back, 1 short etc..

[@MichaelSienkiewicz]

Most 3.5-4.0 players don't have the shots to execute these strategies and that's why they struggle with the pusher. I had to learn to hit 2 shots to start consistently beating pushers: (1) high, deep topspin forehand when pushed back by a moonball, and (2) head-height forehand to crush the short ball and set up a volley put away. If you groove those 2 shots, you'll improve your success rate immensely regardless of what strategy you employ.

[@harryherman5371]

@@MichaelSienkiewicz Any tips for (2)? I shoot it long

[@LaSalviaBodysurf]

@@MichaelSienkiewicz I agree, specially with 2. Doesnt matter the strategy, eventually you will have to crush that short ball to win the point, because if you dont the pusher just resets the point all over again

[@LaSalviaBodysurf]

@@harryherman5371 string tighter, dont go for too much just keep it deep and with spin

[@MichaelSienkiewicz]

@@harryherman5371 I watched a KZbin video from "racquetflex" on the high forehand that I thought was helpful.

[@docstranger9520]

Thank you so much for taking the time to make this video. This was exactly what a I needed to learn after losing to a pusher by thinking I could just make him go away with hard shots. It didn’t work and I ended up using all my energy in the first set. Now I will use these tactics and train harder, sleep better and eat more healthily in order to beat the pusher.

[@jacnella2419]

Same!! Have lost to so many pushers/beginners because of this. A big lesson here. Why don't regular club coaches ever teach so much of these fundamental aspects of the game!!??

[@TrishanthDiwate]

He is not a pusher, he is an imposter, he is too good a player to be called a pusher. You should play against MEP to demonstrate :)

[@devonr7497]

Yeah. Also there is a huge difference between a pusher that solely DEFENSIVELY pushes and hits with regular flat balls, than compared to someone that is a OFFENSIVE pusher and hitting weird slice forehands and backhands etc all the time (like MEP), those are the truly toxic and terrible to vs kind of pushers.

[@billpugh58]

@@devonr7497 toxic if your technique is poor or you are not a good player.

[@devonr7497]

@@billpugh58 No offence but clearly you are either not reading my comment properly or you don't have a very high tennis iq. What you are saying is for regular defensive pushers and is completely true and is just how it is (if you are a good player with good fundamental strokes and power, accuracy etc playing a defensive pusher is no problem and can be easy). However as my comment was stating I am talking about playing OFFENSIVE pushers that give you really weird unorthodox offensive shots (unconventional slices and weird spin) that unless you are literally close to pro level you will not be able to fully hit and play like a good player against those types of super unpredictable balls, and you will be forced to play much more defensive/cant be really offensive and hit winners a lot etc.

[@jeffgreenwell4426]

Thank you for all the helpful advice in this video. Playing against pushers has been one of my greatest sources of frustration when playing tennis. Thank you for giving me and so many others the tools, advice, strategies, and motivation to improve our games.

[@huntersims1966]

Thanks for the excellent tip. You're absolutely right about having to hit numerous high balls, at about shoulder height, when playing pushers. I'll practice this on my ball machine.

[@Stan-B]

Thanks for covering this subject, coach. I’ve been waiting for it for quite a while.

[@shoopieable]

I've watched a few tennis coaching videos online and I find yours the best. This one I had to comment on. I'm an intermediate, slightly advanced player. I'm the guy on the other side of the court. I've never been called a pusher before, but that's exactly what I am. I just call it "being defensive". It's quite incredible how many much more technically competent players I can beat. I'm the guy that annoys many opponents. It also helps that I'm incredibly quick around the court. From a pushers point of view, one thing I've found is that when I'm confident, and can find some aggression, then I've found a great combination which gives me a lot of options on the court. For me, that requires regular match play and working on basic confidence in my aggressive strokes. Keep up the good work!

[@LongusMis]

I had pushers in my club. One I figured out and eventually started using his tactics against him. He was so used to standing far back and use the force of the ball from other players in the same tournament ladder. Obviously he was conserving energy. We were hitting like mad against him tiring ourselves out, making plenty of long balls and even when we hit inside the baseline he just dinked the ball back. He was good at running side to side and got used to it. When I started push-balling him he had to run more forward and backward and that finally got him. Another guy I made running side to side with slow angled ballls and quite often I threw in stop balls. Though, as you point out, patience is key.

[@bsinghgill]

Really great video Nick. I have been beating myself in all my league matches against mostly pushers who just chip the ball back. Tried some of the tactics in this video, but where I struggle is the short mid-court slow chip that stays low. The danger of playing pushers is that you may start to become a pusher yourself leading to poor shot selection and eventually loosing the match. I really hope I get over these losses to pushers, even though the league is just about having fun.

[@AdamScarchilli]

First, I love your videos and you have lots of high quality tactics for improving play! However, your own ability got in the way of showing how to beat a pusher. I would love to see you coach someone against a pusher with long rallies. You hit winners literally left and right, but we can't do that at the rec level. We all have to wait for the right moment - which is 2-3 shots for you, but 20-30 shots for most of us. If most players had your abilities, we would not have a word for pushers - they would always lose and go extinct.

[@patrikmarflak6559]

Exactly what I was thinking when I watched the video. Talking about patience and getting ready for long rallies really didn’t match well with all the massive winners :) The guy playing the role of pusher hardly returned anything in this video.

[@darrentaylor9488]

This video is excellent, you managed to cover everything that I struggle with when playing against pushers.

[@adamcherry5229]

I just had a 2 week holiday where I devoured all of your videos, especially enjoyed the Shamir series as it was the one most relevant to my game. Just played my first singles game since holiday against someone I'm normally evenly matched with (both in the same club team) and I didn't drop a game. Thanks so much for creating all of this content, it's great and I love your teaching.

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Thank you Adam 🙏🙏

[@HeavyTopspin]

Great video for the most part! But I have to disagree for the reason that underarm serves work for Kyrgios and Bublik has little to do with the spin; it's because they catch the returner standing 10 feet behind the baseline expecting a big serve, and they also quick-serve so an inattentive opponent doesn't even realize the ball is in play until it's halfway there. All the spin does is make sure it lands short in the box so the returner has to take it on the run and hit an uncomfortable shot.

[@deldridg]

I would tend to agree with your synopsis. To me it's largely the element of surprise (both in timing and that someone could be so out of touch with the spirit of the game IMHO!). 🙂

[@EricAvissar]

Excellent video, cannot stress the importance of mentally committing to an exhausting grind going up against a good pusher. If I think I can make the pusher wear down before I do, I like to make them suffer. I beat one last night playing lots of slices, moonballs and dropshots to make him uncomfortable. If you’re willing to get down and dirty, you can beat them with a combination of aggressive play and a taste of their own medicine.

[@tennisslicer]

Like you said play against pusher , we have to have strong mental mind set for the shot and enough energy to play 3 hours match otherwise you will lost to him.

[@brianjensen7985]

This was excellent. Thanks.

[@tr3der]

Awesome video. Very practical advice. I notice you are actually hitting the ball to very safe targets

[@charlesmunroe2335]

Excellent Video! Brilliant Analysis- Strategic Teaching Pro!!!!

[@sunnye.9158]

Thank you coach! Very helpful information!

[@circuitdesign]

When you play someone with a weak serve, you should mix it up between crushing the return and using drop shot returns. A good disguise on your drop shot helps.

[@jakstrike1]

Good point around 15mins about keeping the intensity really high. I think it can be quite hard to do when the opponent is hitting softly with low intensity - it doesn’t feel natural to be bouncing up and down and taking every point as seriously as you need to do avoid errors. It’s probably actually more important as you’re often having to hit with more power so errors are more likely than normal.

[@devonr7497]

Great points as always Nick, however one of the most important things that you could of talked about when doing this video topic is... There is a huge difference between a pusher that solely DEFENSIVELY pushes and hits with regular flat "easy" balls, than compared to someone that is a OFFENSIVE pusher and hitting weird slice forehands and backhands etc all the time (like MEP), those are the truly toxic and terrible to vs kind of pushers. Much love man!

[@joemarshall4226]

I'm old now, and still playing. When I learned, at about thirty, I played against a guy who was a banger. I had played some rec ping pong, so when my opponent slammed, I blocked or sliced. I had a cheap oversized racquet, and it was great for blocking or slicing, so that's what I did. I just wanted to get the ball back and not embarrass myself. But soon I realized that I was winning some matches. In general, I sliced, anticipated, ran down the next shot, and either sliced or lobbed to give myself time to get back to the middle. I usually hit a short ball before my opponent, but when he came to the net, and hit a topspin approach, I just lobbed the next shot, over his backhand, if possible. I also tried to read my opponent...see his tendencies, avoid playing to his strengths, and anticipate the direction of his shot by noticing his body language. When i did hit normal ground strokes, my opponents would get aggressive, and take control of the points, so I avoided them, except to hit an occasional passing shot when they approached the net, but didn't get in close because they were afraid of my lob. Then I realized that the drop shot was my weapon. I could hit it with great disguise because I was hitting forehand and backhand slices any way, so they couldn't see it coming. I'd follo it into the net, then hit a lob-volley. I had a lot of fun. I won several 4.0 and town tournaments, right into my sixties, and got to the finals of the one 4.5 tournie I entered. I play 98% doubles, and this style is even more effective there...I have an excellent lob serve return. My FH slice is unusual, because I use an eastern forehand grip, and can generate quite a lot of pace with it especially on high balls in the mid-court. Unfortunately, I hit my BH slice with a forehand grip! This is my weakness. I think if I had started playing with a continental grip on the BH, I would have done even better. I played with a guy who had a similar game, with the right grip on the BH, and he was better than me! So anyway, that's how a pusher comes into existence. I beat one guy several times. He made it his business to learn how to beat me, and he did...ten times in a row! But his BH slice was better than mine......and he had a killer forehand....I didn't know ho to volley high balls on the BH back then....He moved away before i could get even...LOL.

[@dalt992]

Great to hear from a pusher's perspective!!

[@joemarshall4226]

@@dalt992 It's a creative game....there's no RIGHT way to play it, except to follow the rules, have good manners and enjoy yourself. All the great players bring something new to the table: Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Becker, Edberg, Chang, Agassi....all had something unusual about their games that gave them an edge...and it continues today, with Rafa's Forehand as an example......My tennis hero is Fabrice Santoro, who beat 18 number one players at some time during their careers...no one else did that except Agassi. And Fabrice was the ultimate pusher gone wild.....

[@dalt992]

@@joemarshall4226 I agree. I am happy you gave your perspective. My favorite KZbin tennis player is MEP! :)

[@joemarshall4226]

@@dalt992 He's EVERYONE's favorite. My game is not unlike his.....

[@massimocappato244]

First time in my life a KZbin video made me win a match. I watched it the night before a match I feared quite a lot against a rock solid defender, it made all the difference in the world!

[@IntuitiveTennis]

🔥🔥🔥

[@nilssveinsson8811]

Great video Nik as per usual. At my rubbish level of tennis, there are plenty of pushers and it's a rite of passage to play and defeat these players. Took my losses, but definitely know how to play them now. It's just a question of execution, patience is key. Definitely a lot of variation required, hit a heavy forehands to one side, then some angles, some up the middle. Pushers love to run to the open court, you will get a short ball and then go for the winner behind them when the short ball is there.

[@Doty6String]

Unbelievable analysis of this scenario.

[@jamesedwardsloan85]

Great video, I have found bringing them into the net with drop shots every now and then works well. They are typically most comfortable in defense mode around the baseline and hate running in and trying to react to that type of shot.

[@antoniovivaldi2270]

Thank you for your nice and useful video.

[@Jacob-yi2wh]

Cool video and some amazing volleys and cross court forehands. The other guy was a great sport in demonstrating great pushing techniques. I love hitting slices and side spin shots that fool the opponent and getting into long rallies. It’s fun

[@burgholdsserve8725]

I played against a “pusher” yesterday. I use to lose to them or struggle, however I won yesterday 6-2/6-3 at the 3.5 level. I still need to work on hitting through short balls and putting away points faster. I felt like I dropped down to hit level during some points because I was scared to swing hard. But thank you for the video! Need to watch this again

[@aaronp0324]

Great lesson and explanation.

[@JGtennistraining]

Great tips!! My 10 year old son plays team tennis and today was the first day to face this type of style of tennis.

[@TAMANCoLTD]

Such a good content again!

[@republikadugave420]

Hvala treneru na odlicnim videoima..

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Nema na čemu 🙌💯

[@pzivic]

Another excellent and useful video! Personally I'm strangling with this type of player. I should play everything service, volley, high forehand, smash, slice, FH, BH and he only should just push the ball. I have a feeling to play against my self no against the opponent.

[@dimitrisparginos1050]

What a great Video. Just played few sets with a low level (like me) recreational pusher (unlike me) who exposed all my technique deficiencies on court. Constantly receiving bouncy balls with no pace made me feel like i was playing tennis for the first time. I eventually lost the game, although in each shot i was feeling superior to my opponent. Right foot movement and a lot of patience were needed during the game. I also caught myself revisiting the fundamentals before taking any shot as i had lost confidence to my skills. After an hour of playing, i ended up trying to smash every ball heading towards me and lost most points overhitting them. This tutorial is really revealing and made me re-play the game in my mind. Cannot wait to play against this pusher again. Thank you coach!

[@whoosh1681]

Can i ask what is a pusher?

[@bluesbunny121]

Nice video format.

[@karadagmert]

By the way many thanks for your video. So informative and clear 🙋🏿‍♂️❤️ Greetings from Turkiye

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Thank you 🇹🇷

[@jacnella2419]

I so needed to see / hear this lesson!! Brilliant. I've spent many a game letting a pusher get under my skin and know it's something to work on. Which I have and has helped. But still.. In essence.. be more like Djokovic or Nadal. #mindset !

[@hansolsson3409]

Great video!

[@K4R3N]

One of your best videos Nik. So much knowledge! Thanks

[@coachtripleb5121]

Pusher in a dbles match even worse to play against, as they only have half their court to worry about . After the millionth overhead smash I started to miss them & got fatigued just like you said, luckily I worked out to be more patient in time to destroy pushers mind & win the 2nd set plus tiebreaker to get the ‘W.’ Phew pushers are frustrating to play .

[@mikeobell4178]

Great instruction as usual your the go to guy for tennis. Have a couple of cold ones and rest up.

[@Javi_C]

Much appreciated

[@HPontara1]

I think being fit (or at least fit for your level) is very important as if you get tired everything will fall apart as your only chance will be a risky game cause you dont have anymore stamina left to wait for the right ball

[@comprendersi1444]

God I needed this video when I was playing as a Junior. I ended up quitting competitive play at 11 because I got so frustrated playing pushers and I saw a break down of my game in all 3 areas of my game.

[@rikmcdik6662]

I found over time of playing pusher after pusher that my best bet was to not do anything fancy and just run them back and forth until they pop one up on the run. Then you can put away an approach shot or even get an overhead. Forcing anything against a pusher is pointless. You have to be patient and take the time to enjoy watching them frantically run back and forth.

[@harryherman5371]

Great stuff

[@stefanthomassen4750]

Moon-Baller = Volley-Drive/Smash, to speed up/accelerate the rallye, but only for advanced players... pusher with short played-top-spin-angle-balls... or also with drop-shots, to disturb their rythm ;-) Drop-shot (Stop-Ball) are also for "Bratpfannen-Aufschläge" very usefull...In generall, your patience is your worst enemy against a pusher...

[@InfiniteQuest86]

So true. I tend to try to conserve energy against them so I'm in better shape for the real matches coming up. Big mistake. Causes so many unforced errors.

[@olanderworthy9601]

Opening up the chest is key for my improvement, right foot further back on serve will help and accurate tosses will save the match.

[@patrikmarflak6559]

It’s good you talked about the mindset and being patient in the rallies. But you still ended most of the points in the video with massive winners within 2-5 shots :D Wish I could do that, but I usually end up playing the longer rallies, because of being too tentative trying not to beat myself, especially on clay, where the opponent can get too many attacking balls back. What usually works for me in such matches is not trying to go for the big shots and winners at all, but instead of that I try to concentrate on placing my shots in the big targets in the corners to make them run and run out of gas gradually over the course of the match. I don’t need to go for big shots, which are too risky for me, because they are not going hit a winner on the run anyway, even from loopier balls. So for me, being able to toy with the pusher and make him run gives me much more confidence and calmness to execute the plan, than trying to kill him with big shots, because failing to execute them can really mess up my head. Of course on a faster surface and on a good day, I like to play attacking tennis, but if it’s not working then it’s better to just send the ball from side to side and keep my head as cool as possible.

[@rok7609]

Hehe, jesi spreman xD Ajmo naši ;)

[@jacnella2419]

I relate to so many of the comments about losses to inadvertent (beginners) pushers below. It feels even more galling when they themselves recognise your technique/abilities are superior to their own.

[@parkercrossland410]

What I have found with pushers is that they hate being made to come up to the net. Often times it's because they either lack the movement speed/physical explosiveness to run hard after balls and don't want to put themselves in compromising court positions. The tactic that I have found helpful is a high looping topspin shot to the backhand side, which can be followed either by a net rush or a dropshot following their return. If brought up to the net not on their own accord, people usually won't play an effective shot and will attempt to just keep the ball in on your backhand side. This is where you can hit a winner with either a passing shot down the line or a lob to the far corner.

[@doug186]

This is gold. You have to work harder to beat a pusher 🤔🙏🏼

[@stephanesurprenant60]

Great video. As a sidenote, the problem with using the net isn't a matter of frequency. A lot of things that deter from serving and volleying regularly on the tour isn't true for amateurs and that makes attacking the net quite often a sensible strategy. What most people screw up is they're going to approach on the wrong ball, or they'll have technical issues with smash and volleys. But, if someone plays a lot of doubles, that wouldn't be a problem. On the plus side, this isn't 1975 where people have to hit passing shots on every other point and your pusher is highly disadvantaged to hit that passing shot. So, it's not a bad strategy. It's that most people can't execute it because they never practice it.

[@maxwellrabin_properties]

Patience is 100 percent the key. If you are playing against a pusher, you have to be patient and go for one more ball, one more ball, one more ball. Eventually the opportunity will come up or the opponent will make an error. You have to just keep going for more balls. It's frustrating but that is the game. To the contrary, when I feel like I have become the impatient player, even against a non-pusher, I use the pusher tactics to get myself back into the winning position. I find that the rec players on the level I've been playing most recently want to hit winners or have a great moment, so when I change strategies and show them balls they don't like, then they become the frustrated player. When your rec opponent begins to show extreme frustration, they can do nothing but make mistakes.

[@nadalwilson1453]

I had to google what a tennis pusher is :) A video on different strategy styles would be cool.

[@ryanbakerproffitt1830]

I like playing “pushers”. For me, it’s all about vertical tennis. I bring them in and pass them, or I serve/volley; wait for an approach shot and come forward. Your volleys and overheads can’t be a bluff, but it works.

[@RenGuitar1750]

When you're talking about the stats at the Australian Open I thought of Monica before you said her name. I love watching her play. I saw her give Caroline Wozniacki real hard time at the Cincinnati open a few years ago. Carolyn remain patient and eventually beat her but it was a difficult match. You could see how frustrated she was becoming

[@piffuzzo]

Hi Nik, is that a Babolat drive Evo? Can you say why did you choose it and which strings and tension you do recommend for it? Thank you for all the knowledge that you give to us 🙏

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Babolat PD plus (2017) kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZyYk2d8oqt-m5I

[@TheMg49]

I used to beat pushers with my serve and volley game. Now I can't beat anybody. hahahaha Anyway, yeah, pushers can be tough. As you point out in this vid, it's very important to learn the necessary skills, especially being able to put away short high balls. Now, at my current really low recreational level, most 'pushers' are actually bunters. They bunt the ball because they don't know how to strike the ball very well. They have no strokes. But some of them are really quick and fast, and have good court sense. I regularly lose to them. At this point, I think that your advice to me would be to consider getting into pickleball doubles, or getting back into some old hobbies like chess or music. hahahaha We are enjoying your vids. Thanks.

[@ministerofjoy]

Fantastic🎉

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Thanks 🤗

[@Lucian86]

I got to be very successfull against pushers lately by simply mixing it up a lot. I tend to come a lot to the net, play short balls (not dropshots necessarily), slice it up and to achieve that I try to hit the balls as long as possible (close to the lines) avoiding being too agressive and miss a lot.

[@viktornorgren4697]

Played a pusher/moonballer last night..and lost :) excellent advice!

[@riftyyy8333]

Fascinating that the same thing happens with table tennis except it is more pronounced. New players struggle playing against players without good technique who push with backspin. Only once your own strokes are good enough can you overcome their backspin with topspin. After that the game becomes much more fun.

[@Charmander009]

U got a nice serve . I’m goin to copy that

[@andrewfreeman8221]

11:34 lol this is a funny transition 😂

[@Kevin-vb9ln]

Thanks for the video. However , in the video the pusher hits everything very short. How do you feel with pushers that hit deep? I know it’s hard to replicate, but it’s hard to hit winners or angles behind the baseline.

[@Num3r1cal]

Nick vs MEP.... let's make it happen internet

[@ahmadjamal484]

Nikola. Not sure why you don’t recommend taking the loopy moon balls at waist level the moment they bounce (as the ball is on its way up), rather than waiting for the ball to drop after the bounce? It is because the former is a high risk strategy ?

[@owengrobler]

great vid

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Thank you Owen

[@rds4629]

hello nik, can you tell me which racquet to buy to beat the pusher? just kidding :) great video. Can see how much conditioning is necessary as I see you're out of breath demonstrating. One thing I heard that helps me is to hit the ball hard at big targets.

[@bryantran3647]

First! and I love punishing pushers lol

[@dxstrelok]

Hi really good vídeo , i think u are the Best coach in the world Even better than motrauglu or how is pronounced

[@bradbixel878]

Nik you need to try this again because the pushers who actually win matches do two things not demonstrated here: 1) they keep the vast majority of their shots deep and 2) they are excellent at using your pace and changing the direction of the ball to put you in awkward positions. I agree with you about having more intensity with your feet because that's super important with slower, lower, and/or loopier balls. I also agree with you about shot selection and having the right mindset. I guess what I'm saying is everything you said is correct but nothing you showed here was a very good example because your opponent isn't good at pushing and you're too good at ending points! I think of playing pushers as putting on a hardhat (going to work) but I also RELAX because pusher-shots can't hurt me (unless it's a "too-good" drop shot). Once you've established the right intensity with your feet, but also the calm of knowing you can't be hurt by pusher-shots, then you can simply dictate the match. For me, developing a strong net game, swinging volley from the mid-court, and all-court overhead makes these matches much less taxing than they used to be. My strategy now is to try to run the pusher and then every time I do make them run 4 steps or more I look to take the next ball out of the air. It's important not to go all the way to the net because these guys typically have great lobs. I find that approaching to just insinde the service line (yes, against pushers the "no man's land" area tends to be less risky :) still gives me time to get to the net if they hit a really weak shot, and also puts me in an ideal position to take a swinging volley or overhead from that area. If they hit a perfect high deep ball you should still be able to get back and restart the point. The only problem with this strategy is if the pusher is faking it (yes, that exists). There are players who are perfectly content to push you off the court but when you start winning with the strategies here they are also quite capable of hitting passing shots, punishing the no-man's land approach I mentioned above, and generally raising their level. I used to play against a guy like this. He'd hit hard in warm-ups so you'd be super surprised when, at the start of the match, he all-of-a-sudden forgets how to hit the ball and starts 'massaging' everything high and deep, but then he was also super fast and if you did make your way to the net he was utterly capable of cracking screaming winners on the dead run from both sides. I got a few leads but never did beat him :( but I did learn to adapt his strategy for starting out matches :)

[@anhvu3780]

Yes, some pushers are very skillful. They can hit passing shots, lobs, etc. Their defensive style, short swings, deep moon balls help them conserve energy while you have to exert energy to construct points. If you give them a short/soft ball, they will use angles against you. We have to learn to play like them until we can use our "weapons". I played with such a guy who was in the top 5 in college. I lost 0-6, managed to 1-1 in the 2nd set then we had to stop b/c it's dark. It took us almost 30 minutes to get to 1-1. I was completely drained physically and mentally. He was hurting too. Don't want to go through that again.

[@ShaktimanEngineeringworks31]

Sir i am from India n your videos are helping me a lot in my game.... I hope to be a better player sir

[@androc75]

Good. Now bow down to the master, servant!

[@joemarshall4226]

"Pushing, at any level of the game, is an excellent tactic." THANK YOU. It's about time someone said that. EVERYONE should learn how to push! Coaches should TEACH it. It's part of the game! People who start as pushers should continue their development by adding power shots, serve and volley, etc. And people who start as power players should learn how to drop shot, forehand slice, and moonball. I just watched an old video of Edberg and Becker playing serve and volley at the French Open. It was the highest level of net play....but they also mixed in moonballs, slices, and drop shots, even though they were looking to attack the net at any opportunity. I had a friend who worked for Nick Bolittieri back when Sampras and Agassi were students there. He said one day, it was his job to go out and teach the kids the pusher game. One girl, who was the number one junior in the country at the time, a power player, said it was ridiculous...she didn't need to learn it. My friend said that he thought he could give her a tough set by pushing alone, even though it was not his natural game. She agreed. They played a close set, and my friend won. She quit tennis.

[@marting5130]

she quit tennis because pushing is the opposite of fun. pushers are boring and its laborious to play them. even when you win its not fun at all.

[@joemarshall4226]

@@marting5130 I beg to differ....It's even MORE fun to let a person beat himself by your cleverness at changing the pace and height of your shots, spinning the ball this way and that, taking him out of his comfort zone, giving him nothing to work with, anticipating his shots, dropping, lobbing, etc. It's real tennis, the way it was designed to be played....but you must be a clever person to understand and implement the strategy...

[@marting5130]

@@joemarshall4226 i said its boring to play against them. not to be them.

[@RamaSivamani]

For moonballers and pushers would drawing your opponent into net work? I know for me in the past this has worked because the pushers and defensive players I have played against were not comfortable up at net playing volleys so drawing them in and then forcing them to deal with volleying passing shots seemed to work.

[@mvfc7637]

When I played tennis as a teenager my best friend was also a “pusher” and also used to just lob his second serve which I always used to hit out, it was so frustrating!!

[@pliskanova]

I know there are a lot of videos on this topic and I am glad to hear Nikola's advice. But how do we beat an aggressive baseline player who hits bombs and/or hits deep heavy balls and rushes the net? Would be a great topic to discuss.

[@Reakerboy]

Personally I've found: Take the pace out of the game, don't try and hit back as hard as they are, give them no pace to work with. Depth is Key, you must keep them on the back foot Use short angles to pull them off the court Making these small changes has allowed me to be more competitive against big hitters.

[@benballier9580]

@@Reakerboy definitely agree with the short angles thing, as well as having depth. I’m a big hitter but my sister can play competitive points with me because she hits angles. I’m faster than most and still struggle to get great shots off of some of the angles she gets. But if she puts a ball at half court, it’s over. Easy winner. Depth is important!

[@smithjoshua99]

Just played and lost to a pusher today. We had some pretty stupid 15-30 ball rallies where I'm trying to move him around the court and put the ball away. Dude could float it back all day, and he never seemed to get tired 😭

[@itsdenizcankaya]

I’m a recreational type of player that has never won a match against pushers that play with anti tennis technique in my country’s local tournaments. (Lost my 3rd one last week) In my last encounter, I tried to be patient, trying to take the ball early, attacking my opponent’s both sides. But there were probably like 3-4 winners I managed to success. All the rallies felt like I was making a wall training drill… Most of the times after like 20-25 points in a rally I was eventually forced to go to net then the guy turned into a prime Murray at lobbing that lobs went straight into the baseline. Then we went back to the same pattern. I know I have to improve my dropshots, the speed of my strokes but most importantly my stamina. My question here is a bit stupid but if I encounter another one again soon, should I play like him if I get tired? I know the rallies would end with 80-100 points but to get rest while playing, would playing effortlessly work to wait opponent make a mistake or get bored and coming to the net? At the same time the opponent might get tired too

[@nicolasrivero3027]

The real challenge is playing pushers on CLAY courts. Thanks for the informative video from Argentina.

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Clay makes it much tougher

[@janandersen8735]

I still remember when this serve and volley with a Slazenger #1 ran into his first Prince racquet opponent. Not a pleasant memory.

[@mrgolftennisviolin]

Have you switched from the Kirschbaum strings?

[@wongjefx980]

I don't believe I play pushers, but lower level players that do not have pace, but can hustle to the ball and return shots, and the off pace shots coming at me, I tend to hit out, because I end up over hitting balls without decent pace, since I like to go for winners too much. Current instructor is recommending an open stance 1-handed backhand for me to take the high balls instead of using my usual slice for high shots to my backhand that push me off the court.

[@vectorthurm]

Where’s MEP when you need him?!

[@andrewp7490]

Good advice, but most of us play "pushers" within our "skill level". Whereas you are a pro and can "kill the soft balls" generated by a good pusher a lot of us just end up pushing right back at the guy and then we start the dreaded 20 point rallies. . . If we try to kill the ball, (like you did in this video) our odds of getting it back in play go way down. So in summery, even if we lose we should just try to stay aggressive and hit hard angles?

[@circuitdesign]

I've played pushers for 30 years at the 4.0 level. To beat them, you must absolutely have a decent overhead and decent volley. Those shots don't have to be great, but they can't suck.

[@maddiver]

very much regret I have not seen this video last week :) classic example me loosing with myself being not patient enough and whacking wrong shots all two sets... against the pusher...

[@IntuitiveTennis]

Keep trying

[@maddiver]

@@IntuitiveTennis Awesome content by the way! great tips!!! I forgot to add this!

[@crsantin]

My problem with pushers is that I have way too much time to think about the ball and I end up making an error. Coming to the net usually works for me against those players.

[@randrothify]

Exactly. They mess up my timing, rhythm, and footwork and I end up hitting late or getting too close to the ball on my one-handed backhand.

[@krushfield]

This is like the best video I've seen on how to beat a pusher.