Everyone seems to hate playing pushers and today we will be discussing what we can learn from pushers.
I want to begin with a quote from a very good friend and longtime doubles partner, Mark:
“There’s another name for pushers; Winners.”
The reason people hate playing pushers is because they have a knack for winning. If they didn’t, people would like playing them. However, this is not the case. They often use “ugly” tennis to defeat us. It may not be a pretty, but they use whatever is necessary to get the ball back in play.
Why do they win? They win because they understand the most basic law of tennis success at its very core. They understand that the last person to hit the ball in, wins.
Seems obvious, right?
It makes sense, though. The last person to hit the ball in wins the point, wins the game, wins the set, and wins the match. There are no points for style. Or points for how powerful you hit the ball. No points are awarded for the person who hits the ball with the most spin. No points for best outfit or newest tennis racket.
There are only points for hitting the ball in the court more than the other player.
A pusher understands this, and is willing to make that happen–whatever the cost. How can we harness this approach and use it to improve our own game? In my opinion two things are most important to understand and accept:
1. Respect the pusher and his/her game: they understand tennis and what it takes to win.
This might be hard for some of you to read. It’s possible you’ve gone through your tennis career bad mouthing pushers and the above advice goes against that attitude.
Keep in mind that the right attitude sometimes makes all the difference in being successful. Not just at tennis but anything else in life. If your attitude towards the pushers you play is one of distain and disrespect then I can virtually guarantee you’ll never be successful against them. Not consistently anyway.
Accept the fact that these people are good tennis players and respect them for it. Only then can you put down the defensiveness and learn how to actually defeat them.
2. Learn from the Pusher: This does not mean to emulate them completely, but rather to copy the parts of their game that make them successful.
Only play as risky as is necessary to win!
When you are aggressive with your shots you are taking on risk. Therefore the chances of you missing increase. The harder you hit, the closer you aim to the lines, and the closer you hit over the the top of net the more your chance of failure increases.
This might seem obvious, but we need to make the connections in your mind to start creating a ‘big picture‘. We need to create a new attitude and have a clear understanding about the fact that the more aggressive you are and the more risks you take the more chance you have for failure.
If it’s not necessary to take that risk to beat your opponent–Why do it?
That being said…..
Be Careful!
It’s important to understand the risks, and it’s important to understand why pushers are successful, but I don’t want you to take it too far. Please understand I am not saying you shouldn’t use offense, or that you shouldn’t be working to develop weapons. You should be!
Sooner or later you are going to need offense to continue to advance in the game of tennis.
What I am saying is that for each and every match you need to evaluate how much offense is needed and therefore how much risk is necessary to beat your opponent. If you move better than your opponent, have better technique, consistency, fitness, and stronger mental toughness then the amount of risk needed to win is very, very low.
When you begin doing these evaluations and adapting your game appropriately you will be able to play the highest percentage tennis possible while risking as little as possible. –This is what pushers do so well (albeit to an extreme), and what makes them so successful.
Remember, however, that pushers are one dimensional by definition. A pusher that never develops any offensive weapons will never make it past a 3.5 or 4.0 level. The stereo typical pusher will sit around the 2.5-3.5 level, and that is because they lack offensive weapons. I want you to avoid that mistake!
Yes, learn from the pusher and use what they do well, but don’t follow them down the path towards one dimensional tennis. I want you to not only be smart enough to minimize risk but also have the big weapons necessary to defeat higher level opponents when you face them. The best of both worlds.
Every match you need to evaluate how much risk (offense) is needed, then adjust your strategy accordingly.
Play smart, winning tennis.
You can take the pusher’s smart, savvy, low risk tennis play and make it a part of your game! Combining that with effective offensive weapons will grant you continued success in the game of tennis.
Remember, it all starts with having a healthy respect for the pusher and what they do well. I’m not suggesting you copy their style completely but instead learn from it and use the parts that make them so difficult to defeat for so many players.
As always, I am here to answer any questions you may have! Leave them down below. I’d love to hear from you.
