I lost 6-3, 6-1 to one of these specimens. I played the guy again last night after watching this video a couple times and practicing a little bit. I beat him 6-1, 6-2. What a difference! I'm gonna keep watching your videos, they definitely work.

Sorry but a good pusher with topspin and moonballs is very hard to beat. Good pushers kills you with winners if you return short balls, or even if you come up to the net agains his drive, he will easily pass you. If your a hard-agresive base line player, with solid ground strokes, the best chance is to be patient and build the point step by step waiting your moment to hit a winner. Dont lose your cool, and dont try to hit winners in disadvantage positions. Play neutral shots or defensive shots when you cannot atack, and come up to the net against the pusher's backhand. But when you are attacking the point and you have the control, dont lose your chance. Ofc play that way perfectly is very dificult, if was easy everybody could play like Nole or Rafa.

I would like you guys to actually simulate a real pusher, I know you guys just floated lazy balls to try and demonstrate what to do, but sure at that pace anyone can do it. A good pusher you cannot beat with what you mentioned, maybe 2.0 pusher, but not a 3.5 or higher one. If you create a video with a bit more actual hitting if possible using a real pusher at a 3.0 to 4.0 level....

I played a 6'4" LEFTY pusher who played like Gael Monfils and dominated him. I'm only 5'9". here's how: (1) BE patient (2) use aggressive FOOTWORK used in this video. (3) if you push back, push to his or her weaker side. (4) hit short angles or close to the body. A pusher HATES that. (5) IF you come into the net, do so on a short angle, expect a short lob so get to the service line and put it away or make him run. (6) KEEP THEM RUNNING! I won by using the tips in this video.

Great video, Will and Yann. As I have gotten more experienced, I have to say that I have a lot more respect for pushers. Pushers, at a higher level, are often players who have not trained properly, yet often through a lot of practice, experience, and hand eye coordination are able to keep balls in play with a very low rate of error. These people are really important for players who are training because they become a very good test of skills for the 3.5-4.0 player looking to get better.

just came back from a tournament were I was beaten twice by such a pusher. Keep you posted - will try next week again. It was so fustrating - took to much risk and did the errors.

I love this teacher , I play well tennis and always pusher made my made so frustrated and You end giving points free . Thank you for the lesson , now I know what is a pusher and know how to control him .

Great video. No coach can give you as much insight as you guys do. Thanks a lot.

thanks a lot, I use to play with this kind of players, and it is very frustrating, lose, and lose with them, so I am going to practice this strategy, I hope to have better results.

I realy love the episodes with Yann, he explain everything very good and i think it helps me during a match ^^

Very good video and good advise!

When I was pretty young playing, I absolutely hated playing "pushers" to the point where I wanted to quit. But when I finally started getting older, I found myself hitting a bigger ball, and basically outpowering the pushers. The best technique that works for me is get to that net asap. Once you put pressure on them with a nice approach shot, you'll find some many easy volleys or overheads to put away. Great video though, wish I would of seen this when I was younger.

Great lesson! Thanks

i played a pusher today and he was just frustrating to play... i lost 3-6, 4-6 and all he would do was hit balls with absolutely no pace and hit really short balls that forced me to go to the net. After he forced me to the net he would just perfectly lob me every time.... T_T this video makes it seem like beating pushers is an easy and simple thing...

Great video! Ok how would you beat the pusher that hits the ball over the lights on every shot, and it lands very close to the base line!! Then the ball hits the top of the back fence!! Alastair (WA)

When I find myself playing against a pusher I find that a slice approach and volley is the most efficient and consistent way to beat a pusher,and if all else fails you may have to stoop to the slowness of a pushers game until things start to pick up for you.

Thanks for the video! I managed to pull out a satisfying win against a friend of mine who's a real pusher with a score of 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2.

Good stuff. Last weekend against a pusher, not playing well with my groundstrokes and down 2-5 in the first set to a pusher, I started attacking the net. Serve-&-volley, chip-&-charge.... I ran off 6 straight games to gain a 7-5 1-0 lead.

Great clip. Thanks.

This was a difficult subject to handle, I think you guys a capable of doing a better job. I've liked your other video much better...thanks for trying...your information is useful. You guys are excellent examples of what can be done! Thanks again.

Very helpful!

I played a pusher 4hrs. 20 min. 2 outta 3. He gave up because I wanted it more. I was also injured so, his game played into my injury. Great video ~Cheers~ B.Champagne

I hope there are more of these videos coming up on how to beat other types of opponents (counterpunchers, aggressive baseliners, serve-and-volleyers, etc.). :)

Great Video!

a pusher that actually plays tennis and not volleyball is very dangerous, this guys play so slow that all the talking is obsolete. any player above 3.0 can take advantage of those balloons.

thanks for the video! most of my opponents are pusher, so i will try out your tactical advises! thanks from austria

@FYB2007 hey will im about a 4.5-5.0 highschool player, and i do have trouble play with the guys who have the heavy topspin and counterpunch all the time. Sometimes its hard for me to stay as consistent as them and sometimes i rush and make errors. I was just wondering if you had any tips about playing these guys, Thanks,

I hate a pusher! Me too I play so often a pusher and always lose. My level goes down and I don't understand why. I'm agressive player and I'm good on the net BUT all of my skills disappear when I play a pusher. This video is very helpful for me :)

very good quality on your videos

"How to Beat a Bad* Pusher with Modern Tennis Footwork"

Very good tips here. I can't stand pushers, so this will help immensely!

great job!

I play people who push but with slice on both forehand and backhand. Would you apply the same principles of attack? The ball bounces lower so it can be difficult to take early.

Thanks FYB! the pusher has been my bane since I've started highschool tennis.

@FYB2007 i agree but do you think i should play as a pusher. I am a junior llevel player in intermediate tournamints. Please help

The blue-shirt guy's description of a pusher is so funny and to the point!

thanks, the def is in the description lol, wat if they guy keeps returning the shots with heavy topspin is he a pusher?

LMFAO. I love how Andy Murray is in most of these related videos, and his other highlights can lead you to this video!!

i enjoyed the comments here. Try this: hit deep moonballs into a player's backhand corner - lots of them. One after another. They will miss them eventually !! I used this with success. Then from time to time blast hard shots. Good luck !!

I have tried against my pusher friend and it work and make the pusher almost quit tennis. Thanks for ur video is awesome.

Thanks for the great tips! Now I won't have so many nightmares when I play pushers.

🎾🎾Learn to hit early on the rise like Agassi against a pusher. It cuts their reaction time in half with a lot of pace and not requiring you to generate all the pace/power. A lot play pushers waiting for the ball to drop and backing up deep. Even worse they hit the ball while moving backwards instead of always moving forward through the hit.

It basically comes down to what level you're at. If the pusher is at a higher level than you, you will lose, no matter what you try until you can get your game to the next level. This is simply because your opponent (pusher or not) will have better consistency, control of the ball, feel and touch, movement, speed, etc.. If both are at the same level, you can try different tactics to try to win, and this video gives one good advice, but the thing is you should play this way always regardless of opponent. You have to come to the ball and not let it come to you. Even in defensive position, you always have to keep in mind that you need to be able to get to the ball quickly and not let yourself being pushed back. A lot of players made the mistake of judging the opponent by the look of his shots or strategy, so they got quite angry when losing to a game they judge to be inferior to theirs. The bottom line is if you lose, the other guy does at least one or more things better than you in that match. I lost a match to a guy playing the pushing style even though I was able to deal with it techniquely, but the reason I lost was because I lost my cool after the guy called just about every of my shot that was on the line, or even right inside the line, out. A lot of calls like that happened on game point for me (we were playing no ad, 8 game set). When I protested a call that was clearly inside the line, he would offer to replay the point, so I started getting frustrated, hitting harder and taking more risk trying to finish points and then my errors mounted and lost. But still he was doing something better than I did that day, and that was making me lose my cool. A better strategy for me would have been to protest all points that were closed and take up his offer to replay all of them instead of getting frustrated.

i'm just curious.. does anyone know what shoes Yann (guy in blue) is wearing?

This is great!! in 16 & under and there are so many girls that i know i should have beaten but i wasnt alert and winning pretty much comes down to footwork.:)

I love tennis. Like its life to me right now.

Really usefull video

how would you know your playing style? I've been playing for like 4 years now, still don't know. . . but this video helps though

I am playing a pusher tomorrow. I will come back to hopefully say that this strategy worked!

How do you play a pusher and generate your own pace? I seem to have trouble doing this because I either hit it out or completely miss hit it. Or I end up hitting like a pusher which really sucks.

I have a question how do you deal with a person who hits tons of Slice shots.. considering im pretty new. i dont know exactly how to return majority of the shots. thanks.

I feel like they oversimplified the pusher here. This is more like a 3.5 NTRP pusher. Real pushers 4.5 dont miss for a reason because they are fast and only crumble to hard surgical shots. Any advice to beat the real pushers ?

What's funny is Nadal early on in his career was a pusher and he beat alot of people that way so being a pusher is indeed doable on the pro circuit because it's been done many times a Counter puncher could be viewed as a pusher

Well how come he beat Djokovic on hard court in Montreal?

Dude, I´ve watched a begginer championship last week and there was a situation exactly like this and the guy was really uncomfortable with this other that had only deep high balls. He tried forcing too much and began to lose to himself. A question: how would a slice work in this situation ? The guy on the other end almost didn't move his body up and down, I believed at the time that a low ball could hurt as bad as rushing him, what do you think ? Congrats for the vids you guys put up !

can u guys do a video similar but some1 that rush u, faster than what u like to play?

Pushers are annoying but for me it was only once, the first time i played a pusher i lost the match. From then on, i have never lost against one. I watched this vid, and worked on my accuracy alot and a bit of footwork, mainly perfecting my inside-in and inside-out forehands because its so easy to hit that sort of shot and make the person run (haha) but I also did some work on rising shots, It'll be your friend when u want to come to the net quick and fast. Just sharing some advice also.

@FYB2007 I would ad Chang in that category and Courier who were the first modern counterpunchers in the game. Borg was a kind of conterpuncher but the wooden racquets did not allow him to make insane shotmakings far away from teh baseline as those guys that we mentioned...

I'm a proud pusher. All the people who say "I'm a better player but I keep losing to bad pushers" can check the scoreboard ✊

yes ill try this to a friend (pusher) that took a better spot on the tennis team just because i play my dad, who hits pretty hard and i could handle his shots, but i was better adapted to his hard hitting than a pusher, thanks

profiling is essential thanks

Also, on what surface would a pusher be at his most effective? Is it clay?

From my experience it's true you can't beat a pusher that's a higher level than you but you probably can't beat most players that are at a higher level than you anyway. The last pusher I played was my level and he almost took me out. My strategy was to relax and hit medium shots which was almost playing his game but I knew if I tried to hard I would certainly lose. I won a close first set..he won the 2nd set pretty easily 6-3 and then for the final set I clamped down on my consistency. I was determined to at least keep the ball alive and move him around as much as possible. Halfway through the 3rd set I could tell he was finally getting tired, after all it was our 3rd hour! I was tired too but I told myself this shit was personal. He started making mistakes and I won 6-3. I know this wasn't the best strategy and man our tennis really must've looked bad to anyone that would dare watch such a pathetic match of 3.5 players moonballing all night. I will say I do like this video where they move their feet more, hit the ball to the pusher's weak side and move in on his weaker shots and hit either a better angle or an overhead. There are all sorts of styles out there I just think the more you play, the more you practice, the more you relax and get your head straight you can have a lot of success against these tough pushers. Also, if you do lose to them a few times don't let it get you down, I don't think it's really tennis anyway..just a silly way to eek out a few W's but never really winning tournaments. Don't let anyone take away the fun from you, we're all pretty much just hacks so go out and play nice and friendly, win most of your matches and promote the sport in a good way. There are too many guys out there that are antisocial and try to ruin the fun because they live in their parents basement. It's a shame but this is what's happened to recreational tennis over the years.

@tvillebigbox I play a guy who hits EVERY shot this way (weak to moderate slice). It used to drive me crazy and still does on harder shots which are still sliced. But I figured out that by coming forward as soon as possible, I can volley my way to win points. The trick is the same as stated in this video: take away time for them. This means - for the slice pusher - come to the net early and hit either at or away from them. But stay away from their strike zone or you'll get a winning pass or lob.

That's not really pushing. That's like how some beginner players just keep floating the ball high, they never seem to miss but you can rush them into hitting short balls and come in to finish. It's not necessary that the pusher will just give you high loopy balls without much work. I push when I play with a guy who is my equal in movement, maybe a bit better. But his forehand is less reliable than mine so I just keep hitting solid well placed shots targeting his forehand without actually ever pulling the trigger. I even reduce the pace a bit to force him to make his own pace (and thereby induce an unforced error). When playing that kind of pushing, I suppose you need to make your first shot - be it your serve or return of serve as applicable - count. If you can take control of the point with a good serve or ROS, you can have the pusher on the run and win the point. Once you let him get into his pushing rhythm, it's much harder to find a winner off the ground.

im in an l2 and i dont know who I'm playing and whether its a pusher or not thanks

not sure if I know of any pusher type players at the pro tennis level - only one that comes to mind is Wozniacki, seems like she doesn't have enough power to hurt most players, but she wins by simply keeping the ball in play and having the other player make the error. Still crazy how she never won a grand slam yet became #1. And yea, Nadal a pusher? That is ridiculous. Like you say, that guys topspin shot is crazy.

What if you are playing a Pusher with quick feet? I played this tall and fast Pusher either dink/drop shot or moonball the ball back with the ugliest strokes. I was so mentally drained at the end. :(((

great vid

Nice of you to say you don't hate pushers but we doubt you respect that game style (and subsequently believe that this is a beautiful strategy). Hitting a moon ball when one is in difficulty in order to buy time is acceptable (and even ATP players do it) but playing moon balls consistently with no pace is a disgrace for the game of tennis. Often pushers are people with good physical condition that never learnt tennis strokes and don't know much about the technique... however they are strategically strong and have a good eye on the game. It is beneficial for non-pushers to take a challenge once in a while with those people in order to practice specific strokes but playing them too much will destroy your game as well as your mental. The best we can do to pushers is beat them, encourage them to go take some tennis lessons and refuse to play them until they know how to knock...

Pushers exist a lot in High School tennis. I think the hardest obstacle while facing them is the mental aspect. Its VERY frustrating seeing somebody with terrible form win a lot of points.

I get the idea.. but the thing is... the pushers that I've met actually have great court coverage. They don't casually walk to the ball. They are happy to run everything down. Not every ball is a moon ball. They will chip, dink, slice all over the court.

I lost to a pusher a month ago, 62 63 in a tournament. I played him again yesterday and kicked his ass 61 61. I am the happiest person in the world right now.

As a pusher I must say I love when they start trying to push and fall into my rhythm. You know you have them once they start doing that because they start to become lazy. The biggest problem most people have against pushers is that they lack the pace and spin to produce their own consistent shots without help from their opponent hitting harder. And they don't like to come in usually which works really well against most pushers.

the hardest players sometimes are the ones who opt to push as their first option. but they do posses the ability to play aggressively and produce shots. as soon as u move in or show any form of an aggressive shot, they will pass you or counter punch

@2Side2Side2 AGREED!!!! Its freaken annoying when you meet pushers at tryouts.

@2Side2Side2 tell me about it! especially in this new district our school is in.

@lasredchris can you stop pushing ?

wish i would have seen this before my high school regionals... but thanks for this!

Lawlz, I do think Nadal has become more aggressive lately, but he was definitely a pusher during his rise to the top. Also, you forgot wiping his arms with a towel and delaying every other point.

This worked for me in beating a pusher girl in district playoffs today. I was up 6-1 , then fell 5-7, I was being aggressive, coming up too early, and making errors, then after tiebreak interval, I thought about this, had watched it last night. It worked perfectly, beat the pusher in tiebreak 10-3.

do a video on how to beat a serve and volleyer

I hate playing against pushers so much! I respect them cuz that's the way the play. Like my coach says. You're not going to get better playing that way but it's affective. I lost to one last night even though I played well and realized I didn't do what this video says. To move them around use your angles and draw them in. I got sucked into hitting hard and staying behind the baseline. Last time I'm going to forget to so this to the next pusher I see.

I am a pusher, and thanks to this video, I will never win another match again! Thanks FYB2007!!!

My neighbor is about to get CRUSHED!

@AkMachx I was gonna beat a pusher, but I got cramps, huhu,

@exitingforward a counter puncher is not a pusher ,a pusher is someone who just gets the ball back and deep, a counter puncher is someone who pretty much returns the same reply to the shot you hit most of the time and waits on the right ball to hit a winner such as a short ball, usually they can't just slap a winner from the back like a berdych, del potro, or any of these other guys with a lot of power

My base mentality in singles is to not give my opponent free points. Every ball comes back. That’s my base. That said, I hit with pretty heavy topspin on both sides, usually cross court with lots of net clearance trying to keep it deep. Percentage tennis. Some might call that pushing. I don’t care. Where I would differ is that I want to come forward and end points when the odds are in my favor. I don’t want to prolong the point and let my opponent off the hook by hitting too safe of a rally ball if the opponent is in a bad spot.

@exitingforward If you call Nadal, Murray, Simon, Monfils pushers, can you show me a video of your self attacking their shots?

@Skimbles2000 Absolutely.

If you have a shitty overhead then it will be very hard for you to beat a pusher. These guys can lob VERY well which really thwarts your attacks into the net. Once you start missing a few overheads then you press trying to hit ground stroke winners and approach shots. The unforced errors add up. Frustration rises. Total collapse and capitulation follows. Victory to the guy who keeps the ball in play.

Neither Rafa nor Murray is a pusher. There are no pushers at the pro level. Pushing is a strategy that works up to the intermediate level... get more advanced than that and it's not viable. On the pro tour you have counterpunchers... Hewitt, Murray (although he's got a lot of firepower when he wants it). Rafa has become a very aggressive, all-court player. However, earlier in his career I think it's fair to say he was a counterpuncher.

Never ever sink down to the pusher's level, because at such low level he beats you with his routine.

There are pushers that make you play faster. I've seen some very athletic pushers with amazing control. Playing against 3.5-4.0 highschool players and still being able to push an opponents burning running forehand down the line into the service line at the opposite side of the court. Not all pushers are as lackadaisical as this video made them seem. Some have very aggressive strokes if you give it to them. There are also counter pushers that use your power to hit deep semifast pushes.

play and film a game with this guy a serious game :D

I'm a solid 4.0 player with a good USTA record. Yesterday I got humiliated by a pusher and lost 6-1, 6-4 in a league match. A couple of thoughts after watching this video; The line about how "easy" it is to beat a pusher is BS. It depends on the opponent. Maybe if I were a 4.5 or higher that might be true. However, EVERY ball came back with absolutely nothing on it...even my serve which is left-handed, fast, and accurate. I'm a heavy baseline hitter. I love pace. Although better footwork on my part would have helped, the I was 'forced' to stay in no-man's land and come to the net at inappropriate times because of the many really short balls. With absolutely no pace on the ball, and therefore no resistance, I often overhit the ball and it sailed out. If I dropped it back, he was quick enough to punish me with well-placed passing shots. I lost my cool early which didn't help things either. Nothing worked and honestly, I left thinking I didn't ever want to play tennis again.

I think this demonstration would be a lot more convincing and more valuable if Mr. Auzoux is playing an actual pusher, especially a really good one.

Playing a pusher tomorrow! Wish me luck!

very nice, but the problem is, that you have on any level players that are pushers. You will always have to fight and play your style. Never forget to move. By the way, there are many pushers who like to be attacked. Don't hurry. And try to avoid risky shots. Don't gamble. The most important tip is, that you should at any costs get in lead. Otherwise, it becomes very ugly.

I think the best way to win against a pusher is to play aggressive, but not to overhit. You have to stay patient all the time. My experience showed me, that pushers usually don't like it (I think they really HATE it) when you get at the net as often as you can, with a nice slice for example. Another very effective weapon is to open the court using some nice topsin angles. You often "don't play" against a pusher, you play against yourself :) Keep going on your footwork and don't overhit ;)