The Even More Dreaded Disguised Pusher

I remember a match I had when I was in college, which humbled me to the core. My defeat came at the hands of a 60 year old man named Cliff Feldon during spring break at the Berkley tennis club. Here I was a sophomore in college, thinking I was hot stuff, and ready to take on the world. Man did I have a lot to learn. Cliff was the quintessential disguise pusher. He is fit for a 60 year old guy, but I'm thinking to myself while walking on the court, "I'm gonna wear this guy down in five minutes." Not the case. First, I decided that I was going to try to run him back and forth, side to side. Surprisingly, Cliff was making it to almost every ball and chiping it back deep. Of course, I was not consistent enough to play this game as he quickly took a 3-0 lead. So I tried a new tactic: I tried to over power the old man. Trying to go for bigger shots than I'm comfortable hitting, I made tons of mistakes. All of the sudden, the set was over and I didn't even get a game.

Sitting down for a few minutes I beat up on myself mentally for letting this 60 year old man take me to school. My ego was taking a serious beating. Thinking again to myself, "this guy's a pusher, he has no weapons... make him make some decisions." I started hitting the ball to the middle of the court and dropshoting him in the middle. I want him have to run me around and come to net to try to put away some shots. Turns out Cliff isn't so bad and approaching off my mediocre drop shots and putting balls away at the net, as i'm now down 3-0 in the second set. He is the disguised pusher. He is certainly capable of hitting winners given the easy opportunities I was sending his way. Time for anger/panic/giveup mode. At 3-0, I start swinging for the fences in pure, unadulturated frutstration. The match is over and both of us know it. 6-0, 6-0 loss to a 60 year old man! I wanted to crawl into a hole a die.

Luckily, there was a light at the end of the tunnel: a good lesson. Cliff was not a pusher, he was a disguised pusher. Behind all of those easy deep chip shots, he had a full arsenal of midcourt aggressive shots and volleys at his disposal. I was wrong to think that I could run him down. I was wrong thinking that I could overpower him. And I was wrong thinking that all he could do was get the ball back. He was mentally match tough, and new just what to do to me and when. I tried to change my game too much to counteract his game. That was my biggest mistake.

It is easy to panic when you get down quickly in a match. So easy that you might choose entirely different game plans one point after the next. In this way, not playing your game will prevent you from getting into a rhythm and put a death sentence on the match. Bottom line, when you're playing the disguised pusher, the Cliff Feldons' of the world, you need to play each point to you're strengths, play aggressive, and let the cards fall where they may.