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Last Modified: 4/19/2006 10:35:32 PM
Playing a Counter Puncher
By Paul Annacone
Illustrations by Jim Chow
When you play a counter-puncher, you’d better expect a dogfight. Here’s how to come out a winner.Call them whatever nickname you like—“pushers,” “backboards,” “walls,” “moonballers”—but the fact is that counter-punchers are worthy and able opponents. They’re extremely consistent, have good foot speed, play great defense, andlike to use your pace against you. It isn’t exactly a glamorous style of play, but you’d better respect it because it’s difficult tobeat. That’s why so many people dread playing counter-punchers and come up with derogatory names for them. But cleverput-downs won’t do you any good unless you’ve got a smart tactical game plan to back it up. From club player to touringpro, the recurring problem in playing a counter-puncher is that we tend to overplay. They’re so good at getting one extraball back that we lose our patience and try to end the point too quickly. We attempt to hit the perfect shot and instead makea mistake. This can become extremely frustrating and cause you to battle your wits as well as the opponent. To besuccessful, you have to maintain your composure, accept that you’ll need to play a grinding game, and diligently go aboutexecuting your strategy. It’s a difficult task, but here’s how to get it done.
BEGINNER
OBJECTIVE: Embrace long rallies and look to beaggressive only from offensive positions.
A player who’s new to competition will likely be totallyaggravated by a counter-puncher’s style. Because youhaven’t developed any strong weapons yet, playing someonewho’s even the slightest bit steadier is probably the toughesttask you’ll face at the beginner level. So it’s very important foryou to have the right expectations. It’s going to be a longmatch and your opponent will likely force you to hit one or twomore balls per rally than you expect to. You may even lose afew points where you miss an easy overhead or a simple putaway. That’s a common occurrence against a good counter-puncher. You don’t have to like it, but you can’t let it demoralize you. That’s exactly the reaction he’s looking for and willthrive on.
Make sure you’re well inside the baseline when you attempt aggressive shots. This will cut down on errors andlead to a higher rate of success.
The challenge is to be extra patient and wait for the right time to be aggressive. For instance, you should know which partof the court you have to be in to effectively go after your shots. Make sure that’s where you’re hitting from, even if it takesyou an extra shot or two to get there. I suggest that you don’t go for any winners unless you’re comfortably inside thebaseline.
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