Hey! I think you did the right thing by trying to play longer aggressive pushes and forcing him to attack, these type of counter attacking players often feed off your pace and attacks so it’s good to make them open the play sometimes. Definitely serving tight and then playing your first attack into the body is a good tactic against these types of players as well, this stops them getting a comfortable first ball int the rally and moving you around and out of position.
I think they key thing is to try to mix up what you are doing and be unpredictable, so sometimes the short serves sometimes long and fast, and the same in the rally sometimes playing slow and heavy spin shot and sometimes fast and also moving around the placement. This stops them getting into a rhythm and breaks up their play well.
I hope this helps for next time! Dan 🙂
