Playing against Lefties - a totally new experince

[In D Zone]

Man! Playing Lefties is totally a new experince for me. I have been playing against lefties in the local park. It is already a big challenge to go against one lefty in singles, and I was suprised to find that its even harder to play against two lefties in doubles (long time partners).

I was able to get to the lefty serves by attacking the ball on the rise (before it jumps all over) but the problem was trying to hit the return cross court far enough for the net player (lefty) to poach. Lefty likes to attack their serves to righty's backhand. Because the ball is spinning to the opposite direction, I have to angle my return correct otherwise I'll over hit the ball off the court.

So what I did was to mix up my return by making sure I take a shorter swing (punch) instead of slice on my return so I can add a little more pace on my ball and try to alternate my returns down the line directed to the net player and cross court.

Boy... it was tough at first. after lossing a few games, I managed to figured it out and made the match more interesting instead of getting mowed over.

[wihamilton]

I'm a lefty :) Crazy spin definitely helps on serves / wins me some free points. I actually played another left in doubles a few days ago and was having all sorts of problems returning his serve. Got a taste of my own medicine I guess... heh.

[brownyazn]

I'm a lefty :) Crazy spin definitely helps on serves / wins me some free points. I actually played another left in doubles a few days ago and was having all sorts of problems returning his serve. Got a taste of my own medicine I guess... heh.

really?
i'm lefty and i find that i return lefty serves better
but i don't know why

probably since most of my friends and my brother is lefty

[Mad iX]

As a lefty I also find it tough playing against fellow lefties.
I like to attack backhands which are suddenly forehands.
I also like to hit low slice crosscourts which are usually tougher for righties to hit with their forehands, but when it's a lefty they just slice it right back.

[bad_call]

i love playing lefties. my old hitting partner is a lefty. serves really jerked me around. :)

[wihamilton]

brown,

heh ya that might be it. just like everyone else, i don't play against lefties that often so it takes a minute to get used to the bounce.

[shojun25]

I'm a lefty too and in high school tennis, some people expect 'regular serves', no weird spins.

When its my turn to serve, I usually start out with a topspin slice serve until they get the hang of it. But before that, the first 2-3 points are mine. To them, my topspin slice is like a twist (that's what my friend said).

[Cindysphinx]

Will, I saw from your teaching video that you're a leftie! Observant, eh? (Nice video, BTW. Can't wait to go back and watch more!).

Anywho . . .

The thing that helped me with a leftie is deciding before the serve was struck that I was playing it as a backhand. It helped me get the idea of running around it to hit a forehand out of my head. Had to keep telling myself that ball was going to curve to my left. 'Cause running around the backhand didn't work even a little bit.

If a leftie ever tried a twist serve on me, I would probably snap in half like a dry twig.

[galatti]

I'm used to play lefties. Once you get used, you can't tell the difference :)

[In D Zone]

Wow ,,, lefties having trouble returning a fellow lefty serve. That's refreshing!

Here's some tip on where to stand when playing against lefty.
- receiving on the deuce side. position yourself a foot to the left (towards inside the middle), lefty likes to hook their serve down the T. But be sure to cover your right side.

-On the Ad side, position your left foot outside the baseline (at the doubles alley). Leftie will slice the ball wide out, this will give you the advantage to jump into the ball before it hooks wide to your left.

Now you know where to position yourself to return a lefty serve, next step is be ready to move to the ball (taking the ball early) and take a short swing,

[darkblue]

Man! Playing Lefties is totally a new experince for me. I have been playing against lefties in the local park. It is already a big challenge to go against one lefty in singles, and I was suprised to find that its even harder to play against two lefties in doubles (long time partners).

Boy... it was tough at first. after lossing a few games, I managed to figured it out and made the match more interesting instead of getting mowed over.

I don't like playing lefties in doubles, either. Last night's USTA league match was one of those. I was playing the ad side, and the the lefty kept slicing
wide and made me look like I've never played a backhand. With a good slice
delivery wide to my BH, I feel like I have to stand closer to intercept it - but
a good server consistently locates the T to make me throw up a lob :-(

Playing singles is a bit easier for me - most of the time, I can afford to throw
a floating slice return. Also, playing the lob in singles is not as intimidating compared to doing the same in doubles.