Playing lefty

[misterg]

Because of a wrist injury to my right hand I'm now playing with the left one... having a lot of fun and with some result's. In an self-evaluating scale I'm a 4.5 with the righ and about 3.0 (or even 3.5) with the left hand in only three weeks! Now the question's. Has anybody experienced this too (playing lefty being dextrous or viceversa) and how good and in how much time can you develop good skills with the non-dominant hand?

[Jon Hampton]

Sometimes my friends and I will play a really competitive set and just for fun, and afterwards we'll decide to all switch our rackets to our non-dominant hands. Needless to say, we go from being 4.5/5.0 to 2.0 rather quickly, so I give you a lot of credit for trying to use your left hand.

If you're already a 3.5 in 3 weeks, in six months, you should be back up to 4.0/4.5. What's the most difficult for me when I switch hands is judging when to hit balls while on the run. So, get with a ball machine/coach and work on just that and I think you'll be back to your old self in no time.

[misterg]

I think that the secret is to stick with it for the first few hours untill you get the first results, from there it goes pretty fast because your are not a beginner and you now exactly what to do, how to prepare the stroke, grips, stances etc. etc. But the most positive thing of playing with the non-dominant hand is that helps to avoid "cheating" during an injury and rest the sore arm completely "being on court..."

[qcumber]

I had to switch to playing lefty due to a wrist injury, too. At first I was quite frustrated with my lack of coordination with my left hand. I thought I would never be able to manage the switch and that it was a complete waste of time. But I have stuck with it, and now my groundstrokes are nearly as good with my left hand as my right. The strokes themselves are not as powerful, and it is more difficult for me to end a point with a winner, but I am much more consistent with my left hand. I think this is because I am left-eye dominant, and I can time the ball much better with my left hand. Maybe this comes from growing up playing baseball and being used to catching with the left hand? The serve is where I have a little more trouble -- I don't yet have the rythm to feel comfortable hitting a lefty serve. It is not good enough yet to play real points with the people I am used to playing, who are probably around 5.0.

It took maybe 30 hours of court time (backboard/rallying) just to get out of that awkward stage where my muscles weren't reacting the way my body was telling them to. I hit so many balls over the backboard or into somebody else's court, and it was very embarrassing to stink so badly in public. I wanted to quit every time I went out. But then things seemed to click, and I started to feel like a true lefty -- even if I wasn't playing like one yet. After maybe 30 more hours of court time, fine tuning my timing, spin selection, shot placement, I was able to get on court and start to rally with the people I used to play with my right hand. Now my goal is to get my lefty serve going, but this seems to be the hardest thing for me to do, so I may be a righty again before I master that...

My advice is to certainly keep at it. It sounds like you might be out of that awkard ball spraying phase already. That is the hardest part, at least it was for me emotionally, and after that it is just a question of continuing to practice. I think all told I have put at least 100 hours into trying to play lefty, which is a pretty big commitment and more than a lot of people want to make, especially if they know that their injury will improve. But it has been a lot of fun for me, has helped my confidence tremendously, let me keep in touch with some people I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise, and I have a feeling my righty game will be much improved when I am finally healed. I think I understand the fundamentals of the game better now.

[misterg]

Qcumber how is your wrist now, how many time you spent untill full recovery? btw thank's for repliyng. For me too the hardest shot to master is the serve...

[qcumber]

misterg, my wrist now is still bad... i will be out for 4 - 6 more months and need more surgery... so i'll have plenty of time to perfect that lefty serve! who knows, by the time i am healed i may not need my right hand...

[golden chicken]

i began playing lefty to try to make things even against my sister, a beginner. i found myself concentrating on the fundamentals of stroke production, especially footwork--getting in perfect position, body structure--neutral stance and elbow in, and weight transfer--getting power from the legs

i still can't serve lefty (toss and timing are wayyy off), but i'm working on that for coaching purposes

[cervelo]

I switched from righty to lefty 2 years ago. Lefty rules!!!! I won't go back to righty!

[misterg]

I switched from righty to lefty 2 years ago. Lefty rules!!!! I won't go back to righty!

Please explain it more! Why did you swithched, how much time did you spent to develop a "reasonable" serve, any tips?

[dickbarney]

I tried playing lefty when I had tennis elbow. I found that if I did everything 2 handed (even volleys) I could play close to level right handed fairly quickly - EXCEPT for serving. Serving left handed humbled me and taught me a lot about how beginners feel learning the serve.

[RKS12]

I'm not considering a complete switch but have messed around with a lefty serve to protect my right shoulder which recently had surgery. I hit about 100 serves yesterday Lefty and feel i could serve at a 3.5 level if i had to. I'm not sure how quickly i could improve beyond that. The key seemed to be to get your rhythym and steps going as you started leaning into the court. Something like 1. take racket back 2. toss ball 3. swing All in a continuous motion. The lean into the court is what brought it together for me.

[cervelo]

Please explain it more! Why did you swithched, how much time did you spent to develop a "reasonable" serve, any tips?

A few years ago, I injured the fingers on my right hand - I was having trouble gripping the racquet and had a couple instances where it actually flew out of my hand while serving. It has since healed and I do serve righty on many days - but my righty serve was always a strength. At that time, it was recommended that I rest the hand but I didn't want to stop playing tennis, so I switched to lefty.

However, I believe that I was probably left handed as a kid and should have been a true lefty. In grade school, I was fairly ambidextrous and was encouraged to use my right hand for writing, etc.

Since turning lefty, my lefty groundies have become superior, mostly from hard work but also from applying the tennis knowledge and understanding from the years of being a righty.

As for the lefty serve, you must drill it slowly. I practiced it consistently for the first year - focus on drilling it slowly and correctly- using deliberate shoulder turn, keeping your head up through contact and using wrist pronation through the ball. Never hit hard when drilling- put a high premium on depth and placement. Also, protect that shoulder by not over-hitting and taking frequent breaks when drilling.

Remember, not only are you starting from the beginning in building a complex stroke, but it is likely that your left arm is your "non-dominant" arm for many other activities- meaning, you don't use it regularly and probably don't "think" lefty. You'll hit DF's and you'll get frustrated, but it is possible to develop with time and patience. In the first many months, I think simply using the left arm is the key, even though the results may not look promising. The key to simply using the arm is to get in tune with that mental understanding and dexterity that goes with any technical motions. Even with seemingly "bad" results, development will occur.

Accept that it will take time, but a lefty serve is a nice weapon when it has good slice, deep in the service box. You'll find that you don't necessarily need booming power when you have a deep, heavily sliced lefty serve.

Finally, I still make an concerted effort to perform rotator cuff exercises for the shoulder, which I believe have been invaluable. Also, practice throwing and catching with your left hand, focusing on shoulder turn and developing confidence in using the left hand.