Ambidextrous - better backhand?

[KHS]

Hi, I'm a left handed player and I'm 14 years old.

Actually, I'm more ambidextrous. Since I was young, for some reason although I wrote ate and brushed my teeth with my left hand, I used my right arm for throwing something, and I used the righty grip to swing something two handed, like golf, tennis backhand or baseball (with right hand on top).

But anyway, I see that a lot of players on this forum are forehand dominant and step around to hit forehand usually. However, since I had the righty baseball swing since I was young, my backhand is better than my forehand, and a lot of the times I step around to hit with my backhand. It's like having two forehands, except one with more power because of the other arm supporting it.

But is having a better backhand a bad thing? Should I learn one handed backhand or something and get a better forehand? Are there any pro players who prefer backhand to forehand?

Thanks

P.S. I hit a left handed one handed forehand, with two handed backhand, just in case people didn't notice.

 

[KHS]

Though I do love it when my friends (they are ALL righties) hit a forehand to my backhand, expecting a weak return, and I just smash it with tremendous spin.

 

[dak95_00]

2 pro players come to mind for me:

Jim Courier had a tremendous backhand when he was on and smashed it. When he was #1 He looked to hit that thing like a batter in baseball going for a homerun.

Monica Seles hit two-handed from both sides. She was awesome and dominated until she lost her edge after being stabbed in the back. Who could blame her?

If your backhand is better, good for you. It would make you an unusual player and give you an edge.

I once coached at a high school w/ a kid who served to the ad court left handed and to the duece court right handed. He felt it gave him an edge because he could locate it with enough spin on both sides to take the player out of the court when he served and volleyed. He ended up playing at an Ivy League school. He was also tall in the range of 6'3". I can't remember how he hit his overheads. It probably depended on the angle of the ball coming back at him.

I've seen players go one handed on each side but I've never seen one that was really good. But I'm sure if someone put in the practice, they could be! I'd think doing drills w/ a heavier racquet as a way of strengthening the weaker of the two sides could speed up the strengthening of that weak side. I would also always use the normal racquet during the session to maintain timing either at the end or the beginning and I wouldn't use the heavy racquet each day.

That's my 2 cents.

 

[5263]

you have a great situation!

If you keep playing and training, you will probably find your Fh will catch and surpass your Bh as you grow and mature. Tonlars even talks of this in a post about his Bh.

The Fh stroke is a better stroke IMO due to versatility. Bhs require more precise footwork position, which can sometimes be hard to pull off against a quality player; whereas the Fh can be very effective with quite a few different "position on the ball" foot work set-ups.

For you, your Bh can always be a weapon for you when you get a decent look at the shot. Just make sure you keep both sides very solid at all times.

 

[Blake0]

Players like Nalbandian, Gasquet, and Murray seem to love their backhand more than there forehand, which is not a bad thing at all.

Usually a backhand is more of a solid/consistent shot to set up a forehand, but some people have the extra feel on that end to move it around better and are able to hit harder, which is absolutely fine (maybe even better).

Most people prefer the forehand because the rotation (kinetic chain) comes easier to them (federer, roddick, gonzalez), more versitality, more control, and so on. For players who like their backhand more, their forehand starts to become the more stable/consistent shot while they rip with backhands.

It's not like the players aren't able to hit winners of the weaker of the 2 sides, it's just that they prefer 1 side over the other.

 

[only4theweak187]

I myself played baseball little league and stuff. I always THREW the ball with my right hand and of course caught with the left hand.

But i batted left handed.

So my 2-hand backhand comes very easily and is very comfortable, i'm very comfortable with both strokes i don't have a favorite.

it's nice to not have a wing that i'm more worried about than the other, ya know?