Switched from right hand to left hand

[asifallasleep]

Always been a righty with initially a 2hbh then changed to a 1hbh 20 years ago. 2hbh was great 1hbh slice was great, topspin and flat drive nothing great but fairly reliable. Tried changing back to the 2hbh but cannot do it for the life of me. Having played for so many years right hand wrist gets tight and sore and also i have right shoulder pain. I've always been a little ambidextrous so i tried changing to a lefty. Funny thing is that my left hand two hand backhand is better than any of my right handed strokes. Including my great forehand. I'm a 4.5 player as a righty!! The difficult stroke appears to be my left hand forehand. Going to have to work on that. Left hand volleys are good, haven't tackled the serve yet as this change just started yesterday. I may just keep my righty serve as i can always hit a righty forehand if need be or a right hand one hand backhand and then switch to lefty during the rally. Pretty funny. But i must say that it is nice leaving the court after playing 3 hours with no shoulder or wrist pain. I've also read that it is good for our brains to utilise our less dominant hands more and more to stimulate rarely used regions of our brains. Anyone else make the change from righty to lefty?

 

[NoQuarter]

My right arm was bothering me so bad 2 years ago that I decided that I needed to do this switch if I was going to continue playing tennis. I spent three months working with it and was not hitting bad. But in the time that I was working on the left, my right arm healed and went back to playing right handed. And have started a preventive maintenance program to keep my right arm healthy...which has been working so I stopped developing the left handed shots. Not to say that I will give up on working on it though....it was very fun to work on! I also wondered if the USTA would re-evaluate a player if they did switch hands (and not ambidextrous, which I am not!). I am a 4.0 player right handed...but would consider myself a 2.0-2.5 left handed. Didn't persue with the USTA...but I am curious.

 

[5263]

I have a son that uses the Fh on both sides. I often use a lefty Fh when I hit with him and use it from time to time in matches as well.
I notice it gets a little better each year, slowly,
with very little effort on my part.
This year it's getting to actually be a gas to just whip that lefty on low balls.

 

[rkelley]

I hurt my right wrist a few years ago. I hit foamy balls left handed (1hbh) against a wall until my wrist healed. It was interesting because I could hit forehands and backhands reasonably well considering I was playing with foamy balls. I could see how I could learn to actually hit groundstrokes left handed with some practice.

But the serve . . . left handed it was a disaster. My serve's my best stroke right handed, but I was lucky not to injure myself hitting it left handed, softly. It felt so incredibly ackward.

 

[ssonosk]

I have a son that uses the Fh on both sides. I often use a lefty Fh when I hit with him and use it from time to time in matches as well.
I notice it gets a little better each year, slowly,
with very little effort on my part.
This year it's getting to actually be a gas to just whip that lefty on low balls.

is there anyone that is actually really good with both hands?

 

[asifallasleep]

I have to say that using a two handed lefty backhand has solidified in my mind once and for all that a 2hbh is indeed far superior to a 1hbh. I think everyone should have a 2hbh as their main backhand and perhaps learn the one hand slice and 1 hand topspin drive for certain situations.

 

[BevelDevil]

I have to say that using a two handed lefty backhand has solidified in my mind once and for all that a 2hbh is indeed far superior to a 1hbh. I think everyone should have a 2hbh as their main backhand and perhaps learn the one hand slice and 1 hand topspin drive for certain situations.

Except that you are comparing 2 different things. Just because a lefty 2hbh works great, doesn't mean a righty 2hbh will work great for the same person.

Or course, there are other reasons why a 2hbh may be better, but that's a different topic.

 

[LeeD]

I'm an oft injured lefty 4.0-, in the past, better than 4.5.
During recovery periods, from collarbone, shoulder separates and disclocates, I always played with my right hand.
So, rightie volley almost equal to lefty. Rightie forehand superior to any lefty groundstroke, horrid rightie 1hbh backhand, a solid as fast as most 4.0 first serve, but a wierd spinny slow high kicking second serve only, which get's attacked due to lack of placement.
So I play lefty, when I can.
But now, left ankle is not functioning, and it's my plant foot for EVERY stroke except the serve. Hmm....

 

[tennytive]

I had a bad case of tennis elbow last year to the point where I finally decided to play lefty and see how it went. Tough for the first month, but then it came around to where I could hold my own in doubles with the same group I was playing in. I was able to serve, volley, lob, slice, and use topspin shots eventually, but I just never had the *feel* I do with my right arm.

My elbow finally healed enough in February to allow me to hit the wall and then got strong enough to play at full strength by April.

Haven't played lefty since.

 

[J_R_B]

I had a bad case of tennis elbow last year to the point where I finally decided to play lefty and see how it went. Tough for the first month, but then it came around to where I could hold my own in doubles with the same group I was playing in. I was able to serve, volley, lob, slice, and use topspin shots eventually, but I just never had the *feel* I do with my right arm.

My elbow finally healed enough in February to allow me to hit the wall and then got strong enough to play at full strength by April.

Haven't played lefty since.

Two summers ago, I did the same thing. I got TE in between when I signed up for the local rec league and when it started. Since I had already paid for the league, I asked the coordinator to drop me from the top group to the bottom, and I played lefty (without ever having hit lefty even once in my life). The first couple matches were tough, but eventually, I was able to win a couple on sheer athleticism alone (or lack of athleticism on the part of my 70 YO opponents...) and made the league playoffs. In the playoffs, I lost to a guy who plays USTA 3.0 league tennis.

I was proud that I hit all overhand lefty serves and one handed lefty backhands and still got to the playoffs. Of course, I hope that I never have to do it again, too...

 

[asifallasleep]

Except that you are comparing 2 different things. Just because a lefty 2hbh works great, doesn't mean a righty 2hbh will work great for the same person.

Or course, there are other reasons why a 2hbh may be better, but that's a different topic.

As i mentioned earlier, i began my tennis career with a right hand 2hbh. It was my best shot. So it did work for me as a righty and as i'm discovering many many years later, that it works equally well for me as a lefty. I switched from a baseliner to more serve and volley years ago and abandoned the 2hbh for a 1hbh.

 

[Ronaldo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_FuSihamHE

 

[Deleted member 120290]

I played 2 FH's for a few months because my right elbow was hurting esp. on BH's. I usually play in 4.5 league but I wanted to get some practice so I went down to 3.5 and beat the first guy 6-0, 6-1. Then I barely lost to the eventual champion in the 3rd set tiebreaker. I also tried to play exclusively lefthanded. FH and BH groundstrokes were pretty good, volleys were ok but the serve was atrocious.

The problem with 2 FH's is that as the pace picks up in a real match situation (not rallies), there simply isn't enough time to switch hands and hit quality shots. Fortunately my right elbow feels much better now. I am now back in 4.5 and in the finals of the playoffs. At any level above 4.5, 2 FH's are extremely difficult because of the speed of the game.

 

[asifallasleep]

I played 2 FH's for a few months because my right elbow was hurting esp. on BH's. I usually play in 4.5 league but I wanted to get some practice so I went down to 3.5 and beat the first guy 6-0, 6-1. Then I barely lost to the eventual champion in the 3rd set tiebreaker. I also tried to play exclusively lefthanded. FH and BH groundstrokes were pretty good, volleys were ok but the serve was atrocious.

The problem with 2 FH's is that as the pace picks up in a real match situation (not rallies), there simply isn't enough time to switch hands and hit quality shots. Fortunately my right elbow feels much better now. I am now back in 4.5 and in the finals of the playoffs. At any level above 4.5, 2 FH's are extremely difficult because of the speed of the game.

I'm not planning on playing with two forehands. If I can sort out the lefty forehand, it will be that and a two handed lefty backhand. It's only been a day, i think after a week I'll be fine as i am slightly ambidextrous.

 

[Deleted member 120290]

I'm not planning on playing with two forehands. If I can sort out the lefty forehand, it will be that and a two handed lefty backhand. It's only been a day, i think after a week I'll be find as i am slightly ambidextrous.

The 2 FH comment was for the few people who discussed using 2 FH's. If you are looking to improve your LH FH, try swinging like Nadal. People hate that type of topspin, sidespin high to their BH's that pull them off the court.

 

[tennytive]

is there anyone that is actually really good with both hands?

One of the former pro playing Jensen brothers, Luke? plays equally well with either hand. I watched him on a TV exo where he served with opposite hands for deuce and ad courts and also switched hands in the middle of points with no difference in his game. Very impressive thing to see if you've ever tried playing with your opposite hand.