OPINION - Arguments for an Ambidextrous Tennis Game

Introduction

1. Tennis examples

2. Examples in other sports

3. Mode of progress of the sports technique

4. Biomechanical and learning arguments

5. Execution, advantages vs. disadvantages of the shot

6. Extra shot

7. Easier backhand?

Conclusion

Introduction

Tennis technique is evolving (slowly but surely). New moves and tactics appear, become more or less fashionable, then sometimes regress. So have the two-handed backhand, the serve-and-volley, or others.

I think it's time for tennis players to play with both hands and change hands to hit forehand shots on both sides, rather than a forehand and a backhand.

I am not a tennis specialist, just a club player, but I am a fencing coach, at a very good level (I competed in 5 Olympic Games, and one of my students was ranked number one in the world). One of the reasons she was so well ranked was that I taught her a technique that everyone thought was extremely difficult or almost impossible for women to use. Despite this, after its success, many women have adopted this technique.

1. Tennis examples

Two tennis players ranked number 1 in the world are playing or have played with their "bad hand", namely Raphael Nadal, a right-handed player who plays left-handed, and Carlos Moya, a left-handed player who played right-handed.

Also among the top 100 current players Borna Coric and Robin Haase, both lefties, play right-handed.

Several cases of tennis players played with both hands, e.g. Alexandra Panova (in her case it was forced because of her small size), but also Fabrice Santoro who played with both hands on both sides. There must be other examples.

Many players change hands when they are overwhelmed, for example Maria Sharapova or Nick Kyrgios.

To return to the Rafael Nadal case, it was apparently a decision of his coach and uncle Tony Nadal to make him play left-handed when he was young. Apparently, he didn't have too many problems adapting!

2. Examples in other sports

In several major sports, good players are (must be) ambidextrous.

In soccer many of the best players know how to control and shoot with both feet (e.g. Zinedine Zidane's goal in the World Cup final).

In basketball, many players (almost all in the NBA) can control, pass and shoot with either hand.

In baseball, ambidextrous hitters are highly sought-after (and better paid than others).

In my sport, fencing, some of the world's top fencers, such as Bernard Talvard, were fencing with their "bad" hands. This left-handed athlete was fencing right-handedly because when he was young he was too shy to tell his fencing coach that he had placed the foil in his wrong hand!

3. Mode of progress of the sports technique

In most sports, the technique has evolved in leaps and bounds, often when a new champion had a new technique. The technique was then adopted by the majority of athletes.

The argument that if something is not done at the highest level, it proves that it is impossible is worthless. In fact, since no coach teaches this technique, no athlete can use it, so no one uses it. This is not proof that this technique is bad or impossible to execute, it is a vicious circle.

Often, this new technique was previously considered by most observers as impossible to perform.

For example, before Dick Fosbury became Olympic high jump champion by jumping on his back, specialists agreed that his technique was very difficult to master, if not impossible. Less than two years after winning his title, the majority of high jumpers had already adopted this technique. The ventral roller remained in effect for some people for a few years, only to disappear completely afterwards.

In tennis, in the early years of its development, players were used to the underhand "spoon serve". One day a wacky man served over his head. Again, most specialists thought it was impossible, but soon after that, everyone was serving like that.

In fencing, most specialists agreed that taking of the sword by the pommel was impossible for women because of the strength required for its execution. However, I decided to teach it to my student Sherraine Schalm who became number one in the world. The Frenchwoman Laura Flessel, several times Olympic and world champion, has also adopted this technique, and of course many female fencers have since imitated them.

The common point of all these cases is that the retrograde tradition slows down technological development, most often without any logical reason. It is then necessary to wait for an exceptional athlete who uses a new technique and succeeds at the highest level for other athletes to imitate them. These are obviously very rare cases, because either a visionary coach must impose this technique on one of his talented athletes, preferably from an early age, or, for some reason, an athlete must choose or be forced to use a special or different technique, often because of specific physical characteristics.

Innovation is also a factor that can lead to the emergence of new techniques, but this is not always the case. I would cite the example of Basque javelin throwers who had developed a rotational throwing technique that allowed them to break all records. Unfortunately for them, they unveiled their technique too early, before the Olympic Games, and the international federation banned it.

4. Biomechanical and learning arguments

The muscles involved in the forehand are much stronger than those involved in the backhand. When you throw an object, you are stronger with the forehand of the weak hand than with the backwards strike of the strong hand.

A gesture that may seem complicated or difficult because you are not used to doing it can become easy if you practice it regularly, especially if you start young (i.e. Nadal's lefty forehand).

Someone who does not have a hand can write or paint with his feet. A friend of mine, Alvin Law, deprived of both his arms because of thalidomide, has learned to live almost normally by doing everything with his feet, including eating, driving his car, playing drums and piano, in short, everything that we might consider impossible to do without arms.

(It's interesting to go and see his website www.alvinlaw.com.)

Several generations ago, left-handed people all had to learn to write with their right hand. It was quickly becoming the normal way for them to write.

Tennis players who play with their "bad" hand still have a forehand much stronger than the backhand of their strong hand (which is sometimes a two-handed backhand to make it stronger despite the smaller range). For example, Nadal's strongest shot is by far his forehand. However, it is easy to imagine that if he had developed a forehand shot with his right dominant hand, this shot would have been even better than his weaker lefty forehand shot.

Moreover, speaking of the two-handed backhand, it is actually a weak hand disguised backhand, with perhaps a little more strength, but with a much smaller choice of shots, and a shorter range.

I have asked several beginner children to try several techniques: changing hands, one-handed backhand, two-handed backhand. Almost all of them found it easier to change hands. The backhand is indeed a difficult shot to learn, and unnatural for most athletes.

5. Execution, advantages vs disadvantages of the shot

Execution 

Racquet grip:

The two hands are placed opposite each other and the player simply "detaches" one of the two hands to let only the other control the racquet for hitting. Thus, the change from right to left hand and vice versa is faster than the "old" change from forehand grip to backhand grip.

It is much faster to change hands than to undertake any kind of footwork.

For dropshots, changing the grip can easily be done by placing the free hand back on the handle to rotate the racquet, as the player has a lot of time. An alternative solution is to rotate the racquet only with the hand holding the racquet, which is easy with a little practice.

Execution of the forehand stroke:

The forehand with the opposite hand is executed exactly like a normal forehand. As a result, the player makes forehands on both sides, in an open or semi-open position.

Movement and positioning: 

Changing hands saves a lot of movement, an important factor for physical freshness in long matches. In addition, the replacement is very fast for the next move as it is executed on open stance on both sides. No more crazy recovery turning around!

There is no longer any need to run around the ball to hit a forehand rather than a backhand. This circumvention tactic is used very frequently by players because they choose to take the risk of being in a weaker position to hit a forehand shot that they consider better than their backhand (which seems very illogical to a non tennis specialist).

The backhand smash (often called the most difficult shot in tennis) becomes an easy smash with the other hand.

The change from right to left hand and vice versa is faster than the change from forehand to backhand. To do this, simply hold the racquet with both hands facing each other, and simply "detach" one of the two hands to let only the other control the racquet for hitting.

It is faster to change hands than to make any kind of footwork.

On the fly, the player's range is increased.

Disadvantages

No tennis player or coach has yet described to me any obvious disadvantages of this technique.

It can be argued that the forehand of the weak hand may be less powerful than the two-handed backhand. This remains to be proven. But apparently Nadal's forehand is quite powerful.

What is certain is that even players known to have the best backhands in the world, whether one-handed (Federer, Thiem, Wawrinka, Gasquet, etc.) or two-handed (Djokovich, Zverev, etc) will often run around the ball to hit it with a forehand, thinking that their forehand is better than their backhand.

Some people think that changing hands is too slow or that there is less reach on the backhand side. This argument is not valid. This is because they think that in this hand changing technique, the player holds his racquet in the same way as before, i.e. with the hands shifted on the handle. On the contrary, I think it is faster and one has more reach on the "reverse" side (see explanation above of the new racquet grip).

In all cases where there would be a disadvantage, point #6 below can be invoked, as there are obviously many situations where it is an advantage.

To really know the advantages and disadvantages of this technique, one should try it for a long time, preferably with several athletes. In use, we realize the problems that this creates and that it removes.

6. Extra shot

Indeed, the use of changing hands instead of using forehand and backhand does not imply that we should forget the backhand.

The player obviously continues to use his backhand for all balls aimed at his body. When the ball arrives on his weak side, he can also choose between a backhand and a forehand shot with his weak hand, which gives him more tactical possibilities.

Changing hands can simply be one more technique in the player's repertoire.

In tennis clubs, young people spend a lot of time practicing the circumvention of the ball. It would no longer be necessary to spend so much time on it. This time could be used to practise other shots. Most players, especially professionals, can easily add a move to their repertoire.

7. Easier backhand?

Most players and coaches consider the forehand to be more difficult to execute than the backhand, whether played with one hand or two.

However, I have experimented with many beginners who have never played tennis before, giving them the choice of hitting backhands with one hand, two hands, or with their “wrong hand.” Almost all of them chose the “wrong hand” because they thought it was easier to execute.

Only those who already had experience playing the backhand thought it was easier to execute because, naturally, when they tried the “wrong hand” for the first time, they found it more difficult than the backhand they had already practiced many times.

Conclusion

In my opinion, playing with forehand on both sides is much easier to learn than it seems. If you start young, the forehand of the weak hand becomes a very effective shot, and even world-class as evidenced by the cases of Nadal or Moya.

No tennis specialist has yet convinced me that this technique has more disadvantages than advantages.

Indeed most tennis coaches are averse to change. For example, recently a young American kid (age around 14) was winning international competitions in his age group, using both hands. However, despite the proof this technique was successful, his coaches said that there «soon they were going to change him to a two-handed backhand»!!

No one has heard of him since! This example shows that we are far from adopting new techniques in tennis!

We will therefore have to wait (as in the case of Fosbury in the high jump) for an exceptional champion to succeed using this technique before many young people imitate them and their coaches are convinced to incorporate this way of playing and, instead of converting these young people to the two-handed backhand, explore the possibilities of ambidextrous play.

I still think this technique represents the future of tennis.

WRITTEN BY

Manuel Guittet