Playing with a left hand (and hitting a forehand, right?) when your right hand is dominant, is quite a challenge.
There is theoretically an advantage of a bigger reach but the lack of feel in the non-dominant hand and the lack of coordination of your non-dominant side are two factors that stop you from playing good tennis on that side.
This has been tried before - even on professional level, but no one has done anything significant with their non-dominant hand playing a forehand.
There was one player though: Alexander Volkov, who broke his right (dominant) arm when he was about 10 years old.
He learned to play with his left hand and played a two-handed backhand to support his weaker right hand.
His highest ranking was 14 on the ATP.
Note that he didn't play two forehands and he started practicing with his non-dominant arm at the age of 10. As you can imagine, he was practicing every day for hours for 10 years.
Jan 09, 2008 Rating
left hand fun for a natural right hander by: wild bill
i played basketball in college (actually i sat on the bench) but i concentrated on learning to shoot with either hand after i learned to shoot layups and hook shots with either hand.
i took up tennis in my late 20's. i found that hitting a lob with my left hand was natural so any shot hit over my left shoulder was not an automatic point for my opponent.
as time went on i developed more shots with my left. first i developed a left handed forehand because my right handed backhand was weak. then i developed a good lefthanded volley which extended my reach at the net.
now i am working on my left hand overhead. i don't get to hit it very often but when i do it blows my opponents minds. my lefthanded serve is non existant.
now i am in my late sixty's. i have a knee replacement on my left knee and bone spurs on my right foot. where i was once very quick, i am now limited in my movement. however i am able to continue to play doubles with my peers because my range is still adequate. i am able to do this because i am able to play with both of my hands.
i would urge you to continue to learn new shots because to me that is the fun in tennis.
good luck
wild bill
Aug 15, 2008 Rating
What it's like playing with your off-hand by: Nick
About playing with your off-hand, it's difficult but it can be done. I would know since I'm a natural lefty but I learned to play right handed. The advantages and disadvantages are as shown below:
Advantages:
-Your backhand is going to be better naturally since you are mostly using your dominant hand.
-You will have much more variety in your game.
-Better coordination in your off-side.
-Once you learn playing with your off-side it will make all other strokes seem easier to learn.
-All the advantages that lefties get.
Disadvantages:
-It will take much longer to learn all strokes with your off-side
-You will have to develop overall coordination from the beginning (assuming you don't play sports with your off-hand).
It will take a long time (if at all) for your off-handed strokes to be as good as your normal ones. The frustration of this is the main reason that most people don't even bother to play with both hands.
