Ambidextrous Tennis, by Chris Lewit

[joeldrucker]

When it comes to students of the game in all of its dimensions, Chris Lewit is doctorate-level. Here, he brilliantly looks back and what’s to come in, “Ambidextrous Tennis: The Future of the Game or a Competitive Curiosity?” Enjoy Chris’ nuanced view of this topic and let us know what you think.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/article...-groundstrokes

[stotty]

It's an interesting concept and one that's been around for a while.

A good player at my club was ambidextrous and tried playing with two forehands for quite a while. He couldn't make the switching the racket from hand to hand work fast enough, so in the end gave it up. He was by this time 20 years old so it was probably too late to learn (or should I say unlearn) the skill, despite being fully ambidextrous.

Another matter preventing the learning of this skill probably lies with coaches. A coach would probably only try it with his own child because the potential repercussions of trying it with a regular student would perhaps be prohibitive.

Actually, I would have thought ambidextrous serving would be more doable, given it's a static stroke played in one's own time and under no physical pressure.

[jimlosaltos]

It's an interesting concept and one that's been around for a while.

A good player at my club was ambidextrous and tried playing with two forehands for quite a while. He couldn't make the switching the racket from hand to hand work fast enough, so in the end gave it up. He was by this time 20 years old so it was probably too late to learn (or should I say unlearn) the skill, despite being fully ambidextrous.

Another matter preventing the learning of this skill probably lies with coaches. A coach would probably only try it with his own child because the potential repercussions of trying it with a regular student would perhaps be prohibitive.

Actually, I would have thought ambidextrous serving would be more doable, given it's a static stroke played in one's own time and under no physical pressure.

Ah, memories of Luke and Murphy Jenson.

I believe it was "Dual Hand Luke" that hit 130 mph left or right.

Alas, that was overshadowed by brother Murphy goes AWOL from Wimbledon, was it? Caught in traffic, missed a match and was so embarrassed he "disappeared".
Actually, I can sympathize.

[don_budge]

"Ambidextrous tennis occupies a space between curiosity and possibility."

A space between curiosity and possibility? Where is that? Pure fantasy. Ambidextrious tennis is by definition as unorthodox as it gets and as any discerning tennis student knows...unorthodox doesn't cut it. Not in the long run. Four of the examples of ambi-tennis players are not ambidextrous. They are two handed players on both sides. If you want to count them as ambidextrous then you must include all players with two handed backhands as ambidextrous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDDV16cLFPg

I had never heard of Jan-Micheal Gambill. My interest in tennis in 2002 was at an all-time low. But he certainly never caught my attention. He came and went. His style of play is unorthodox and probably only possible because of the over-sized Prince racquet which provides maximum forgiveness. In this match Agassi works him over by merely stretching him from side to side and forcing him to cover so much ground considering he must take at least an extra step to get in position and making it more difficult to get in position.

Gene Mayer is used as an example of ambidextrous tennis but he is merely two handed on both sides. He was interesting to a point and climbed the ranking in tennis with a Prince racquet at a time when most if not all of tennis players were using standard sized wood and metal racquets. I have always thought of him as a cheater. A rules bender. Tennis etiquette of yesterday clearly expressed that the number one rule was...thou shall not take unfair advantage of your opponent. Mayer had no qualms about that. Most tennis players that crossed that line when questioned about their lack of ethics would be limited to a smirk. They couldn't justify it logically.

Ambidextrious tennis at the top level of tennis is non-existent and always has been. The only ambidextrous player at the top level was Luke Jenson as far as I know. Again...he was using the Prince racquet. In fact...every one of these examples were using over-sized racquets. The only possible way it is a possibility. A very remote possibility. Otherwise...impossible. Not going to happen anymore than swinging volley serve and volley. Gimmick. Unorthodox. A rare event statistically speaking.