Tennis players who play with their wrong hands

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skysaw
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08 Jun 2010, 7:23 am

A while back I learnt that (current world number one) tennis player Rafael Nadal is naturally right-handed, although he plays left-handed. His uncle (who was his coach) taught him at a young age to play with his wrong hand. The advantage of this (apparently) is that his double-handed backhand is a bit like someone playing a forehand with their "correct" hand. But playing "wrong-handed" seems like a big risk to me if you're planning on making a living from playing tennis.

Anyway, I've recently learnt that former men's world number one Carlos Moya and former ladies world number one Maria Sharapova and the (perhaps) lesser-known Yaroslava Shvedova also play with their "wrong" hands.

What could explain this weird phenomenon? It's an important question, I'm sure you'll agree.



conan
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08 Jun 2010, 10:16 am

i used to do this and although i was quite good. not really serious competitions or anything but i never really had any coaching and only practiced a bit. i also did double handed backhands and sometimes even swapped hands for shots i really need ed to reach for.
I am right handed but throw and play racket sports with my left. My right is not far off in the power and it could be as good with practice. I am not exactly ambidextrous though.