I never comment on UA-cam Videos, but had to do it for this one. This ambidextrous journey you describe is the same journey I've been in for almost 3 years now. I played tennis for years since a young age and I always played as a regular right-handed player: right handed forehand, backhand (2 hander), slices, serves, volleys, etc. But always had this idea of playing ambidextrous in my mind but never did it, and basically for the same reasons you describe: better tennis once you master it and better for your body. I had to stop playing tennis completely and after 4 years of not touching a racquet I finally started playing again, all my skills were basically gone and it felt like if I had to start playing tennis from scratch again. But at that moment since I had to start learning tennis again I decided to finally do it and start playing with my left hand as well as the right had. Best tennis decision ever! Now, after almost 3 years later I can do basically all shots with both hands: forehand, one handed backhand, 2 handed backhand, forehand slice, backhand slice, forehand volley, backhand volley, serves, smash, etc. Any shot you can name I can do it either as a right hander or a left hander. I even mess sometimes with the 2 handed forehand on both sides. Of course some shots are better than others but it feels nice to be able to do them all on both sides. There is definitely a learning curve, and some unexpected problems you will likely find during your journey, but is not as bad as some people make it seem, and regardless of the drawbacks this style of play may have, the benefits outweigh them by far (there will also be unexpected benefits you would have never guessed). If I could go back in time, I would have done it since the beginning when I was a kid. Great video, hope to see more like this! Feel free to ask any questions =)
Really appreciate you sharing your story and leaving the comment! That is great it went well for you. I can see why stopping and coming back feels like a clean enough slate to start over like that. I know what you mean about unexpected struggles and I will get into it on a video in the near future. Some I expected, some I did not. It is great to know there are others on this path! I would also love to go back in time and start this way haha. I wasn't opposed to it, I just never had exposure to the idea and probably didn't think much of such things but I have gone against the grain in many ways even from a young age so it wouldn't have been off brand... however, if I have kids lol, they will probably start this way.
Good for you. A much healthier way to play and I have been with the double-handled tennis racket since 1990 and never looked back. If I could not use the Freestyle I would play a single-handled racket with two forehands.
I believe there was a dude that used to be ATP ranked that used one of these racquets... I think he was on Winston Du's channel. He even had a crazy running volleyball spike kinda serve. Hands down, the most bizarre/unorthodox player/playing style I've ever seen in my life.
That is Brian Battistone. I mention him in the video in text and I think the voiceover but didn't show his volleyball serve and stuff haha. Not my footage so I can't technically use it but yes, he was the highest rank example of this racquet. Funny because his serve didn't have anything to do with the racquet necessarily but I know people who've hit with him and said the serve was really hard to deal with and his tennis overall was very tricky to read.
@@ZeroLoveTennis Perhaps you doing a; "I'm adding a volleyball serve to my arsenal" for your next vid. You like to try different things that can give you an edge... I'm saying; "Why Not!"
Hey! im cross dominance, meaning I do things comfortably (like sports) on my right but other things (eating, writing) on my left. When I first started playing tennis, I refuse to learn a backhand and actually have two forehands, although my righthand forehand is way stronger. I now use a twohand backhand and my issue with my left hand forehand is that what you said is switching hands. When I get s fast ball and I have to suddenly switch hand was a nightmare. I am absolutely happy with my two hand backhand now, but from time to time I still instinctively switch my racquet to my left-hand when they give me an awkward ball where a two hand or a slice is not good enough. Although I think having a dedicated forehand and backhand is the best way to play tennis. Having a second forehand can actually be advantageous to suprise your opponent or to save a point
I think my two handed backhand is becoming that surprise shot. That emergency shot I might reactively do if I get a surprise body shot. We'll see, I still have a lot I can get better at. I think a lot of what seems slow is easy to blame on the shot but it's actually just deeper muscle memory stuff. Hard to explain but you have to understand deeper how you react on the stronger side and compare, then you see it isn't just that but many other little details of how you initiate your reactions. All of which is better and comes intuitively on the side you are more comfortable with. Seeing that helps me understand these plateaus and know if it's really the two forehands or me just not being good lefty. It seems to always be the latter. I hope to cover this in a future video.
I really enjoyed your video. You are very articulate and wish you had met the inventor of this racket, (Lionel Burt). I have been using the double-handled racket longer than anyone out there. I will say I do not play as well as many with it like Brian and Dann Battistone and others. I met Lionel Burt in 1990 and used the prototype which was a U Shape and only used my left forehand and right forehand. The racket brought me back to tennis after not playing for years. Within one hour of going to the wall, I was hooked. At the time I said right arm, teach left arm. I have played drums throughout my life and that seems to have been an advantage also. On high balls on either side using two hands to do the chopping stroke creates an amazing under spin. The angle of the racket when running on either side of the court and flipping the racket creates an angle that brings the ball back into the court and not doing so the ball would usually go outwards. I will say there is a longer learning curve but I find it the healthy way to play to play tennis. From the prototype to the Natural to the Freestyle, I could not see myself going back to a single-handled racket. I did not give the diamond racket a chance and never owned one. The greatest skill is to adapt and be open-minded. Your video is very valuable and was a pleasure to watch. Grateful Greg
Thanks for stopping by to comment! I may or may not be playing Dann in Vegas soon! We shall see. I'm still sticking to Ambi tennis but might not be using this concept anymore. I actually am not finding the switching to be so hard... Yeah, it sounds like you get the learning curve. I got a good taste of it and through some of the curves but there would be more to come, which I saw but didn't get through. I'm glad to be back on regular racquets but still as a player interested in playing ambidextrously. Nice, I play a lot of guitar but no drums. Not as much these days, actually but that is cool you are a fellow musician! I listen to music a lot and have a great appreciation for great grooves and sneaky ghost notes or clever syncopations. Lotta Zeppelin and Steely Dan in my ears haha but a bit of everything also. Louis Cole is cool... The left arm being coached by right arm is very interesting and that has been my way of life in some ways recently. It is more conducive to coach myself lefty as a righty than as a righty trying to have a good backhand (standard 2hander) because they are mechanically quite unalike but I can atttempt to mirror the left and right sides with good effect. Not the thing to do with a regular backhand. Cheers!
@@ZeroLoveTennis Greg mentions the "Diamond" version of the Natural Tennis racquet. It looks like the ends of the double handles on that model point inwards rather than being flared out. Still not parallel to the face, apparently, but I wonder if the Diamond would have been more to your liking from that pronation / topspin perspective that you analyze.
I applaud you on your journey of discovery but I fear it might be a circular one and you will find your way back to your DHBH which for those who have one, is usually their more solid shot anyway, make most of their unforced errors on their forehand😳. Nonetheless, at least you'll enjoy yourself just researching what you need to do to get to where you want to go. Best of luck with it. As Rick Macci says, "There's no right or wrong in Tennis; Just better".
I know what you mean! I genuinely am not fearful if that is the outcome, though. With each tangent I may take, I came back more sure that isn't the path for me and glad I traveled down it. I think this one will very potentially help improve the 2HBH anyway, so it is easier to embrace. Whereas a OHBH might do little to nothing for the 2. So it's all good haha. It's not like I have a professional tennis career to ruin
@@ZeroLoveTennis Haha ... As one of my friends once told me, "I know we're all amateurs and we're all sh*t, but I want to be the best sh*t in this club" lol
Ha! Yeah I just wanna get better and have fun along the way. Sometimes one goal gets traded for the other but in general, it is a path towards growth and improvement. It's also such great exercise, I'm just grateful to play!
I really appreciate your ability to hyperfocus, It gives you a headscratcher common sense. Makes you scratch your head until you follow the train of though and realize, huh, that makes alot of sense. Getting ready to string up some toroline and uncoil on sum cobra kickers. I feel like a time capsule, I had not played any tennis in the last 15 years. I get to rip van winkle my way back into it. I was absolutely obsessed with it in high-school, played nearly everyday my last 2 years of high school. Leveled up from a 3.0 to a 4.5 in those 2 years. It's coming back quick especially with how unbelievable the string and racquets are nowadays. Well anywho, I just wanted to throw some shine your way. Keep doin what u do.
Thank you! I appreciate everything you said. That is great you're coming back into it! I took like a ten year break and coming back was awesome. I was stronger and smarter and didn't hate the game and was old enough to have friends and drive etc as opposed to being a little kid at the whim of what your parents wanted to be your hobbies haha and a coach that focused on drills more than fun. Falling back into love with tennis is among the best of things to happen for me. I'm so glad I love tennis and I'm very careful to not ruin that love May it continue! And for you as well.
i love crushing my BH. It is different shot but by all means not a weaker shot imo... I understand that you do what interests you but i cannot see myself changing hands in game. Like i will simply will not have time for that.
It's a learning curve. I've found a way to make the difference really negligible but it is interesting how tricky it is to adjust the rest of the body in time. New reflexes have to be installed haha.
There is a tennis pro named Cheong-Eui Kim. He plays two forehands too, using a regular racquet. Sometimes, he switches back to a regular two-handed backhand.
I haven't seen a lot of his footage but I know him and mentioned the guy in this video actually. Forgot the name but I think that's the guy I mentioned in the text. I heard he had to go to the Army?
@@ZeroLoveTennis Yeah I was thinking it must be him that you mentioned about. I am not aware if he had to serve in the Army or not. Another version of ambidexterity is hitting with two hands on both sides. Quite a few WTA pros do that, and some ATP pros do, too.
I hit with a WTA player like this a few days ago. Footage coming soon. Was cool because we are total opposites in that way haha. Yeah I heard from the company I discuss in the video (they make the racquet) that this guy had to go to the Army. They have good tabs on a lot of the ambi players out there, naturally.
It seems you have to start playing tennis with the Dimond or Freestyle racquet to master playing with it. Do you think the racquet suites a flatter hitting style? It would be interesting to play with the angles of the frame to see if another configuration would benefit a player more. This path you are on is very interesting!
I think I'd certainly prefer the Freestyle to the Diamond. The whole team at the company feels that way too, I talked to a few of them. I would have liked to see an option with no angle and see what I thought of that. Serving would still be odd, though. Perhaps even more odd than with the angled racquet. An interesting set of pros/cons and adjustments with each take.
always fun to experiment why not, worst case you might come back to regular playing and probably your normal backhand will be better if you worked on lefty forehand
@@ZeroLoveTennis if the range of motion is the biggest factor for you there is always this option-> 1-hander backhand - more topspin and range of motion
I think by using 2 forehand makes your (not literally you, but people on general) game too samey-samey. 2-handed backhand can get some crazy top spin shots. One hander can get a better trajectory flat shot. Back hand slice seems to be significantly better than a forehand slice. For stretch, last chance shots, tends to be easier to return back hand wise.
I still plan to have a backhand slice. I kind of disagree. It throws a lot of my ppl off. That sudden lefty spin off that wing. Plus it won't be a perfectly mirrored shot. It will still be different. I think the level of unpredictability actually goes up but as it gets better, it should also be more of a weapon on any given situation. I'll probably just play right handed at the net though.
Awesome to see I am not only one crazy going this path! As naturally right hand dominant, I started practice left handed shots (all) partially for fun and partially to prevent injuries from dis-balanced use of my body. Also, I started to play tennis seriously about 3 years ago, when I really struggled with my crappy one-handed backhand (especially high moon balls). I decided to let left handed approach a try. I am now quite comfortable to hit all shots to some degree, but in matches I go just for topspin / slice forehands. I don't have time to switch hands at the net for volleys and my serve is not ready yet. If it is just friendly and lover level match, I try to put some left handed volleys, overheads and serving left handed at least few games as a real situation practice. Speaking of switching hands: I used to hold racket in ready position like you (fingers overlapped), but found out for me personally is better to hold them just with the tips of the fingers at the same spot touching each other on the handle. With overlapped method, I sometimes got hands stuck and lost precious time for a swing. Maybe try it too :) Check out my latest ball machine practice, if you can see the way I hold it in ready position: ua-cam.com/video/lFcqFL5TfYo/v-deo.html If not clear and you are interested, reach out to me and I will try to take detailed pictures / video for your experimentation. There was an ATP pro ranked about #430 C. Kim, you can find his video on UA-cam easily. However, I doubt ambidextrous tennis can be successful at pro-level, their speed of play and time pressure is tremendous, every split-second delay is crucial for them. Last thing, I considered this dual handed racket as well, but it was clear no go for me without even trying to hit with it. Cheers!
Haha send a pic of how you hold it on IG maybe but idk how you will do that while holding the phone. I can't quite tell in the video. I think it could be viable but it is hard to say, we will need to see it proven. I'm working my way up to being able to keep up with rallies at that pace and I have a good handful of people hitting at that pace and not too far from that level. UTR 12's and people ranked in the 1000's or higher or recently, etc. Kim might be the korean that had to quit for Army. I consider his climb to be a represntation of the success it can have. Means he beat people around that rank or higher to get there, I'm sure. Either way, I'm determined to keep it going. For similar reasons to why you started and stuck with it.
Quick record to demonstrate it: ua-cam.com/video/1hSiuNyMhNg/v-deo.html hope it gives you an idea. It takes a while to get accustom to it, but I personally like it more. Of course my level of play is no way near to UTR12 (no idea of my UTR / NTRP as based in Europe, could be around 3.5 / 4.0 NTRP?).
I think you'd be a bit higher than that for sure. UTR is like Pro level. UTR 10-11 starts to scratch the surface of higher college level play. Hmm I see how you hold it now. I might tinker with that but I think holding it that way still requires this quick rotation to happen. The way I described holding mine the way I do might sound harder or less efficient than it actually is. In a future video, I will go into more detail. I also figure, if people go this route seriously, people would have a ton of variation in how they go about this. I wonder what would ultimately be seen as the best methods.
Man, your lefthand forehand looks nice. I can’t do anything with my left hand. That’s why my backhand is oh. Don’t know, how I survived the period when I broke my right arm 😂
Appreciate it! My left hand was also so...useless? I think knowing that just bothered me so much and I wanted to try this out. Sorry to hear that happened. How did you break it?
My tennis is suffering a bit to balance things out but I think I'm unhappy either way so it's ok haha. The dream is to feel even but idk if that is possible.
@@ZeroLoveTennis in my native city there is a coach who was playing ITFʼs. He is lefty but he used two forehands. But I guess he started like so from the beginning.
Great video! really weird racquet lol Also I saw you restring zero string review. What do you recommend as far as gauge for me coming from lynx tour 16 gauge. I'm wondering whether to get thinner or thicker gauge.
Ironically, or not (idk) I had this 2 handle thing with no intention of using both at the same time but that isn't entirely unusual. However, everything about this racquet is unusual so...anything goes.
I thought I explained clearly in the video but the whole point for me was to have the grip ready on either forehand. I don't have to switch grips, I'm already holding in the right position for either forehand. Does that make sense? Maybe that bit is buried in the video but if you watched the whole thing I definitely break that down. I'll probably post a short to clear that up.
@time410s - I’m on the exact same wavelength as you! Loved the video and loved all the explanation. There is a different two-handled from natural tennis called the Diamond that I used because of several of the negatives you pointed out, especially spin. However, after about 10 years with that racket, I am still longing and there is a negative with the angle. Really would love to get parallel grips again. Understanding is that the patent for the parallel grips expired, so the company has an incentive to put it as some sort of angle. ua-cam.com/video/WUgVvdiiieU/v-deo.htmlsi=on2AEtdVWvDvigqq
Interesting! Yes, I feel there really should the the parallel option just because it is the most...intuitive one? And it will answer that question and maybe be easier to adjust to. I feel like it needs to be an option available for what this racquet is just because it is already so many steps away from what people are adjusted to.
@@ZeroLoveTennis I agree again. If meeting up with Trent, I’d be on same page about pushing for getting a parallel grip mold. With pickleball becoming more popular, I’d like to have a parallel grip for that too. Through natural tennis, I’ve had Marv help make custom 3D printed grips that could be attached to any racket; however, having a mold created of the full racket makes a huge difference for appeal.
Why do you need two forhands? So much time it takes to learn new forehand. Are there any benefits? Will you become a better tennis player? Gimmicky and uncool staff imo. Sorry...
I don't really need anything, right? So it isn't about need. It's a desire to get rid of the backhand companied with a desire to me more symmetrical in my strength and coordination. It's a lot of things. I also just never liked the feel of 2 hands. I always feel more bunched up. There is nothing favorable about that side for me when I compare it to my forehand. I think it certainly offers more potential to my game or shots overall but whether or not I realize that is a whole other story but is the path I am on for now. At the end, if that comes, I think my 2 will be better for it because it will reveal so much about the left-body and it's involvement overall in my shots (for either 1 or 2, forehand, etc) that could use some gains and gains happen when isolating this side for another forehand. It has definitely been good for me and fun anyway.
2 forehands makes perfect sense.... Especially since someone like Nadal is not a natural lefty so he could potentially have developed TWO big forehands & 2 evenly developed arms.
I never comment on UA-cam Videos, but had to do it for this one. This ambidextrous journey you describe is the same journey I've been in for almost 3 years now. I played tennis for years since a young age and I always played as a regular right-handed player: right handed forehand, backhand (2 hander), slices, serves, volleys, etc. But always had this idea of playing ambidextrous in my mind but never did it, and basically for the same reasons you describe: better tennis once you master it and better for your body.
I had to stop playing tennis completely and after 4 years of not touching a racquet I finally started playing again, all my skills were basically gone and it felt like if I had to start playing tennis from scratch again. But at that moment since I had to start learning tennis again I decided to finally do it and start playing with my left hand as well as the right had. Best tennis decision ever!
Now, after almost 3 years later I can do basically all shots with both hands: forehand, one handed backhand, 2 handed backhand, forehand slice, backhand slice, forehand volley, backhand volley, serves, smash, etc. Any shot you can name I can do it either as a right hander or a left hander. I even mess sometimes with the 2 handed forehand on both sides. Of course some shots are better than others but it feels nice to be able to do them all on both sides.
There is definitely a learning curve, and some unexpected problems you will likely find during your journey, but is not as bad as some people make it seem, and regardless of the drawbacks this style of play may have, the benefits outweigh them by far (there will also be unexpected benefits you would have never guessed). If I could go back in time, I would have done it since the beginning when I was a kid.
Great video, hope to see more like this! Feel free to ask any questions =)
Really appreciate you sharing your story and leaving the comment! That is great it went well for you. I can see why stopping and coming back feels like a clean enough slate to start over like that. I know what you mean about unexpected struggles and I will get into it on a video in the near future. Some I expected, some I did not.
It is great to know there are others on this path! I would also love to go back in time and start this way haha. I wasn't opposed to it, I just never had exposure to the idea and probably didn't think much of such things but I have gone against the grain in many ways even from a young age so it wouldn't have been off brand...
however, if I have kids lol, they will probably start this way.
Good for you. A much healthier way to play and I have been with the double-handled tennis racket since 1990 and never looked back. If I could not use the Freestyle I would play a single-handled racket with two forehands.
I believe there was a dude that used to be ATP ranked that used one of these racquets...
I think he was on Winston Du's channel.
He even had a crazy running volleyball spike kinda serve.
Hands down, the most bizarre/unorthodox player/playing style I've ever seen in my life.
That is Brian Battistone. I mention him in the video in text and I think the voiceover but didn't show his volleyball serve and stuff haha. Not my footage so I can't technically use it but yes, he was the highest rank example of this racquet.
Funny because his serve didn't have anything to do with the racquet necessarily but I know people who've hit with him and said the serve was really hard to deal with and his tennis overall was very tricky to read.
@@ZeroLoveTennis Perhaps you doing a;
"I'm adding a volleyball serve to my arsenal" for your next vid.
You like to try different things that can give you an edge...
I'm saying; "Why Not!"
Lol maybe it'll happen. It has crossed my mind haha.
Hey! im cross dominance, meaning I do things comfortably (like sports) on my right but other things (eating, writing) on my left. When I first started playing tennis, I refuse to learn a backhand and actually have two forehands, although my righthand forehand is way stronger. I now use a twohand backhand and my issue with my left hand forehand is that what you said is switching hands. When I get s fast ball and I have to suddenly switch hand was a nightmare. I am absolutely happy with my two hand backhand now, but from time to time I still instinctively switch my racquet to my left-hand when they give me an awkward ball where a two hand or a slice is not good enough.
Although I think having a dedicated forehand and backhand is the best way to play tennis. Having a second forehand can actually be advantageous to suprise your opponent or to save a point
I think my two handed backhand is becoming that surprise shot. That emergency shot I might reactively do if I get a surprise body shot.
We'll see, I still have a lot I can get better at. I think a lot of what seems slow is easy to blame on the shot but it's actually just deeper muscle memory stuff.
Hard to explain but you have to understand deeper how you react on the stronger side and compare, then you see it isn't just that but many other little details of how you initiate your reactions. All of which is better and comes intuitively on the side you are more comfortable with.
Seeing that helps me understand these plateaus and know if it's really the two forehands or me just not being good lefty.
It seems to always be the latter. I hope to cover this in a future video.
I really enjoyed your video. You are very articulate and wish you had met the inventor of this racket, (Lionel Burt). I have been using the double-handled racket longer than anyone out there. I will say I do not play as well as many with it like Brian and Dann Battistone and others. I met Lionel Burt in 1990 and used the prototype which was a U Shape and only used my left forehand and right forehand. The racket brought me back to tennis after not playing for years. Within one hour of going to the wall, I was hooked.
At the time I said right arm, teach left arm. I have played drums throughout my life and that seems to have been an advantage also.
On high balls on either side using two hands to do the chopping stroke creates an amazing under spin. The angle of the racket when running on either side of the court and flipping the racket creates an angle that brings the ball back into the court and not doing so the ball would usually go outwards. I will say there is a longer learning curve but I find it the healthy way to play to play tennis.
From the prototype to the Natural to the Freestyle, I could not see myself going back to a single-handled racket. I did not give the diamond racket a chance and never owned one.
The greatest skill is to adapt and be open-minded.
Your video is very valuable and was a pleasure to watch.
Grateful
Greg
Thanks for stopping by to comment! I may or may not be playing Dann in Vegas soon! We shall see. I'm still sticking to Ambi tennis but might not be using this concept anymore. I actually am not finding the switching to be so hard...
Yeah, it sounds like you get the learning curve. I got a good taste of it and through some of the curves but there would be more to come, which I saw but didn't get through.
I'm glad to be back on regular racquets but still as a player interested in playing ambidextrously.
Nice, I play a lot of guitar but no drums. Not as much these days, actually but that is cool you are a fellow musician! I listen to music a lot and have a great appreciation for great grooves and sneaky ghost notes or clever syncopations. Lotta Zeppelin and Steely Dan in my ears haha but a bit of everything also. Louis Cole is cool...
The left arm being coached by right arm is very interesting and that has been my way of life in some ways recently. It is more conducive to coach myself lefty as a righty than as a righty trying to have a good backhand (standard 2hander) because they are mechanically quite unalike but I can atttempt to mirror the left and right sides with good effect. Not the thing to do with a regular backhand.
Cheers!
@@ZeroLoveTennis Greg mentions the "Diamond" version of the Natural Tennis racquet. It looks like the ends of the double handles on that model point inwards rather than being flared out. Still not parallel to the face, apparently, but I wonder if the Diamond would have been more to your liking from that pronation / topspin perspective that you analyze.
I applaud you on your journey of discovery but I fear it might be a circular one and you will find your way back to your DHBH which for those who have one, is usually their more solid shot anyway, make most of their unforced errors on their forehand😳. Nonetheless, at least you'll enjoy yourself just researching what you need to do to get to where you want to go. Best of luck with it. As Rick Macci says, "There's no right or wrong in Tennis; Just better".
I know what you mean! I genuinely am not fearful if that is the outcome, though. With each tangent I may take, I came back more sure that isn't the path for me and glad I traveled down it.
I think this one will very potentially help improve the 2HBH anyway, so it is easier to embrace. Whereas a OHBH might do little to nothing for the 2.
So it's all good haha. It's not like I have a professional tennis career to ruin
@@ZeroLoveTennis Haha ... As one of my friends once told me, "I know we're all amateurs and we're all sh*t, but I want to be the best sh*t in this club" lol
Ha! Yeah I just wanna get better and have fun along the way. Sometimes one goal gets traded for the other but in general, it is a path towards growth and improvement.
It's also such great exercise, I'm just grateful to play!
I really appreciate your ability to hyperfocus, It gives you a headscratcher common sense. Makes you scratch your head until you follow the train of though and realize, huh, that makes alot of sense. Getting ready to string up some toroline and uncoil on sum cobra kickers. I feel like a time capsule, I had not played any tennis in the last 15 years. I get to rip van winkle my way back into it. I was absolutely obsessed with it in high-school, played nearly everyday my last 2 years of high school. Leveled up from a 3.0 to a 4.5 in those 2 years. It's coming back quick especially with how unbelievable the string and racquets are nowadays. Well anywho, I just wanted to throw some shine your way. Keep doin what u do.
Thank you! I appreciate everything you said. That is great you're coming back into it! I took like a ten year break and coming back was awesome. I was stronger and smarter and didn't hate the game and was old enough to have friends and drive etc as opposed to being a little kid at the whim of what your parents wanted to be your hobbies haha and a coach that focused on drills more than fun.
Falling back into love with tennis is among the best of things to happen for me. I'm so glad I love tennis and I'm very careful to not ruin that love
May it continue! And for you as well.
i love crushing my BH. It is different shot but by all means not a weaker shot imo... I understand that you do what interests you but i cannot see myself changing hands in game. Like i will simply will not have time for that.
It's a learning curve. I've found a way to make the difference really negligible but it is interesting how tricky it is to adjust the rest of the body in time. New reflexes have to be installed haha.
Great review, thanks!!! Much appreciated! Hope you don't mind if I'm posting it on our Facebook page...
Go for it 😉
There is a tennis pro named Cheong-Eui Kim. He plays two forehands too, using a regular racquet. Sometimes, he switches back to a regular two-handed backhand.
I haven't seen a lot of his footage but I know him and mentioned the guy in this video actually. Forgot the name but I think that's the guy I mentioned in the text. I heard he had to go to the Army?
@@ZeroLoveTennis Yeah I was thinking it must be him that you mentioned about. I am not aware if he had to serve in the Army or not. Another version of ambidexterity is hitting with two hands on both sides. Quite a few WTA pros do that, and some ATP pros do, too.
I hit with a WTA player like this a few days ago. Footage coming soon. Was cool because we are total opposites in that way haha. Yeah I heard from the company I discuss in the video (they make the racquet) that this guy had to go to the Army. They have good tabs on a lot of the ambi players out there, naturally.
It seems you have to start playing tennis with the Dimond or Freestyle racquet to master playing with it. Do you think the racquet suites a flatter hitting style? It would be interesting to play with the angles of the frame to see if another configuration would benefit a player more. This path you are on is very interesting!
I think I'd certainly prefer the Freestyle to the Diamond. The whole team at the company feels that way too, I talked to a few of them. I would have liked to see an option with no angle and see what I thought of that. Serving would still be odd, though. Perhaps even more odd than with the angled racquet. An interesting set of pros/cons and adjustments with each take.
my conspiracy theory is that the racquet is to get people into gardening by resembling the handles of hedge shears
If the racquet came first then it would be the other way around haha
always fun to experiment why not, worst case you might come back to regular playing and probably your normal backhand will be better if you worked on lefty forehand
Exactly! It still feels like I'm putting money in the back for my 2-hander at the end of the day. So I can go back or stay this way.
@@ZeroLoveTennis if the range of motion is the biggest factor for you there is always this option-> 1-hander backhand - more topspin and range of motion
I think by using 2 forehand makes your (not literally you, but people on general) game too samey-samey. 2-handed backhand can get some crazy top spin shots. One hander can get a better trajectory flat shot. Back hand slice seems to be significantly better than a forehand slice. For stretch, last chance shots, tends to be easier to return back hand wise.
I still plan to have a backhand slice. I kind of disagree. It throws a lot of my ppl off. That sudden lefty spin off that wing. Plus it won't be a perfectly mirrored shot. It will still be different.
I think the level of unpredictability actually goes up but as it gets better, it should also be more of a weapon on any given situation.
I'll probably just play right handed at the net though.
Awesome to see I am not only one crazy going this path!
As naturally right hand dominant, I started practice left handed shots (all) partially for fun and partially to prevent injuries from dis-balanced use of my body. Also, I started to play tennis seriously about 3 years ago, when I really struggled with my crappy one-handed backhand (especially high moon balls). I decided to let left handed approach a try.
I am now quite comfortable to hit all shots to some degree, but in matches I go just for topspin / slice forehands. I don't have time to switch hands at the net for volleys and my serve is not ready yet. If it is just friendly and lover level match, I try to put some left handed volleys, overheads and serving left handed at least few games as a real situation practice.
Speaking of switching hands: I used to hold racket in ready position like you (fingers overlapped), but found out for me personally is better to hold them just with the tips of the fingers at the same spot touching each other on the handle. With overlapped method, I sometimes got hands stuck and lost precious time for a swing.
Maybe try it too :) Check out my latest ball machine practice, if you can see the way I hold it in ready position: ua-cam.com/video/lFcqFL5TfYo/v-deo.html
If not clear and you are interested, reach out to me and I will try to take detailed pictures / video for your experimentation.
There was an ATP pro ranked about #430 C. Kim, you can find his video on UA-cam easily. However, I doubt ambidextrous tennis can be successful at pro-level, their speed of play and time pressure is tremendous, every split-second delay is crucial for them.
Last thing, I considered this dual handed racket as well, but it was clear no go for me without even trying to hit with it.
Cheers!
Haha send a pic of how you hold it on IG maybe but idk how you will do that while holding the phone. I can't quite tell in the video.
I think it could be viable but it is hard to say, we will need to see it proven. I'm working my way up to being able to keep up with rallies at that pace and I have a good handful of people hitting at that pace and not too far from that level. UTR 12's and people ranked in the 1000's or higher or recently, etc.
Kim might be the korean that had to quit for Army. I consider his climb to be a represntation of the success it can have. Means he beat people around that rank or higher to get there, I'm sure.
Either way, I'm determined to keep it going. For similar reasons to why you started and stuck with it.
Quick record to demonstrate it: ua-cam.com/video/1hSiuNyMhNg/v-deo.html hope it gives you an idea. It takes a while to get accustom to it, but I personally like it more. Of course my level of play is no way near to UTR12 (no idea of my UTR / NTRP as based in Europe, could be around 3.5 / 4.0 NTRP?).
I think you'd be a bit higher than that for sure. UTR is like Pro level. UTR 10-11 starts to scratch the surface of higher college level play.
Hmm I see how you hold it now. I might tinker with that but I think holding it that way still requires this quick rotation to happen. The way I described holding mine the way I do might sound harder or less efficient than it actually is. In a future video, I will go into more detail.
I also figure, if people go this route seriously, people would have a ton of variation in how they go about this. I wonder what would ultimately be seen as the best methods.
Thanks for dragging this one out of the dungeon for our entertainment.
Couldn't help myself haha. Thank you :)
Man, your lefthand forehand looks nice. I can’t do anything with my left hand. That’s why my backhand is oh.
Don’t know, how I survived the period when I broke my right arm 😂
Appreciate it! My left hand was also so...useless? I think knowing that just bothered me so much and I wanted to try this out.
Sorry to hear that happened. How did you break it?
@@ZeroLoveTennis I wish you’ll succeed with your goal to make two forehands. It bothers me as well that my body is a bit not symmetrical ))
My tennis is suffering a bit to balance things out but I think I'm unhappy either way so it's ok haha. The dream is to feel even but idk if that is possible.
@@ZeroLoveTennis in my native city there is a coach who was playing ITFʼs. He is lefty but he used two forehands. But I guess he started like so from the beginning.
Very cool! I've met one guy in my area playing like this. Also lefty. Tries to do everything ambidextrously
Looking forward to your video about the two forehands journey, tempted to try this myself!
I think the worst case scenario is you end up working on stuff that helps your regular backhand anyway
Great video! really weird racquet lol Also I saw you restring zero string review. What do you recommend as far as gauge for me coming from lynx tour 16 gauge. I'm wondering whether to get thinner or thicker gauge.
I'd go 17! Zero is a little stiff and very very durable. No reason to go up in the size if your main reason would be durability, imo
They had two handle rackets 30 years ago. I remember a guy using one and have no idea why he was using it.
Well, what was he doing with it? 2 forehands?
@@ZeroLoveTennis Somewhat I guess. He even volleyed both sides two handed. He was a bit of a pusher though.
Ironically, or not (idk) I had this 2 handle thing with no intention of using both at the same time but that isn't entirely unusual. However, everything about this racquet is unusual so...anything goes.
@@ZeroLoveTennis I actually have a metal racket with wire instead of strings. 😄 Haven't hit with it yet.
like cable wire?
Two handles then why hitting balls with one hand, can't see the combination of power, precision and control? What is the logic?
I thought I explained clearly in the video but the whole point for me was to have the grip ready on either forehand. I don't have to switch grips, I'm already holding in the right position for either forehand. Does that make sense? Maybe that bit is buried in the video but if you watched the whole thing I definitely break that down. I'll probably post a short to clear that up.
what's the weight and balance of that?
I did some work to it so about 335 grams and 10pts headlight
@@ZeroLoveTennis so it's compensated to have usual racket specs, then, right? (not as if you added an extra handle to a random racket).
Yeah it's pretty regular and a lot of people assume the handle would be so heavy because there are two but it's really the same.
@time410s - I’m on the exact same wavelength as you! Loved the video and loved all the explanation. There is a different two-handled from natural tennis called the Diamond that I used because of several of the negatives you pointed out, especially spin. However, after about 10 years with that racket, I am still longing and there is a negative with the angle. Really would love to get parallel grips again. Understanding is that the patent for the parallel grips expired, so the company has an incentive to put it as some sort of angle.
ua-cam.com/video/WUgVvdiiieU/v-deo.htmlsi=on2AEtdVWvDvigqq
Interesting! Yes, I feel there really should the the parallel option just because it is the most...intuitive one? And it will answer that question and maybe be easier to adjust to. I feel like it needs to be an option available for what this racquet is just because it is already so many steps away from what people are adjusted to.
@@ZeroLoveTennis I agree again. If meeting up with Trent, I’d be on same page about pushing for getting a parallel grip mold. With pickleball becoming more popular, I’d like to have a parallel grip for that too. Through natural tennis, I’ve had Marv help make custom 3D printed grips that could be attached to any racket; however, having a mold created of the full racket makes a huge difference for appeal.
Oh nice! Yeah Trent and I might meet up soon. I might hit with Dann in Vegas. We shall see, I've chatted with some of these guys.
Essentially no. My brain & wrist hurts just watching 🤯 Nice try SD.
What about SD?
@@ZeroLoveTennis San Diegoooo.
Ah figured.
holy shit thats cursed
Ha, it's an odd thing to show up with, that's for sure.
Why do you need two forhands? So much time it takes to learn new forehand. Are there any benefits? Will you become a better tennis player? Gimmicky and uncool staff imo. Sorry...
I don't really need anything, right? So it isn't about need. It's a desire to get rid of the backhand companied with a desire to me more symmetrical in my strength and coordination. It's a lot of things. I also just never liked the feel of 2 hands. I always feel more bunched up. There is nothing favorable about that side for me when I compare it to my forehand. I think it certainly offers more potential to my game or shots overall but whether or not I realize that is a whole other story but is the path I am on for now.
At the end, if that comes, I think my 2 will be better for it because it will reveal so much about the left-body and it's involvement overall in my shots (for either 1 or 2, forehand, etc) that could use some gains and gains happen when isolating this side for another forehand.
It has definitely been good for me and fun anyway.
@@ZeroLoveTennis really wish you all the best! Don't wanna be rude. Tennis is about getting fun! Keep it up!💪
Appreciate it. No worries, I get ya. Kinda glad the regular racquet works better for me haha.
2 forehands makes perfect sense.... Especially since someone like Nadal is not a natural lefty so he could potentially have developed TWO big forehands & 2 evenly developed arms.
@@shanelawson5072 I heard about 2 forehand only that Sharapova used to play like that. But even then it had no sense...