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I was wondering why there are no players that play forehand and backhand one handed but not both with their main hand. There were players doing both two handed or Nadal plays his forehand on his left side although he is right handed. I always thought it would have been smart to play one handed with his right hand on the right side as well. But he plays a two handed backhand on his right.

Would one not have the better reach if one would play one handedly on both sides with the outside hand?

Somehow it is hard to find discussions about this as there are more discussions about two handed vs. classical one handed back hand.

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I was wondering why there are no players that play forehand and backhand one handed but not both with their main hand.

I don't follow that sentence. Don't players that use a one-handed backhand in fact use their main hand?

Would one not have the better reach if one would play one handedly on both sides with the outside hand?

So make every shot a forehand by using both hands? Yes you would potentially have better reach, but you'd have to take time to do it. The game today seems to favor the power and control of the two handed over the extra reach of the one-handed, with some players using a two-handed forehand.

While the grip changes in normal play between forehand and backhand, most of the movement is just a change of the racket rotation in the hand. The dominant hand never comes off the racket and remains at the bottom of the grip.

To hit a one-handed forehand with your non-dominant hand, you'd have to take the dominant hand off and slide the grip down. You'd have to repeat that when the ball comes back to the other side. I'm sure you could get better at it, but it seems like a lot of extra motion that has to be done before you can get the racket into a good return position. So you're playing reach against speed.

I was pointed at Cheong-Eui Kim, who was peaked just inside the ATP top 300 in 2015. There is some video of him playing with forehands on both sides.

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  • Yes that's a good example. I guess the grip thing plays a role and hence few people try it out. In the the double handed backhand is kinda playing a forehand with your off hand and using the main hand to stabilise it.
    – Max M
    Commented Sep 13, 2023 at 20:51

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