Left handers

Dear Alois

Can you please give me some tips on how to deal with left handers. There are three young players at my Club that I struggle with and, surprise surprise, they are left handers.

I have your wonderful DVD on how to serve but against left handers of course everything is different. If I serve as I would normally do deep into the backhand side of my opponent I end up giving the lefthander a lovely ball to attack (if long) or to flick if short. If I serve from my right side to his backhand I leave all my backhand side exposed!

In rallies too I find that somehow they seem to cover most of the table with their forehand.

Please help me with some general strategy and serves.

Kind regards

Filippo

Hi Filippo,

Try serving with more sidespin to their forehands.  Sometimes the left handers don't like the ball curling away like that.  You can also serve the pendulum serve down the line to their backhand.  this will change the return that they will need to make.

You could also try a backhand serve to their backhand side.  If you do this from your backhand corner then you will be able to cover the table from your normal ready position.