should players learn to play with both hands when younger

this is a just a random thought as i was playing tennis earlier with a couple of friends and noticed he kept changing which hand he played with, when i served from the right hand side he used his left and the other way round from the left hand side.

so this lead me to thinking should it be something everyone is learnt when growing up playing tennis cos if you can play both handed you can deal with different situations differently. say nadal hit a serve to a right hand person's back hand they could change over and return with a forehand etc...

1) would it even work?
2) should it be taught?

Luke Jensen

Solerina

'Tis the season of the two-hander fernando !

All junior players seem to be embracing this style -
God knows why when you look at the likes of Gasquet
and Federer. A SHBH is a thing of beauty !

I think what he means is that the player swaps which hand holds the racquet, giving them effectively two forehands - one with each hand. I don't think this would work well for a number of reasons:

* The time it takes to transfer the racquet across the body into the other hand, get it in the right grip and prepare for the shot would be too long when compared to the speed of shot at the professional level.

* You would probably end up dropping the racquet or getting your hand positioning wrong on the grip.

* I don't think you could train both arms to be equally good effectively.

* You would look like a bit of a fool!

But hey, I'm just guessing here. Maybe if someone tried it out properly they could get it to work, and would end up with two forehands.