Becoming a Left-hand Chopper

"You have to off-load at least for 6-8 weeks and then rehab for several months" my doctor said whilst turning off the ultrasound machine and wiping off the ultrasound fluid from my right elbow. I had a partially torn tendon, a pulled muscle and an aggravated tennis elbow.

It took a few days for it to sink in and realise the significant impact the injury was going to have on my life and TT career as a person who has been practising 1-3 hours per day for the last 2-3 years.

I reckon I went through all stages of grief one by one: denial, bargaining, anger, depression and acceptance in the coming weeks (I am exaggerating a bit though for the dramatic effect!). I even stupidly tried to continue or restart playing when I was still in the first two grief stages and as a result I made the injury even worse. 

So, eventually I realised that I have a choice to make, give up trying or find a way to make something good out of it. Obviously I chose the later otherwise why I would write about it here?

I decided to use this recovery period to learn playing with my left hand. The immediate problems where that firstly, I was always heavily right-handed and my left hand was absolutely useless and awkward. Secondly, I had spent last few years correcting my body positioning for playing right-handed and now I had to reverse everything. But you know, when there is a will, there is a way.

I decided to try a defensive chopping style as firstly, it would give me a bit more time to hit my shots away from the table and secondly, I could use the same body position for returning most serves with my long-pimple side (backhand).

I have been practising with my left hand since May 2024. I have to say it has been a challenge and sobering experience to lose to players who I had never lost to before; but I have managed to get from not being able to hold the bat properly with my left hand to playing like this: https://youtu.be/qszLL9UhiNQ

My current plan is to play in Division 2 of Oxford this season with my left hand and develop it as much as I can before going back to playing with my right hand.

To cut the story short, I am aiming to play again in Division 1 next year - either with my right or left hand (or maybe even both!). Fingers crossed!