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The tennis prodigy who plays without a backhand and changes his racket hand

Theodore Davidov, an 11-year-old boy of Bulgarian origin but living in the United States, continues to cause a sensation on the children’s circuit. A few months ago he impressed the world with a particular ability: he is ambidextrous and is able to perform the forehand with both hands—without executing the backhand—which gives it a huge advantage over its rivals.

Now Teo jumps back into the fray after going over Jaime Alcaraz, Carlos’ little brother —brand new number 9 in the world ranking after his recent victory in the Conde de Godó Trophy played in Barcelona— 10 years old, by beating him by a convincing 6-1 and 6-0 in the IMG Future Stars tournament.

Davidov already caused a sensation in the easter bowla very prominent tennis tournament for youth categories (under-18, 16, 14 and 12) organized by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) in which legends such as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Lindsay Davenport, and Jennifer Capriati.

“Tremendous,” he wrote. Brad Gilbert, Agassi’s former coach on Twitter, seeing Davidov play (and very well) without hitting the backhand. “Next development in tennis, playing with two forehands from Rafael Nadal,” said his coach, the Australian Paul McNamee. “It’s amazing to have two forehands and hit the ball so well,” said Blair Henley, one of America’s leading tennis journalists.

Teodor changes the racket hand depending on where the ball goes and has enough concentration to do it naturally without losing effectiveness when executing his forehand.

Born in Sofia (Bulgaria) on August 26, 2010, Teo Davidov moved with his parents to Colorado (United States) when he was one and a half years old. Barely When he was two and a half years old, he started playing tennis. hitting a ball at the house of his father, who was a coach. He started practicing on a tennis court at the age of three and four and a half, his father made him a member of the Colorado Athletic Club Monaco, where the boy began his training and his father taught.

Another particularity of this child prodigy of the racket sport is that he is a vegetarian and eats homemade organic food. “He works on developing his ambidextrous tennis skills and his mental toughness. The goal is to achieve total balance on both the left and right sides and being able to hit every shot in the game with both hands. However, the ultimate goal is to use tennis training as a way of personal growth and elevate his own life and that of everyone around him,” his coach said of his amazing technique.

The case of Teo Davidov reminds that of the Russian Evgenia Kulikovskayawho rose to No. 91 in the world and played in six Grand Slam tournaments, in the early 2000s. “Koulikovskaya doesn’t have a backhand. She never has. When she started playing at age seven, the first shot she learned was the forehand. When she got tired, the ambidextrous Koulikovskaya changed her racket hand and hit more forehands: ‘My coach saw that and did a little experiment,'” journalist Christopher Clarey noted on the case of this Russian, in New York Timesin the year 2003.

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