Andy Roddick suggests if he believes playing ambidextrous tennis can work at the top level

Teo Davidov is the youngest ranked player on the ATP Tour.

The 15-year-old American is somewhat of a tennis ‘unicorn’, hitting left and right-handed forehands.

Looking to become the first successful ambidextrous player, Davidov has received plenty of attention.

During the latest episode of his podcast, former world number one Andy Roddick reacted to footage of Davidov and suggested whether he could succeed at the top level.

Andy Roddick hopes he is wrong about Teo Davidov as he has questions for the youngster

“Incredibly cool, congrats, obviously getting ATP points at that age is not something that I was ever close to,” he said during the Served with Andy Roddick podcast.

Roddick was asked if he thinks Davidov’s tennis is sustainable.

“Not when it’s fast,” said Roddick.

“So, I’ve seen people do this before.

“The part that really intrigues me is the serving.

“Luke Jensen could do it, try it, but then he would default to the right when he needed to.

“If someone can fluently serve with both directions, it changes a lot.”

Luke Jensen was one of the world’s first ambidextrous players, impressing at the junior level.

Ranked number one in the world in juniors for singles and doubles, expectations were high for the American.

Unfortunately, Jensen was unable to live up to expectations and never broke into the world’s top 150 in singles.

Roddick explained why it’s so difficult to be an ambidextrous player on the ATP Tour.

“Now, the grip, when the ball is coming fast, imagine Jannik Sinner hitting at you, and you have to switch! When you’re hitting forehands and backhands, your bottom hand is the same, so to hit two forehands, you not only have to shift the racket, but you have to slide it down, quickly,” he said.

“I question, and I hope I’m wrong, for this kid’s sake, I question whether or not you can do that when the speed ramps up.”

The 43-year-old is ‘curious to see’ what happens with Davidov, but has his reservations.

“The serving thing is really interesting, it’s like having a baseball player who could pitch equally well left-handed and right-handed, that’s potentially game-changing to me,” said Roddick.

“This is cool, I’m curious to see how it works.

“I don’t know if there’s a contingency plan, of like, maybe we hit some normal backhands once in a while, just in case.

“The serve is great, if you can serve that way, that’s something we’ve never seen before.

“It looked clean on both sides; it’s something to watch for.”

Roddick is keeping an eye on Davidov, but what’s next for the 15-year-old?

Teo Davidov sets sights on top 1000

Davidov reached the quarterfinals of the ITF M15 event in Naples, Florida, recently, earning himself his first two ATP points.

For context, world number 1,000, William Rejchtman Vinciguerra, has 17 ATP points to his name.

If Davidov can start picking up ATP points on a regular basis, making deep runs at ITF tournaments, it’s not unrealistic to suggest he could be ranked inside the top 1,000 by the end of the year.