Ben Johns Unleashes His Secret Lefty Forehand at Pickleball Worlds

Ben Johns turned heads at this week's Opendoor Pickleball World Championships by reintroducing a shot most fans had never seen him use.

It was a left-handed forehand.

For anyone unfamiliar with his game, it looked like a brand new addition to his repertoire.

But it wasn't new at all.

The American pickleball star originally played this shot in men's singles back in 2016 and 2017.

Johns himself explained the evolution of his playing style had gradually pushed the shot out of his game.

In the early days of singles pickleball, rallies were largely built around powerful drives.

However, he later adopted a more tactical approach.

He began relying on drops and moving toward the net to put opponents under pressure.

“Back in the day when people played singles, it was pretty much all drives,” Johns explained.

“Then, I started dropping and coming in - the cat and mouse style as we know it today - and that required me to just hit backhand slices, basically backhand drops.”

“So I stopped using my left hand and I stopped really hitting a bunch of passing shots, as I would just drop and come in… that’s kind of the style I just continued to play for singles after that.”

For years, that approach worked.

Johns dominated the singles circuit with his drop-and-charge style, building a reputation as the greatest male player in pickleball history.

But the game has changed considerably over the past decade.

Developments in equipment have altered the demands of singles play.

New balls — such as the LT Pro 48 used on the PPA Tour — behave differently than older models.

They bounce higher.

They hold more spin.

At the same time, paddles have become increasingly powerful.

Players can now take a well-placed drop and do a lot with it.

Johns believes the traditional drop-and-approach strategy is no longer as effective as it once was.

That realization prompted him to experiment with his left hand again.

“You can’t really drop and come in super well with this ball,” Johns noted.

“You can hit accurate drops, but the ball bounces pretty high and people have a lot of spin on their paddles, so they can just take a drop and do a lot with it, so cat and mouse doesn’t really work very well.”

He added that while drops remain useful to stay in rallies, they are no longer a reliable way to build his game.

Since he does not generate much power with his backhand, the left-handed forehand offers a valuable alternative.

It gives him an attacking option he had shelved for nearly a decade.

The shot first resurfaced during Johns' singles match against Brandon French at the PPA World Championships.

In a post-match interview, Johns conceded that back in his tennis days, he actually preferred two forehands.

He brought that preference into pickleball early in his career.

Then it stopped working, so he dropped it.

Now, it's working again.

Johns began his campaign with an 11-7, 1-11, 11-5 victory over Brandon French on Tuesday.

But he exited the singles competition in the Round of 32 after losing 8-11, 8-11 to ninth seed Noe Khlif on Wednesday.

Despite the early exit, the left-handed forehand drew attention from fans, broadcasters, and analysts.

It also sparked curiosity about what else Johns might have hidden in his bag of tricks.

Johns is uncertain how frequently he will compete in singles going forward.

But he has made one thing clear: the left-handed forehand is here to stay whenever he takes the court.

“When I do play singles, you can expect to see it,” Johns said.

The shot is not the only thing drawing attention to Johns at this tournament.

During a mixed doubles match with Anna Leigh Waters, the pair's outfits did not match.

Waters wore a teal skirt and black shirt from Nike.

Johns wore bright blue shorts and a white shirt.

Broadcasters Sarah Ansboury and Michelle McMahon noticed the mismatch and asked about it during a post-match interview.

“Ben, I don’t think you did your job today with matching Anna Leigh’s outfit, so what’s going on here?” Ansboury asked.

Johns, Waters, and McMahon laughed at the question.

“It’s entirely my fault,” Johns said.

“She told me what to wear in the morning and I think I packed in the dark. I packed the blue instead of the teal, and somehow, I didn’t have a black shirt. It was a catastrophe this morning, I take full responsibility. Blame being color blind and dressing in the dark.”

Waters interrupted to clarify.

“I’m sorry you can’t blame your partial color blindness. He’s not actually color blind,” Waters said.

Johns has shared previously that Waters handles the fashion decisions in their partnership.

She establishes the color combinations, and he matches.

So far this season, he has worn several well-coordinated looks to complement Waters in mixed doubles.

But this particular look did not match at all.