How many left-handed Wimbledon tennis players are there?
Just 10% of the world is left-handed. Yet since the Open Era began, 23% of Wimbledon singles titles have been won by left-handed players.
I’m left-handed, and lefties have managed to dominate more than our fair share of Wimbledon tournaments. Here I reveal the secrets to our success.
Left-handed tennis champions
There have been 102 singles tournaments at Wimbledon from 1968–2018. With left-handers making up 10% of the general population, if they had an equal chance, lefties would be expected to have won around nine titles. In fact they have won 23.
TAKE THE TEST: How left-handed are you?
Some famous tennis players like Nadal play tennis with their left hand but write with their right. In fact, handedness is a continuous scale from left to mixed to right.
Take the test below to find out if you’re more left-handed than you thought.
WATCH: The leftie advantage
Watch the video below as I demonstrate the tactics we left-handers can use to our advantage on court.
The leftie advantage
Presented by Greg Rusedski, former British tennis number one.
Our world is built for right-handed people, but on the tennis court, lefties like me, have the advantage.
Like most people, the majority of tennis players are right-handed. They get used to playing against each other.
But being left-handed is a little bit different; it makes it a little trickier for a right-handed opponent.
For example, a lefty’s forehand – usually his stronger shot – plays naturally into the righty’s weaker backhand.
Of course, right-handers have a similar advantage on their forehand, but crucially, lefties get lots of practice against this.
The left-handed serve naturally spins differently when you strike it, which makes it lethal coming from the left side of the court.
Creating this kind of spin – making the ball swerve and bounce – pushes the ball far out wide, onto a righty’s backhand.
If my opponent is good enough to get the ball back, the court’s wide open for me to take the point.
Or, I can sneak it behind the righty as he runs back to court, like I did against Sampras in ‘95.
Now you might think right-handers serving might have the same advantage from the righthand side, but they don’t.
Not only are lefties used to this, the rules of tennis actually favour us on the big points.
The final game point is only served from the right side when the score us 40 - 15; favouring righties.
Every other game point is contested from the left side of the court. 40 - love, 40 - 30, and advantage after deuce.
From first serve to match point, it seems left-handed players have the natural advantage. It takes a pretty experienced player to claim it back.
Okay Craig, let’s go!
Left versus right-handed tennis success
When I was a junior, three of my left-handed heroes – Martina Navratilova, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe – dominated Wimbledon.
But since that glorious run, just six singles titles have been claimed by left-handed players.
It could simply be a lull before lefties dominate again. Or right-handers may have been gradually closing the gap, with improvements in match preparation.
Elite players and their coaching teams now have video analysis and performance statistics at their fingertips – able to scrutinise every detail of their opponent’s game.
But making this knowledge count is another matter. When righties face a left-handed player, they can’t just play on auto-pilot. It requires a big bag of tricks and lots of practice to be able to adapt your strategy.
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