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!