Abstract

“Some people just hate playing lefties. There’s a certain mystique surrounding left-handed athletes, and the lefties wisely play it up!” None other than Pete Sampras
himself, former world number one in men’s tennis and right-hander by the way, made this statement in an article on strategies against left-handed players. There are other similar reports by sport practitioners who state that players might face difficulties when encountering left-handed opponents in tennis. Interestingly, such claims are not new as they can be found already centuries ago for fencing and cricket. A reason often cited for explaining difficulties with playing against left-handed opponents is the players’ low familiarity with the rarer left-handers’ game-play behaviour. Considering that only about 10-13% of the normal population is left-handed, such explanation appears to make sense; however, it is not the only hypothesis discussed in the literature. This article aims at giving an updated review on research addressing a left-handers’ advantage in sports with emphasis on findings from tennis. Aus der Einführung