May 2nd
Left Handed Tennis
With the Grand Slam tournaments coming up, right around the corner, in fact, the iconographies of tennis have started entering the public imagination again. Aside from wondering about the Wimbledon schedule , what the players might be doing to get ready this year, and what they’re significant others might be wearing, there are more than a few tennis thoughts looming. Some of these are the same questions that we all wonder about every year. The history of the game, the origins, and the way some players seem to float into it and others have to fight, are all part of the pool of memories we get to drink from.
Then comes the old thought, inspired by the stunning showings of Rafael Nadal every year at the French Open . He’s won four times, and it seems to be pretty well-argued that his skill as a player is what’s been driving his wins, but it also might be important to mention that he’s left-handed. It seems as though being left-handed has often been something of an advantage, in tennis as well as a number of other sports. The thoughts about why this might be come around again every year, and it’s been going around long enough that there have even been studies to look at this very phenomenon.
The research seems to suggest that left-handed tennis players have an advantage because they are used to playing right-handed people as well as left-handed people. Naturally, they can face off against a left-handed opponent more instinctually. But they are used to playing the dominant right-handers, and can adjust their moves out of reflex. Right-handed people always have to prepare and make adjustments more consciously. There is also a notion that left-handed people generally tend to look at the big picture first, and notice details later, whereas right-handed people tend to look at details, and form a big picture from the information. Whether or not this will come into play this year is up to destiny to decide, but it’s interesting to watch the games with this in mind, and see how the lovely game gets played out in another manifestation.