The Left-Handed Advantage in Tennis
About 10 percent of the population holds an advantage when it comes to fighting situations and competitive sports: lefties. Left-handed individuals are rare in both the animal kingdom and the human population, so physical and strategic advantages allow lefties to benefit in one-on-one fighting situations. In a recent study published by Florian Loffing et al. in PLoS ONE journal, left-handed individuals, predominantly men, have the upper hand in tennis matches, although the advantage diminishes with higher performance levels. Although the article was an interesting read, the conclusions were rather obvious and were repeated several times throughout the article, as if the reiteration revealed new information.
Loffing and friends held two studies: left-handed professional and amateur tennis players. The study of professional tennis players was based on data published publicly online from 1973 to 2011. Analysis of data revealed an excess of left-handed professionals in 15 of the 39 years, with an inverse U-shaped curve peaking around the 1990s. Women were overrepresented only in 1981. Data for both studies were obtained from free online resources, searches on the web, or material voluntarily provided by tennis clubs in the WTV, in which 184 of the 597 tennis clubs responded. The online sources may be skeptical and loaded with misinformation. Additionally, the tennis clubs voluntarily responded, which introduces bias since the clubs with left-handed players would most likely respond.
Left-handed players were previously the highest ranked and best players in year-end rankings, but that advantage has decreased over time, which is obvious since professional players are accustomed to playing with left-handed players and spend an adequate amount of time to practice, prepare, and watch videos and read game statistics on their left-handed opponents.
Left-handed advantage in professional tennis is moderate in men’s competition and almost non-existent in females. The study exposes new information regarding left-handedness and sex, although it is revealed that this information was previously known, where “work on laterality effects in male and female sporting professionals found handedness to be performance-relevant in male rather than female competition” (Loffing 2). However, the data does not provide reasons or an explanation for this occurrence. Although it may be biological, it is not supported by the data obtained from this specific experiment.
Loffing et al. used information from a large survey administered to people ages 18-30, a range near the age range of professionals, and asked for handedness in both writing and throwing. This information was compared to left-handedness in tennis to determine the probability of finding more or an equal number of left-handed professionals by chance. The use of a survey introduces bias into the study, since it is only voluntary, and would most likely attract sports-oriented people. Secondly, throwing left-handed cannot be compared to playing left-handed in tennis. The motions differ significantly because the tennis swing requires technique and precise movement, and there is also the element of cross-dominance in handedness.
Despite the flaws in the study, it revealed new information on left-handed tennis players, a topic in which there is little research. The scientists were detailed with the source of their information, the calculations, and the significance of data and results obtained. The study was not an experiment per se, but more of a compilation of data already provided to the world. However, data was missing from certain years and from women’s tennis in general. The study provides a correlation between left-handed players and success in tennis, but only before the player reaches a professional level and becomes accustomed to left-handed players.
Citation:
Loffing F, Hagemann N, Strauss B (2012) Left-Handedness in Professional and Amateur Tennis. PLos ONE 7(11): e49325. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049325
