Joe's ATP Tour Statistics
Index Statistics of the year 1991 Statistics of the year 1992 Statistics of the year 1993 Statistics of the year 1994 Statistics of the year 1995 Statistics of the year 1996 Statistics of the year 1997 Statistics of the year 1998 Statistics of the year 1999 Statistics of the whole period 1991-1999 The best records of each year Result statistics Nation statistics Detailed player statistics About the statistics Tennis links Send me a message

Righties vs. Lefties

There is the common thought that left-handed players have an advantage over right-handed on the Tour. One could think because the left-handed players are a minority on the Tour they are harder for right-handed players to apdapt to and, on the other hand, can adapt to the right-handed players more easily.
I've done an investigation on all matches played between 1991 and 1998 to confirm/disprove this theory.

1. Match record

Among the approx. 27,000 matches contained in my database, there were 7842 matches between right- and lefthanded players. Out of these matches, 3901 (49.74%) were won by the righties, 3941 (50.26%) were won by the lefties.
So the match record is almost balanced.

2. Relative data

Out of 468 righties, who have played at least 5 matches versus lefties,
225 (48%) have a negative match record against lefties,
210 (45%) have a positive match record against lefties,
 33  (7%) have a balanced match record against lefties.

Out of 115 lefties, who have played at least 5 matches versus righties,
48 (42%) have a negative match record against righties,
56 (49%) have a positive match record against righties,
11  (9%) have a balanced match record against righties.

Out of 468 righties, who have played at least 5 matches versus each lefties and righties,
242 (52%) have a better match record against lefties than against righties,
222 (47%) have a better match record against righties than against lefties.

Out of 76 lefties, who have played at least 5 matches versus each lefties and righties,
41 (54%) have a better match record against lefties than against righties,
35 (46%) have a better match record against righties than against lefties.

3. Result

The data shown above do not allow a clear statement to be formed. It cannot be significantly confirmed that lefties have an edge over righties.


Index 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Total Best Results Nations Players Info Links Mail