"Lefties are always a challenge"

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Andy takes on Jarkko Nieminen at Wimbledon on Wednesday, with a win over the Finnish left-hander putting him into the third round.

Lefties are relatively rare on the Tour, but they can ask some difficult questions of the right-handed player as Andy revealed after practice on Wednesday.

“The spin is obviously different,” he said. “Off a kick serve the ball would bounce into your body with a lefty, but with a right-hander it bounces away from you.

Not only are the serves different, the groundstroke exchanges can alter dramatically too.

“Normally lefties are going to hit more balls over to your backhand side off their forehand,” added Andy “If you watch Nadal, he hits a lot of topspin forehands across to Federer’s backhand.”

But when it comes to match-ups against left-handers, Andy’s had a good practice partner.

“I was actually quite lucky growing up because I practised with my brother all the time. Him being lefty helped me get get used to dealing with those spins a little bit better. You just don’t play lefties that often, so it’s always a bit challenging.”

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