From D. H. Buss
Oh, dear. Not that old one again about why left-handers are better at tennis (New Scientist, Science, 30 September). Forty years ago, scientists were full of theories (mostly about the poor coordination of the right side of the brain) to explain why left-handers could never be capable of the best tennis because no left-hander had ever won Wimbledon.
Then Jaroslav Drobny won in 1954, and although I don’t think there was a left-handed women’s champion before Martina Navratilova, the current proportionate excess of top left-handers is probably no more than coincidence.
Perhaps these things just go in cycles, like the predominance of Scandinavian middle distance runners being followed by that of the British and now the Africans.
