Left and Right Handed Players

[DruvCarbonBlade]

Hey, so I was doing some research on the past few winners of the WTTC in the doubles category and I noticed something. In the past 10 years all the doubles teams winners have had one left handed player and one right handed one (for the exception of Kong Linghui and Wang Hao in 2005) for instance: 2013-Chuang Chih-Yuan (right) Chen Chien-An (left) 2011-Ma Long (right) Xu Xin (left) 2009-Wang Hao (right) Chen Qi (left) 2007-Ma Lin (right) Chen Qi (left) 2013-Wang Liqin (right) Yan Sen (left). And now that I've taken all the time to list all the winners of the doubles WTTC in the past 10 years. For the main point of this thread, why do you think there are any advantages to this?

 

[htfu]

it means that they can both play to their strong forehand most of the time (left handed player stands on the right side, right handed player stands on the left side).

 

[Steven]

Yeah it's mainly about positioning and footwork. As htfu said the right and left handed player have their own "basic position" allowing them to cover a big area with their forehand. Then the two players only have to move sideways.
A pair of right-handed or a pair of left-handed players will have the same "basic position", so they also have to move to the back after every shot in order to make room for their partner. They need more time for their footwork and end up walking into eachother more often.

This rally is a nice example, altough the Korean pair wins it. The Koreans really have to walk around eachother after every shot, while Ma Long and Xu Xin can just use their forehand constantly.

 

[Dan]

Great examples by both users here and great thread, well spotted. Yes due to the positioning left and right handed players both are able to make better use of their forehands. Also for serve receive makes things slightly easier.

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