Downtheline1
Rookie
Do lefties have a harder time serving into the sun?
I'm a righty and serve into the sun all the time. Just wondering.
Thanks.
I'm a righty and serve into the sun all the time. Just wondering.
Thanks.
I live in the Northern Hemisphere, are left- handed and play in the morning. The sun is in my eyes if I serve from the Northern side of the net. It is much better for me if I can serve from the sourthern side. If my partner is a lefty as well, then one of us has to 'take a hit for the team' and serve into the sun.I don’t get it. Why would it differ?
I think @MasterZeb's point is that righties have the same problem on the opposite endI live in the Northern Hemisphere, are left- handed and play in the morning. The sun is in my eyes if I serve from the Northern side of the net. It is much better for me if I can serve from the sourthern side. If my partner is a lefty as well, then one of us has to 'take a hit for the team' and serve into the sun.
If this happens in the southern hemisphere then it is the other way around, and it is the right-hander who has the sun in her/his eyes in the morning.
Isn’t that totally dependent on the orientation of the court?I live in the Northern Hemisphere, are left- handed and play in the morning. The sun is in my eyes if I serve from the Northern side of the net. It is much better for me if I can serve from the sourthern side. If my partner is a lefty as well, then one of us has to 'take a hit for the team' and serve into the sun.
If this happens in the southern hemisphere then it is the other way around, and it is the right-hander who has the sun in her/his eyes in the morning.
Most courts are built so that the sidelines run north-southIsn’t that totally dependent on the orientation of the court?
Interesting. I am not sure how true this is, though. Looking at some large tennis facilities that host pro tournaments, this isn't super consistent. Granted, a lot of these courts are old as dirt and were probably built before they even thought of this stuff, or they simply had to follow whatever the local city grid allowed, for space efficiency:Most courts in the US are designed with an orientation (vertical line from the net to the baseline) that is slightly skewed by 10 degrees to the west of true north (other end is skewed similarly east of true south). When you play in the late morning or late afternoon, the sun glare is in the face of lefties on one side more so than for righties when serving and so, lefties may struggle more if you play at those times. Early morning and early afternoon, it affects righties more.
I think part of the reason why you may have had this experience is because the grid on the west side of LA (Santa Monica, Brentwood, West LA, etc.) has about a 30° skew that follows I-405, and many tennis courts follow thisThanks for posting the orientation of courts at pro tournaments. My experience is mostly with tennis courts in Southern California where the skew is maybe 10-20 degrees from North-South similar to US Open, Toronto, Montreal, Madrid and Rome. When I played once at Indian Wells, I thought it was similar on the outer courts, but it looks like they are true North-South from your pics - maybe I was fooled because my match was around noon when the sun was high in the sky.
These ones at David Sills Lower Peters Canyon Park are at 49 degrees according to my protractor. You can see that they follow the grid:I live in Orange County and will have to check if the street grids are similar too. I‘ve played on a couple of courts at a public park (Lower Peters Canyon-Irvine) and private communities/houses locally where the courts were oriented almost halfway between North-South (40-50 degrees) and East-West and those are even worse because the sun is behind the baseline most of the day and affects groundstrokes/volleys and not just serves - much worse to face glare on each shot and not just on the serve.
The ones at Stanford Stadium are like that. The sun angle is fine most of the day, but in the summer at about 6pm, the sun is directly behind the baseline right above the stands, and it is nearly impossible to see from one end. I had an embarrassing complete whiff while being asked to demo a return of serve while blinded by the sun in front of several hundred tennis camp juniors.These ones at David Sills Lower Peters Canyon Park are at 49 degrees according to my protractor. You can see that they follow the grid:
You mean these? The ones on the north side skew 42 degrees one way, while the ones on the south side complement them by skewing 48 degrees the other way, so they are at a perfect 90 degrees from each otherThe ones at Stanford Stadium are like that. The sun angle is fine most of the day, but in the summer at about 6pm, the sun is directly behind the baseline right above the stands, and it is nearly impossible to see from one end. I had an embarrassing complete whiff while being asked to demo a return of serve while blinded by the sun in front of several hundred tennis camp juniors.
The point is that if you have a lefty paired with a righty on a North-South oriented court, regardless of where you are in relation to the equator, as long as You choose who serves on which side correctly, neither will ever have to toss into the sun.I live in the Northern Hemisphere, are left- handed and play in the morning. The sun is in my eyes if I serve from the Northern side of the net. It is much better for me if I can serve from the sourthern side. If my partner is a lefty as well, then one of us has to 'take a hit for the team' and serve into the sun.
If this happens in the southern hemisphere then it is the other way around, and it is the right-hander who has the sun in her/his eyes in the morning.
Tennis courts run north to south.Isn’t that totally dependent on the orientation of the court?
Didn’t know this was true. So did a bit of research on all my local courts, including Wimbledon courts, and it isn’tTennis courts run north to south.
Now a baseball field has the sun in the pitcher's eyes instead of the batter's. Since games are played in the afternoon, and not the morning the hitter faces east, this means that if the pitcher is left-handed, his arm faces south. Hence, the nick-name, "southpaw".
If you say so.Didn’t know this was true. So did a bit of research on all my local courts, including Wimbledon courts, and it isn’t
Right back at yaIf you say so.
Did you miss all the satellite imagery of tennis courts I just posted? A lot of them (probably most) do not run north-south. They tend to follow the city grid, so if most of your courts run north-south then you probably live in an area with a perfectly square grid.Tennis courts run north to south.
Now a baseball field has the sun in the pitcher's eyes instead of the batter's. Since games are played in the afternoon, and not the morning the hitter faces east, this means that if the pitcher is left-handed, his arm faces south. Hence, the nick-name, "southpaw".
Yeah, in an ideal world that's how it would be done. But many times you have to follow the city grid or you would end up wasting a lot of space"The court should be oriented as close to north/south as possible (the net line should be on an east/west axis), to minimize the effects of sun on play, particularly in the early morning and late afternoon. "
https://www.courtone.net/tennis-courts/hard-tennis-courts/new-construction/
So that's how it should be, anyhow. I know things aren't always constructed right. The courts at my high school only had about 10 feet of backcourt, instead of the minimum of 21 feet. You'd take a backswing and hit the fence with your racquet.
Yes, I had missed the pics of those courts. And yes, the do not all face the same way. But the link I put above explains that's wrong.Did you miss all the satellite imagery of tennis courts I just posted? A lot of them (probably most) do not run north-south. They tend to follow the city grid, so if most of your courts run north-south then you probably live in an area with a perfectly square grid.
Baseball fields also don't really follow any particular orientation. Clockwise from top left, we have Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs), Guaranteed Rate Field (Chicago White Sox), Citi Field (NY Mets), and Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees). You can see the diamond is oriented every which way, despite all of these being in generally the same latitude (40.7 to 41.8 degrees N)
I went and checked their page here listing the award-winning courts they built:Yes, I had missed the pics of those courts. And yes, the do not all face the same way. But the link I put above explains that's wrong.
Court | Google Maps | North/South? |
Lake Jeanette Swim and Tennis Club - Greensboro, NC | https://www.google.com/maps/@36.153473,-79.812888,200m/ | NO |
Carmel Country Club - Charlotte, NC | https://www.google.com/maps/@35.1061292,-80.8248016,200m/ | YES |
Elkin Municipal Courts - Tom Gwyn Tennis Complex, Elkin, NC | https://www.google.com/maps/@36.2499912,-80.859014,200m/ | NO |
Person High School, Roxboro, NC | https://www.google.com/maps/@36.4114098,-78.979319,200m/ | NO |
Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst, NC | https://www.google.com/maps/@35.2194376,-79.4064606,200m/ | NO |
J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center- North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC | https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7878174,-78.6813591,200m/ | NO |
Breckenridge Swim and Tennis Club, Morrisville, NC | https://www.google.com/maps/@35.8394429,-78.8635502,200m/ | NO |
Mill Creek, Mebane, NC | https://www.google.com/maps/@47.8575983,-122.2070759,200m/ | NO |
All the pictures are oriented the same way, i.e.: north is directly up, so the diamonds are all oriented in different waysI can't conclude anything from the pics of baseball stadiums, and nothing tells of the orientation of any of the pictures.
You can see in the link YOU posted diagrams of MLB ballparks, only some of which actually follow this recommendation, for reasons stated in the rest of the paragraph, which you didn't include:"Major League Baseball clearly states in rule 1.04 "THE PLAYING FIELD: It is desirable that the line from home base through the pitchers plate to second base shall run East Northeast.""
https://www.baseball-almanac.com/stadium/ballpark_NSEW_NL.shtml
My high school had east-west facing courts, Supposedly they were originally designed by the swimming coach who had no clue tennis courts should face north-south. This was in MN. After I graduated, the courts were eventually rebuilt to face the correct way.Most courts are built so that the sidelines run north-south
Yeah, I live in an area where most courts face north-south and just assumed that was true everywhere. Doing research for this thread has been illuminating. It's clear that local grid patterns have a strong influence on the orientation of the courtsMy high school had east-west facing courts, Supposedly they were originally designed by the swimming coach who had no clue tennis courts should face north-south. This was in MN. After I graduated, the courts were eventually rebuilt to face the correct way.
On a separate note: women who play mixed get very very good at serving into the sun.
I loled.
J
Do lefties have a harder time serving into the sun?
I'm a righty and serve into the sun all the time. Just wondering.
Thanks.
Hahaha, this is hliarious. I'm a lefty, and I try to explain to this sun thing to people and often get blank stares... one righty guy with a serve about half as potent as mine said he wanted to serve with the sun in his face (which meant I would be serving with it in mine) because he felt the lettering behind him on the wind screen would make it harder for the opponents to pick up the ball on his serve which would help us to hold his serve, where we (according to him) needed no such advantage to help hold my serve. I told him to GTFO and served without sun in my eyes...And then there are those lefties who don't seem to understand that by being partnered with a righty neither player has to serve in the sun on most courts at most times of the day.
Had an argument with one lefty partner who was wanting to serve on the side that keeps me out of the sun. A. I have a much stronger serve B. Couldn't comprehend that the other side kept her out of the sun.
This only is 100% true for those that serve "properly". Those that serve lined up nearly straight to the baseline (patty cake dink serve) may struggle with the sun on both ends of the court!
On a separate note: women who play mixed get very very good at serving into the sun.
On another separate note: A court complex in town got de-certified for USTA matches 2 years ago. Very nice master-planned community with huge park and 8 court tennis area. All The Courts East-West Oriented. Pure hell to play on.