Ben Shelton and Jack Draper are two of the ATP players who are backed to cause Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner the most issues.
Shelton won his fourth ATP title in Dallas earlier this month, backing up his run to the Australian Open quarterfinals.
It has been more of a tricky road for Indian Wells champion Jack Draper, who has been struggling with an arm injury since Wimbledon last year after enjoying an impressive start to the 2025 season.
Despite their impressive results already, former world number one Daniil Medvedev has suggested they actually have a disadvantage.
Daniil Medvedev claims left-handed players have a disadvantage
Medvedev has one of the most unique game styles on the ATP Tour, but it has helped him reach the top of the world rankings and win the US Open title in 2021.
While his game is unorthodox, Medvedev is still a right-handed player, unlike his first round opponent at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Juncheng Shang.
When asked about playing left-handed players, Medvedev explained that he often wonders what players like Shang think about playing right-handed players and if they think they have an edge.
“I always wonder, because I’m not a left-handed, how do they feel,” Medvedev told Tennis TV. “Because on one side, I would probably say if you ask all the right-handers they are going to say, ‘It must be super good to be a left-hander’.
“Why? Because most of the time you are going to play a righty, so most of the time you are going to be used to it. And we as right-handers are not going to be used to it, as we play them much less than they play us.
“But at the same time when you look throughout the history of tennis, there are not that many left handers. Yes of course there are some really great ones, but I always wonder what do they feel inside. Like when Jerry (Juncheng Shang) comes to play me for example…do they feel like they have the edge, because they are confident in how they play against right-handers.”
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Medvedev was then asked if he thinks left-handed players have an advantage, he claimed that he thought that it was actually the opposite.
“No, I do think it’s very tricky for them as well and I actually do think it’s a bit of a disadvantage, because they play against right-handers more than we play against them, so every match is tricky, tricky, tricky,” explained Medvedev. “Whereas for us we play right-hander, right-hander, then it’s a tricky left-hander.
“So it’s a bit of a long story, the goal is to try and use a bit of slice, to throw them away on the backhand, they are trying to do the same. In any tennis match they are trying to break more than you, and whoever breaks is going to win the match probably.”
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How has Daniil Medvedev fared against left-handed players?
The aforementioned Shelton and Draper are the highest ranked left-handed players on the ATP Tour right now.
Medvedev has had varying success against left-handed players, with there currently being 12 ranked inside the top 100 of the ATP rankings.
In his 39 previous meetings against these 12 left-handed players, Medvedev has won 56.4% of his matches.
This includes Medvedev having winning head-to-heads against Draper, Cameron Norrie and Denis Shapovalov.
However, the Russian has a negative record against Shelton, and Medvedev has particularly struggled against Learner Tien, who beat him at the Australian Open, and Ugo Humbert.
| Left-handed ATP players | Current Ranking | Head-to-Head vs Medvedev |
| Ben Shelton | No.9 | 1-0 Shelton |
| Jack Draper | No.15 | 1-0 Medvedev |
| Learner Tien | No.23 | 3-1 Tien |
| Cameron Norrie | No.26 | 5-1 Medvedev |
| Corentin Moutet | No.35 | 2-2 |
| Denis Shapovalov | No.36 | 4-2 Medvedev |
| Ugo Humbert | No.37 | 4-1 Humbert |
| Alejandro Tabilo | No.42 | 0-0 |
| Adrian Mannarino | No.51 | 5-4 Medvedev |
| Terence Atmane | No.63 | 1-0 Medvedev |
| Juan Manuel Cerundolo | No.70 | 1-0 Medvedev |
| Hugo Gaston | No.95 | 1-0 Medvedev |
Medvedev will test his theory against the left-handed Shang in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
This is the second consecutive week that they have played each other, with Medvedev beating Shang in straight sets at the Qatar Open.
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