"I'm a bit odd" - Jack Draper opens up about his Rafael Nadal-esque switch to southpaw despite being born right-handed

Jack Draper is an up-and-coming tennis player who is slowly but surely fulfilling his potential for being one of the best players in the world. The British player flashed his talents a long time ago but injuries and other things have kept him from truly living out his potential on the court.

Those things are set to change this year as he finally feels ready to take the final step. The crux of his tennis game is his lefty hand which does tremendous damage both from the serve and from the baseline. The forehand is amazing and the serve on top of that is really special, making him the prototype of the modern player.

Having that left hand certainly helps as it can be an advantage in modern sport due to the way baseline rallies unfold against right-handed players which are still the majority in the world. Similar to Rafael Nadal, Draper plays with his left hand despite being right-hand dominant, which he talked about in a recent interview with Vogue.

“I’m a bit odd. I throw right-handed, I write right-handed, golf right, everything. I don’t know where that comes from," he said.

It's not that uncommon in the world of tennis precisely because of the advantage a lefty hand brings, but it's not that common either. Draper isn't sure where it came from, though for Nadal we know.

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Nadal's story with his left hand

Similar to Draper, Rafael Nadal is also right-handed but plays with his left hand. The Spaniard has talked about it a few times as well, noting that it's a bit of a strange situation because he plays some things with his left hand and some things with his right hand.

“I’m a little bit strange in all of that. I eat and play basketball with the right, I play tennis and football with the left. It’s a bit strange,” he told Talksport in 2023.

There is a famous anecdote that it was his uncle, Toni Nadal (served as his coach for a very long time) who forced him to use his left hand instead of his right hand. Toni Nadal talked about it once when asked, correcting the story and explaining the inner details of it.

“It’s really not the truth. At the start, he played with two hands but using one hand to direct. I had the impression that he was stronger on his left side than on his right side. So, I figured that he was left-handed; it’s as simple as that."

However, it ended up net positive for Nadal and helped him in his career, and it will likely help Draper as well.