Two of the defining images during the biggest sporting events in the world last weekend came with athletes using their non-dominant limbs to come up big. It was Kevin Anderson in the Wimbledon semifinals and Paul Pogba in the World Cup final who delivered magical moments.
In his marathon 7-6(8), 6-7(5), 6-7(9), 6-4, 26-24 win over John Isner, Anderson fell down during a point with Isner serving at 24-25, 0-15 in the fifth set. The 6’8” South African scrambled to get up, returned a shot left-handed, and ended up winning the point. He went on to break serve in that game to clinch victory.
Kevin Anderson. He fell down, recovered, played with his left hand, and won the point.#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/au6gFbvmED
— Ashish TV Slams (@ashishtvslams) July 13, 2018
In the World Cup final against Croatia two days later, Pogba led France to a 4-2 triumph. He produced the third goal of the match, which proved to be the game-winner. With the French side leading 2-1 in the 59th minute, Pogba got denied with his right foot but then went lefty to find the back of the net.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjSj1LHVvCY
The level of difficulty goes to Anderson, as almost all of the world’s elite soccer players are skilled with both feet–whereas tennis players rarely do anything of importance with their opposite hand. Pogba’s heroics, though, were surely more important and came in a bigger match. Anderson almost definitely would have defeated Isner even without that shot, whereas France probably still would have held on to beat Croatia.
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