© Getty Images/Clive Brunskill
Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, said in an interview with The country talked about the rivalry with Roger Federer. He explained that Federer made “a mistake” in his career by allowing Nadal to repeatedly play to his backhand.
This tactic was particularly effective because Nadal’s heavy topspin forehand often put Federer’s one-handed backhand in trouble. Through the 2017 season, Nadal dominated the rivalry with an impressive 23-11 win ratio.
Federer has struggled to find an answer to Nadal’s style of play since their first meeting in 2004. However, that changed in 2017 when Federer switched to a larger-headed racquet and adopted an extremely offensive style of play that made his backhand a weapon in his resurgence season.
Federer won all four meetings with Nadal in 2017 and six of their last seven meetings overall, leaving the head-to-head ratio at 24-16 in the Spaniard’s favor after the Swiss retires in 2022.
Nadal’s return and dominance
Nadal highlighted the adjustments Federer made and how these affected their rivalry.
“When he returned from injury in 2017 he made a very important change.
He switched to a bigger racket that hits harder and made a mental switch,” said the 37-year-old Nadal. “Knowing he couldn’t run like he used to, he became a much more aggressive player and that really hurt me.
He was better than me on hard courts, but up to that point I think I had beaten him more often on hard courts.”
Nadal returned in impressive form, defeating world number 98 Dominic Thiem 7-5, 6-1 in the first round of the 2024 Brisbane International.
It was his first match in almost a year. The Spaniard played at a high level, breaking the former world number three and US Open champion three times and not having to accept a single break point on his serve in a convincing victory.
After not playing a singles match since a hip injury suffered in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open against Mackenzie McDonald, Nadal will face world number 102 Jason Kubler in the second round of the ATP 250 tournament on Thursday , meet.
2024-01-03 22:01:13
#Rafel #Nadal #Roger #Federer #crucial #mistake #rivalry
