Re: Rafa Nadal
Reply #52 –
You also discount the fact Federer made the mistake of not switching to a bigger racquet head till 2014 - he used a (minute) 90 sqi Pro Staff. Now he's finally on a 97 SQI bat. And since the change, he's dominated Nadal.
Meantime both Rafa and the Djoker use 100sqi bats.
Reckon Roger cost himself 4-8 slams by not switching to a bigger bat sooner - it was the reason why Nadal hit 80% of balls to the Federer backhand.
In terms of hitting to players backhand, the dominant player tends to do this strategically to dominate the point. Sports 101. Put your opponents onto their weaker side. That means right footers onto their left and vice versa.
Regarding the bat size, the exact period you talk about (post 2014) have seen both Nadal and joker miss time through injury. Even andy Murray won a major during that time.
There's no telling how it would have affected him when he was younger. It took him some time to adjust. He only made the move when he was no longer able to win. Perhaps he may have lost a fee he won had he converted earlier.