Roger Federer's Kryptonite (vs Rafael Nadal)

[@miaowmiaowchowface]

you devalued that whole sword shield thing at the end when you said wawrinka had two swords lol. in that case the key is just "have a better backhand"

[@goldencalf5144]

Novak had the best shield against Rafa. It not only absorbed the blows of the battering ram, but he could also use it as a bludgeoning tool.

[@matthewwalsh974]

"If you struggle against aggressive baseliners like Andre Agassi" - made me LOL 😅 Never played the guy, but I'm sure I would 😂

[@pioneercolonel]

Noone ever looked at Stan's backhand and saw anything defensive in it :)

[@initialize21]

This tactic became completely useless once Federer got the bigger racket. He destroyed Nadal utterly

[@JiraiyaSama86]

That's not accurate. It became not as effective as before, which is more accurate than what you said. Consider the surfaces that they were playing on towards the end. That played a factor. On hard courts, it is well known that drives are more effective in rallies on it than on clay or grass. Federer improved his ability to drive the backhand. Here's another inaccuracy you made. It's not simply the bigger racket. He made a technical adjustment to his backhand. This was disclosed by Roger and his coach. His comment at the time was that he almost forgot how to slice after he worked on it. That was probably an exaggeration, but the gist was there.

[@elchanclascocina]

​@@JiraiyaSama86I am not going to call out inaccuracies because I don't think that's needed, but, Federer did not change something technically in his backhand, he started hitting the ball on the rise vs when it falls, he didn't change the technique of the on the rise balls, he changed the tactic of how to play his backhands, which on top of shielding Rafa's top spin and Federer being pushed back, it made Federer game more aggressive by being closer to the line more time, taking time off Rafa and dictating more the points.✌🏼

[@JiraiyaSama86]

@@elchanclascocina So, you don't count shortening the takeback and making it more compact as a technical adjustment?

[@elchanclascocina]

@JiraiyaSama86 I definitely would, but per Ivan Ljuibicic and per Federer's bio The Master, there wasn't such adjustment, we saw it because he started hitting the ball early, but if we watched such balls in the past where for whatever reason he took them in the rise, we would have seen the same technique.

[@PhilippedeHerte]

@@elchanclascocina His BH was only a problem on clay, because he couldn't do things on clay that he could do elsewhere but I was never in love with his BH. It was erratic sometimes and inconsistent.

[@JiraiyaSama86]

I think for Rafa, it's not necessarily true that he sees it as a weakness. It's simply a better trade. Essentially, if you had to pick one side to trade with, which is better to repeatedly have a trade? Sometimes, that is how it goes. In addition, the type of shot also plays a factor.

[@twinwankel]

Yeah but you didn't show any clips from Fed's Neo backhand where he took Rafa's balls early and crushed him. Fed owned Rafa after 2017. Check out Indian Wells 2017 against Rafa and you will see a total annihilation. And you show only one successful Wawrinka play, note that Nadal has a 19-to-3 head to head record against Stan. So clearly Stan didn't figure out how to defeat that battering ram play. Fed did.

[@edddzw7430]

Tennis is more than baseline cross court patterns Stan also did poorly against Novak and Fed because he is simply not as good. Against Rafa he lost so many times not because of the Rafa forehand to Stan backhand pattern but because of his poor return and movement and that Nadal is simply a better player😂😂😂 wawrinkas backhand fairs much better on clay against rafas forehand relatively. No backhands can truly outplay rafas forehand on clay. On hard courts sure

[@edddzw7430]

Also most of his losses against the big three is before he became good

[@TheSupinesmokey]

@@edddzw7430 Exactly among players with a one handed backhand none have a winning record vs Rafa becuase of that ball at shoulder height is tough to deal with. But Roger has the most wins because of his forehand , movement , serve and ability to rush rafa or take time away on anything that isnt a slow to medium high bouncing court.

[@Ineddiblehulk]

It is NOT called the Battering Ram. YOU have called it 'The Battering Ram' as a way to illustrate a type of play that you've noticed.

[@victor_lu]

Imagine if Federer had Wawrinka's backhand.

[@AL-sb3qg]

All over Fed's bh)

[@elektrik_exekutioner6822]

No one ever called it "the battering ram"... Stop trying to be relevant.

[@sergiosarmiento4371]

How do you call it?

[@elchanclascocina]

That's one of the points about social media, trying to stay relevant. When you are trying to sell copies of your books, you try to stay relevant. When people make comments about this not being called this or that or simply making fun of the names, you are staying relevant.