If Rafa had the serve and health of Roger, he'd have 30 Slams by now, right?
Now I don't think that's a meaningful statement, for reasons I'll explain in a moment, but it isn't any less meaningful than saying "if Federer had the physicality of Rafa..."
The ability of a tennis player is a complex weave of many threads, all of which are interconnected. Some Rafa fans like to say that if he had better luck with health, his resume would be far greater than Roger's. But the problem is, his health is directly related to his play style - so if he had been healthier it would probably be at the expense of some of his physicality, which in turn would see a reduction in his overall level. Rafa is like a major league baseball player who throws 104 mph but then blows out his arm. He could throw 97 mph and not get injured, but he wouldn't be the same pitcher (or tennis player).
In fact, I think what we've seen from Rafa the last couple years is just that: improved health (until recently), but an overall lower level of physicality. 2017-18 Rafa is very, very good, but he's not the player he was in 2008-13. I've watched the last set of the 2017 AO final maybe half a dozen or more times, and while that is my favorite match of all time (as a Federer fan) and I'll probably watch that set several more times, Rafa wasn't reaching balls that he would have reached half a decade ago.
My point is, Roger doesn't have the physicality of Rafa, or the returning ability of Novak. If he did he'd be a different player. Now we can imagine a player that combines the best aspects of these three, and that would be a truly extraordinary player. Maybe we'll see something like that in the future. But changing any aspect of their games is like a game of pickup sticks: you move one stick, and it probably adjusts everything else.
That said, every once in awhile we do get to see everything click just right. That's partially why Roger won that 2017 AO: everything clicked, he was like James T Kirk seeing the Genesis cave in The Wrath of Khan, feeling young again. In fact, we finally got to see what Roger at his best would look like at a Rafa that was almost at his best, because Rafa couldn't neutralize Roger in the way that he had during his best years. But when any of the three put everything together, it is usually for short spells, and decreasingly so as they get older.
Get well soon Rafa
:cuckoo: 
