What if Rafa had played tennis with right hand?

[Ricardo]

Nah, but we can all disagree on the speculation.

All good then, just that Federberg criticises people for speculating then in a different thread he would do it himself.
It’d be all fine if I speculate and you disagree.

 

[Federberg]

All good then, just that Federberg criticises people for speculating then in a different thread he would do it himself.
It’d be all fine if I speculate and you disagree.

Lol! Woeva mate. I've already explained myself. Keep ingratiating yourself with everyone...

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

If every shot he has is exactly the same, but with the other hand, Rafa would be a great player but not as great as he is now. That high bouncing forehand topspin cross court shot that gives every right hander nightmares (single and double handed backhanders alike, more so for single handers) is all of a sudden not a weapon anymore. Nadal's number one game plan is suddenly gone. It is just a shot that bounces high on the forehand side now and players will handle it easily, even punish it.

I don't think Rafa ever fully took advantage of his leftiness when it comes to serve, so it is a wash there.

But , the serve that Rafa has the most problem with returning (other than straight aces) is the out wide serve on the deuce court that took him way out of position and made him send back weak replies with a sliced backhand is no longer a problem. He will punish those sliders with a banana forehand of his own and maybe break way more serves than he would with the left hand. Advantage righty Rafa.

I personally give him still at least 10 slams because I am nice. But if Rafa is a righty, I am giving Roger another 4 slams as well !

 

[Moxie]

If every shot he has is exactly the same, but with the other hand, Rafa would be a great player but not as great as he is now. That high bouncing forehand topspin cross court shot that gives every right hander (single and double handed backhanders alike, more so for single handers) is all of a sudden not a weapon anymore. Nadal's number one game plan is suddenly gone. It is just a shot that bounces high on the forehand side now and players will handle it easily, even punish it.

I don't think Rafa ever fully took advantage of his leftiness when it comes to serve, so it is a wash there.

But , the serve that Rafa has the most problem with returning (other than straight aces) is the out wide serve on the deuce court that took him way out of position and made him send back weak replies with a sliced backhand is no longer a problem. He will punish those sliders with a banana forehand of his own and maybe break way more serves than he would with the left hand. Advantage righty Rafa.

I personally give him still at least 10 slams because I am nice. But if Rafa is a righty, I am giving Roger another 4 slams as well !

I appreciate this post. Interesting points. I don't know if you mean the FH cross court, though, because that goes into the FH of a righty. In any case, I still think that Nadal's shots would be "weapons," given the weight of his shot, but taking out the lefty spin would reduce some of the trouble they cause. But he'd still be strong, hit the ball hard, and with lots of spin. Obviously, if he were right-handed, he'd have a different game plan, too, so there's an unknowable. Good point you make about the ROS. In my first post, I mentioned that Rafa and Toni have both said that it was the serve that may have suffered in the decision to go left, so I also think his own serve would have been more effective. I still think he'd have brutal on clay, and I'm not sure which of Nadal's major wins over Roger you'd give back to him, but I think 4 is too many, you won't be surprised to hear.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I appreciate this post. Interesting points. I don't know if you mean the FH cross court, though, because that goes into the FH of a righty. In any case, I still think that Nadal's shots would be "weapons," given the weight of his shot, but taking out the lefty spin would reduce some of the trouble they cause. But he'd still be strong, hit the ball hard, and with lots of spin. Obviously, if he were right-handed, he'd have a different game plan, too, so there's an unknowable. Good point you make about the ROS. In my first post, I mentioned that Rafa and Toni have both said that it was the serve that may have suffered in the decision to go left, so I also think his own serve would have been more effective. I still think he'd have brutal on clay, and I'm not sure which of Nadal's major wins over Roger you'd give back to him, but I think 4 is too many, you won't be surprised to hear.

Rafa's forehand cross court goes to the backhand of righty players. Which has been THE major weapon for Rafa.

 

[Moxie]

Rafa's forehand cross court goes to the backhand of righty players. Which has been THE major weapon for Rafa.

I was thinking of when he runs around it, then it goes into the FH, which also works, implying that he'd have had success with that as a righty, as well. Not sure what this exercise is about, other that @GameSetAndMath, who still hasn't answered his own question, is just irritated by the fact that Rafa does play lefty. I'm anticipating the next thread: "What if Rafa hadn't been a prodigy?" B-):lulz2:

 

[Ricardo]

I was thinking of when he runs around it, then it goes into the FH, which also works, implying that he'd have had success with that as a righty, as well. Not sure what this exercise is about, other that @GameSetAndMath, who still hasn't answered his own question, is just irritated by the fact that Rafa does play lefty. I'm anticipating the next thread: "What if Rafa hadn't been a prodigy?" B-):lulz2:

His bread and butter shot is the fh cross court, more than his inside out.....which doesn’t have the same high bounce anyway so wouldn’t be as effective against one handlers.

 

[mrzz]

That's a great thread. As @Federberg puts, such a giant change in "initial conditions" could basically lead to anything, so I would not be surprised by virtually anything in this what-if world.

@Murat Baslamisli post above basically covers all points in the "mirror" version of Nadal (the question is, following Federberg iniital point, that he could well have developed into a quite different player). But I still think is really hard to perfectly judge how the trade off from pounding other people's backhand and having his own backhanded pounded by other player's forehands would have played out. I think it is negative (that is, Nadal is better off left handed), but it is not that clear cut to me.

But if there is much of a "choice" in going left handed, one thing I can comment on. I have kind of an "hobby" to play with the left hand (I am right-handed), and by far the hardest stroke is the serve. Nowadays if someone sees me playing with the left hand, one a good day people would not notice if they not pay too much attention... but if they see me serve, they would think I have some serious disorder. Obviously practice helps enormously but I can surely tell the serve is the hardest part.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

That's a great thread. As @Federberg puts, such a giant change in "initial conditions" could basically lead to anything, so I would not be surprised by virtually anything in this what-if world.

@Murat Baslamisli post above basically covers all points in the "mirror" version of Nadal (the question is, following Federberg iniital point, that he could well have developed into a quite different player). But I still think is really hard to perfectly judge how the trade off from pounding other people's backhand and having his own backhanded pounded by other player's forehands would have played out. I think it is negative (that is, Nadal is better off left handed), but it is not that clear cut to me.

But if there is much of a "choice" in going left handed, one thing I can comment on. I have kind of an "hobby" to play with the left hand (I am right-handed), and by far the hardest stroke is the serve. Nowadays if someone sees me playing with the left hand, one a good day people would not notice if they not pay too much attention... but if they see me serve, they would think I have some serious disorder. Obviously practice helps enormously but I can surely tell the serve is the hardest part.

That is so true...I am a NTRP 6 or thereabouts as a righty but my leftie serve would be -10 ! I cannot even make proper contact !

 

[El Dude]

@mrzz = plays tennis + "Multiple Major Winner" + Brazilian + great sense of humor/affable...hmmm...

@mrzz = GUGA?!

 

[mrzz]

You forgot the one handed back hand.

 

[Moxie]

You forgot the one handed back hand.

Should have known you're a one-hander. You did recently tell us you won your first tournament, so I'm guessing you're not excluding 3 RG.

 

[isabelle]

he should have played with right hand yesterday vs bad Nick..

 

[brokenshoelace]

I missed this thread at the time and since the quality of the discussion has been awful around here let's try this because it's an interesting thread.

Some good points have been addressed above. I think the biggest mistake we can make is, as @mrzz put it, "mirror" his game, ie envision his game exactly as it is now but played with his right hand. Obviously he would have developed his entire game differently, perhaps hit the ball flatter, have a better serve that he can use to be more naturally aggressive, etc...

I don't think he would have been as successful though, that's safe to say IMO. I mean 18 slams is absolutely ridiculous. Now, being left handed is not some random advantage - he still had to develop his game, and perhaps more importantly, strategy and tactics accordingly. Given how he would have still played in Roger's era, there's no doubt the left handedness helped.

Given his athleticism, speed, natural talent, tennis IQ, hard work, etc... I think he'd still win a lot. His movement and footwork are still bonkers, in an era where this is essential. But I can't see him winning 12 French Opens, for example.

 

[monfed]

If dull had played right handed he would've won zero slams.

 

[mrzz]

But I can't see him winning 12 French Opens, for example.

Honestly, I think he would suffer more off clay. His margins are too large to win less than 10. I could see him surrendering one to Federer and one to Djokovic... not more than that. Off clay, ok, he would struggle more, IMO. But all this is thinking in a mirror-like world.

The interesting question (as said above by a lot of posters) is how he would have developed. He was allowed to have a quite safe game plan on clay, because on forehand to backhand rallies he would mostly play with the confidence that the other guy would not hurt him... and I am not talking about RF finals here. I am talking about all his development phase. It probably got imprinted in his brain that those rallies are the "safe heaven". Being right handed, he could developed to an (even) more aggressive clay courter. Not sure what would have come out -- but it is not impossible that he could have turned out even better. One thing I am sure: this right handed Nadal one a good day would win by 6x0 6x0 a LOT of matches...

 

[Nadalfan2013]

@ this whole thread...

Some of you act as if being a left handed is automatically an advantage... It's not! That's why there isn't an inflated out of the norm quantity of all-time greats who are left handed, at least not more than the average 10% (the few ones are Nadal, Laver, McEnroe, Connors, Seles, Navratilova)… And for players like Seles I don't think it really mattered... It's basically the same ratio in terms of % of tennis champions vs % of population...

Also the idea that it was a crucial advantage to be left handed for Nadal against Federer... yeah tell that to players like Verdasco, Lopez and the tons of left handed players who are Federer's pigeons! Pretty much Nadal is the only left handed who caused Federer problems... Nadal is an all-time champion because of his huge talent nothing else and he caused problems for everyone regardless of their style of play including other lefties. And what about if Federer was left handed? Most players could have destroyed his backhand with their forehands and he would have zero slams too?

 

[monfed]

@ this whole thread...

Some of you act as if being a left handed is automatically an advantage... It's not! That's why there isn't an inflated out of the norm quantity of all-time greats who are left handed, at least not more than the average 10% (the few ones are Nadal, Laver, McEnroe, Connors, Seles, Navratilova)… And for players like Seles I don't think it really mattered... It's basically the same ratio in terms of % of tennis champions vs % of population...

Also the idea that it was a crucial advantage to be left handed for Nadal against Federer... yeah tell that to players like Verdasco, Lopez and the tons of left handed players who are Federer's pigeons! Pretty much Nadal is the only left handed who caused Federer problems... Nadal is an all-time champion because of his huge talent nothing else and he caused problems for everyone regardless of their style of play including other lefties. And what about if Federer was left handed? Most players could have destroyed his backhand with their forehands and he would have zero slams too?

If dull did his moonballing gig with the right hand he would've been another Andreev, probably worse.

 

[Nadalfan2013]

If dull did his moonballing gig with the right hand he would've been another Andreev, probably worse.

Nadal has pretty much the biggest forehand in history And his backhand is now up there too

 

[mrzz]

@ this whole thread...

Some of you act as if being a left handed is automatically an advantage... It's not! That's why there isn't an inflated out of the norm quantity of all-time greats who are left handed, at least not more than the average 10% (the few ones are Nadal, Laver, McEnroe, Connors, Seles, Navratilova)… And for players like Seles I don't think it really mattered... It's basically the same ratio in terms of % of tennis champions vs % of population...

Also the idea that it was a crucial advantage to be left handed for Nadal against Federer... yeah tell that to players like Verdasco, Lopez and the tons of left handed players who are Federer's pigeons! Pretty much Nadal is the only left handed who caused Federer problems... Nadal is an all-time champion because of his huge talent nothing else and he caused problems for everyone regardless of their style of play including other lefties. And what about if Federer was left handed? Most players could have destroyed his backhand with their forehands and he would have zero slams too?

Get your facts straight. Nadal, Laver, McEnroe, Connors are left handed. Now find other 36 players with 7 majors or more and we begin talking again.

P.S. There are currently 15 left handers in the ATP top 100.