What if Rafa had played tennis with right hand?

[Murat Baslamisli]

@ 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?

But it is. If you are a lefty, you are already used to playing against righties because the vast majority of the players are righties. However your opponent is not used to playing against you because he usually plays against righties as well. That is an automatic advantage. The rest, depends on how the player uses that advantage. I am not saying it is a huge advantage. But it IS an automatic advantage.

 

[Jelenafan]

Always thought Mac’s lefty serve was the most unique shot in tennis, the one player who maximized the most out of being a southpaw serve-wise.

 

[Nadalfan2013]

15 of the top 100 players are lefty but outside of Nadal they all suck... An advantage would have been to for example to see several ones in the top 10... When I look at the top 100 and where they are placed there are not advantaged at all...

 

[brokenshoelace]

15 of the top 100 players are lefty but outside of Nadal they all suck... An advantage would have been to for example to see several ones in the top 10... When I look at the top 100 and where they are placed there are not advantaged at all...

It's called basic statistics. Newsflash, most right handers suck as well. Except there are far more right handers than left handers so the sheer number of good right handed players is relatively high, even though the percentage isn't.

 

[Ricardo]

15 of the top 100 players are lefty but outside of Nadal they all suck... An advantage would have been to for example to see several ones in the top 10... When I look at the top 100 and where they are placed there are not advantaged at all...

If you don’t know it’s an advantage being a lefty, nothing will help you.

 

[Moxie]

John McEnroe said that even he hated playing lefties.

 

[mrzz]

John McEnroe said that even he hated playing lefties.

But he is a leftie himself. You cannot trust these people.

 

[Jelenafan]

So many different factors converge uniquely to make a champion a champion. Who the hell today would have taught Steffi Graff to hit that whiplike FH that was her bread and butter, or the quirky service motion stance of Johnny Mac? Who would have guessed that Richard Williams keeping his girls out of junior tennis growing up would pan out. Or that relatively late in life Sampras would switch from a 2 handedBH to a one hander.

It’s unique circumstances, along with innate talent mixed in with athletes who have that “IT” quality that all champions posses, a drive to win coupled with a manic work ethic ( well not so much with Mac).

Rafa’s vicious spinning lefty FH, as others have said, it’s hard to practice for a match against him because nobody else hits it like him. He capitalized best what he possessed and out came a unique combination and there you have it. Not any different from Righties like Federer, Sampras, Borg or Pancho Gonzales who had their own special mix.

Of course Rafa being a lefty was part of his mix, as it was with Laver, Connors, Martina, etc. I just think it’s silly to try to separate one single element because you do that and the whole recipe changes. That applies to all champs. There’s been other lefties in men’s tennis and none have won 18 Majors, hell only one Righty has done it.

 

[monfed]

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

Still living in denial huh? Ok then.

 

[Moxie]

But he is a leftie himself. You cannot trust these people.

That's the point...even lefties hate playing lefties. And don't insult us!

 

[tented]

That's the point...even lefties hate playing lefties. And don't insult us!

I wonder which one he dislikes playing the most? Gilles Muller, maybe?

 

[mrzz]

That's the point...even lefties hate playing lefties. And don't insult us!

Ha! I KNEW it. Only a leftie to defend a leftie. You cannot trust lefties because they are always lying. There are some lefties who are actually righties but they pretend to be lefties because they lie so much, even to themselves and... oh, wait... never mind, I don't trust you, I know all about you since I saw that video about phrenology on youtube.

 

[Nadalfan2013]

Everything in this thread makes so much sense... If Federer for example was lefty he would have 100 slams, Novak would have 80 slams, Sampras 70 slams, hmmm yeah sounds about right... And if Nadal was righty he would be working at McDonald's...

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Everything in this thread makes so much sense... If Federer for example was lefty he would have 100 slams, Novak would have 80 slams, Sampras 70 slams, hmmm yeah sounds about right... And if Nadal was righty he would be working at McDonald's...

With the certain, let's say, "picking" habits, there is no way he is working at any food establishment more than a day

 

[monfed]

Nadal is a glorified claycourt specialist. If he played right handed, he would've got owned by regular claycourters like Coria, Gaudio etc let alone Federer.

Imagine what 2006 Fed would do to dull if he played right handed. Bloodbath.

 

[Jelenafan]

My best friend was a lefty but one time my lunch money was stolen and it could only have happened when he was around.:whistle:

 

[Nadalfan2013]

With the certain, let's say, "picking" habits, there is no way he is working at any food establishment more than a day

Good one I guess he would be the manager... B-)