Why does Nadal's backhand turn into a potent weapon against Federer?

[calitennis127]

This is a thread I have been meaning to start for a few weeks, and I think now would be as good a time as any for it. It pertains to the long-discussed strategic and tactical aspects of the Federer-Nadal series.

Most of the time in Nadal's matches, his backhand is solid - solid enough to sustain rallies and absorb weighty cross-court shots. He occasionally will step in and crack a winner, but more than anything his backhand is a neutral rally shot. There are times when he ratchets up the intensity and goes for big swings off the backhand, but this is not by any means a part of his commonplace approach off that wing.

However - when he plays Federer, he suddenly looks a little bit like mini-Nalbandian or Djokovic with his backhand. He becomes super-aggressive with it. He starts dictating rallies. He'll go up the line and especially cross-court with flat shots on wicked angles. He just seems very comfortable, as if he is hitting off a ball machine.

Now why is this? Why does Nadal's backhand become atypically potent against Federer?

Those familiar with my analysis of the series will probably not be surprised by my explanation: Federer's crosscourt forehand becomes far too predictable. Not only is Federer's backhand a weaker shot in terms of pace, but after so many matches played against each other, it is clear that Nadal can just feel what shots Federer is about to hit with his forehand. He very rarely seems discomforted by them anymore. He is always in great position to respond with gusto to crosscourt forehands that work for Federer against pretty much everyone else, when Federer is playing at a high level.

In part, you have to credit Nadal's movement and defensive anticipation for why this happens, but Federer's predictability and excessive caution with the forehand is the main cause in my view.

 

[Moxie]

I thought we'd decided we were over discussing this match-up, and the notions of how Federer might do better.

http://www.tennisfrontier.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1907&page=8

 

[DarthFed]

You could be right about that. I think one of the things with Roger at this point is that his rally forehand sometimes can be pretty pedestrian especially if he is spraying errors early in the match. The other part of it for Nadal is that he has all the confidence in the world vs. Roger and that helps him be more aggressive than normal.

 

[Kieran]

Well, Nadal naturally ups his game against Federer, so his backhand becomes a premium stroke, just like it does every time he ups his game.

But also, every shot of Nadal's becomes a dangerous weapon against Federer, because he's very confident when he faces Federer. He swings freely, knowing he always has his back-up money shot into the Fed backhand corner if things get tight. So his serve is equally a big point-spinner, and so is anything else he does...

 

[britbox]

Most of the time in Nadal's matches, his backhand is solid - solid enough to sustain rallies and absorb weighty cross-court shots. He occasionally will step in and crack a winner, but more than anything his backhand is a neutral rally shot. There are times when he ratchets up the intensity and goes for big swings off the backhand, but this is not by any means a part of his commonplace approach off that wing.

Agree with the above, but I think it also applies to when he's playing Federer.

However - when he plays Federer, he suddenly looks a little bit like mini-Nalbandian or Djokovic with his backhand. He becomes super-aggressive with it. He starts dictating rallies. He'll go up the line and especially cross-court with flat shots on wicked angles. He just seems very comfortable, as if he is hitting off a ball machine.

I don't agree on this commentary. I think the first section is more accurate.

 

[brokenshoelace]

You're overblowing how good it looks but yes, in the past few years it has looked better. Probably because the actual weight of Federer's cross court rally forehand doesn't trouble him as much as that of say, Djokovic. To be clear, I'm not saying Federer can't hurt Nadal with the forehand. I'm saying that as Federer's game declined a tad, so has his rally CC forehand, and Nadal has been finding a little more time to flatten out his backhand off that side.

Part of that also has to do in a slight loss in movement from Federer's part. Murray and Djokovic will actually track down many of Nadal's CC backhands, whereas Federer is forced to stretch, and he clearly doesn't move as well to his forehand side these days.

Also, if you look at their matches prior to 2008, Nadal's backhand wasn't doing that much damage against Fed. Part of that was because Fed was able to rally with him more consistently back then, and hurt him with the CC forehand even more, and part of it was due to Nadal's backhand not being as good as it is now.

I don't think Nadal's backhand ever looks Nalbandian-esque or Djokovic-like, not against Federer or anyone else, but it's true that it seems more of a weapon against Fed. If you're comparing it to the way it looks against someone like Djokovic or even Davydenko, I say those two are able to hurt it more because A) (in the case of Djokovic) the variety on the CC forehand troubles Nadal (Djokovic can hit it really heavy, deep and spinny, with big angles, or flat and really hard or B) (in the case of Davydenko) take his forehand super early and aggressively, even as a rally shot.

Finally, a simpler answer would be that Nadal just feels very confident against Federer, and might feel more at ease to just pull the trigger and play aggressive. It's remarkable how comfortable he looks when playing Fed (with the exception of those moments where Fed becomes unplayable) due to having beaten him so many times in the past, so he's more relaxed and goes for his shots. He also knows that he has an obvious pattern to fall back on (his forehand to Roger's backhand) so he can afford to take more risks. Whereas against Djokovic, Nadal can't relinquish the rally at all or he's in trouble, so it puts even more pressure on him. At times this gets him nervous and his backhand falls increasingly short.

I do think however, that one of Nadal's best ever backhand performances was against Djokovic at the 2010 US Open final.

 

[Ricardo]

Well, Nadal naturally ups his game against Federer, so his backhand becomes a premium stroke, just like it does every time he ups his game.

But also, every shot of Nadal's becomes a dangerous weapon against Federer, because he's very confident when he faces Federer. He swings freely, knowing he always has his back-up money shot into the Fed backhand corner if things get tight. So his serve is equally a big point-spinner, and so is anything else he does...

everything you said above points to nothing but that particular matchup issues, how can it be? :laydownlaughing