Inside Roger Federer’s post-2014 reboot: How he turned the tables on Rafael Nadal

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Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s rivalry is one of the most memorable in tennis, though early on, it was heavily tilted in one direction.

By 2015, Nadal had built up a 23-10 advantage in their head-to-head record, including a dominant 9-2 mark at Grand Slam events.

Nadal was especially strong on clay, leading Federer 13-2 there, and even held the edge on hard courts with a 9-6 record.

But everything changed after Federer switched to a larger racquet in 2014. He went from a 90 to a 97 square inch frame and that move coincided with some of his best years late in his career.

From that point onward, Federer won six of their last seven encounters, including three straight-set victories.

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Andy Roddick on how Federer’s game changed after the 2014 racket switch

During an episode of Served, former US Open winner Andy Roddick discussed the impact that Federer’s racket change had on his game.

Roddick said: “I think if you asked Roger, should you have switched two or three years earlier? My guess is that he would have said, ‘Yeah, it was really good when I did’.

“The biggest thing was that he was able to swing full out on backhand returns. It was funny, like when he wasn’t in his prime anymore because of that racket switch, he kind of code-switched the matchup against Rafa.

“He [Nadal] said the 2018 version of Federer was the best I saw. I remember Roger switched, and I watched him beat Rafa at Indian Wells, which is slow.

“He was hitting backhand winner returns off of Rafa’s serve, which was something I hadn’t seen before.

“Normally, it started with laying down the chip, which worked against me, not so much against Rafa. If you’ve won 20 slams with a certain setup, it’s really hard to switch, and different strokes for different folks.

“But I would suspect that if you asked him, ‘Do you wish you had made that switch two years earlier?’ I’m guessing he would say yes.”

How Federer’s switch to a bigger racket changed his Grand Slam results

Federer’s career haul of 20 Grand Slam titles is one of the defining stats of his era, but most of those came in the earlier part of his time at the top.

Between his Australian Open win in 2010 and the same event in 2017, he managed just one major title, lifting the Wimbledon trophy in 2012.

The racket change didn’t bring instant success, but there was a clear uptick not long after. He made three Grand Slam finals between 2014 and 2015.

A rough patch followed in 2016 due to injury, but Federer ended a long major drought by winning the Australian Open again in 2017.

He went on to claim another Wimbledon title that same year and picked up his final major at Melbourne Park in 2018, completing an impressive late-career resurgence.

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