MIt has been more than four years Rafael Nadal without losing a match on the ATP circuit against a left-handed tennis player. A not insignificant fact for someone who signs his autographs with the right. Because the Manacorí, as many will already know, is right-handed. The reason why he plays open-handed tennis is well known and has to do with his uncle and mentor Toni Nadal.
“I made him play with the left because I thought he was left-handed, not that I intentionally made it change. It happened that when he wanted to hit the ball hard, Rafael was outlined as a left-hander, so I assumed that it was his natural profile”, revealed at the time the now adviser to Félix Auger-Aliassime.
When he wanted to hit the ball hard, Rafael profiled himself as a lefty, so I assumed it was his natural profile.
The point is that being left-handed it is usually a blessing in some sports such as fencing or boxing, because it confuses the rivals, and in tennis it is not a disadvantage either. In fact, some of the largest, like Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors y John McEnroe, were ‘sinister’ types, without forgetting other relevant figures such as Guillermo Vilas, Manuel Orantes, Goran Ivanisevic, Marcelo Río, Thomas Muster, Andrés Gómez or Petr Korda.
Left-handed players in the world Top 100
5 Rafael Nadal
12 Cameron Norrie
38 Federico Delbonis
40 Ugo Humbert
44 Albert Ramos
53 Dominik Koepfer
69 Adrian Mannarino
72 Facundo Bagnis
76 Guido Pella
78 Jiri Vesely
100 Corentin Moutet
Up to 13% of men are left-handed -that percentage is reduced to 9% in women without science knowing the reason yet- and curiously there are 13 left-handed tennis players in the Top 100 of the ATP, although none have shone especially in recent years beyond Rafa.
That explains to a great extent his overwhelming record against rivals who also hit their ‘forehand’ or ‘drive’ with their left. Up to 108 wins for just 14 losses -33 wins and just 3 setbacks in the Grand Slams-, which makes him the best player of the Open Era in this particular statistic. Of course, Nadal has never had to play against him and Federer and Djokovic, yes, so the data is somewhat tricky…
That loss in Montreal
Anyway, there are already 21 games he has won against left-handed players –the last one last Sunday against Adrian Mannarino– since his defeat against a emergent Denis Shapovalov -he was 18 years old- in the third round of the Masters 1,000 in Montreal in 2017. That lanky boy of Russian-Jewish origin impressed Nadal, who predicted great victories for him in the future promise that, at least for now, has not been fulfilled.
Shapovalov also eliminated Rafa in the semifinals of the Masters 1,000 in Paris in 2019, although then the Spaniard suffered an abdominal injury in the warm-up and the match was never played.
The way you approach the game is always a little different, but in the end, what you think about is playing the best way possible.
More recently, on Nadal’s return to the court in Abu Dhabi last December, the Canadian won again in three sets 6-7(4), 6-3 and 10-6. The rest are three wins for the winner of 20 majors, with a special memory for the match that closed the 2019 Davis Cup in Madrid with the sixth Spanish crown.
Rafa Nadal goes from less to more against Mannarino to sneak into the quarterfinals for the fourteenth time
At this point, it is time to ask how Nadal affects playing against left-handed rivals and the answer is given by the Balearic tennis player himself, thus closing the debate on whether it benefits him or harms him: “It is not usual, because there are not many. It’s a little different than playing against a right-hander, but that’s about it.“.
“You have to get used to those games and adapt the gamebe prepared to do it right. The way you approach the game is always a little different, but in the end, what you think about is playing in the best possible way”, he explained after beating Mannarino.
