Are lefties in general, aside from Rafael Nadal, really that tough for Roger Federer?
That’s a question I found myself asking after Federer, during his post-semifinal press conference at the Sony Ericsson Open, had this to say:
“Yeah, I mean, I think it’s always a bit of an adjustment obviously for me coming out and playing Rafa — any lefty, I guess, but him in particular. That’s what kind of made it hard tonight. I tried to warm with a lefty, Bob Bryan, and tried to get as acclimatized as I could against him. It’s just hard. In the first couple games, you get a break down, and then I felt like conditions weren’t really favoring me as well.”
I understand why Fed finds Nadal difficult to beat, but I couldn’t understand why he was singling out “any lefty” as being “just hard” to play, since, if you take Nadal out of the equation, he has a better record against lefthanded players than he does against righthanded players.
In fact, though he has lost 15 times to Nadal, he hasn’t lost to any other lefthanded player since Franco Squillari beat him in January of 2003.
Federer against all righthanded players: 687-154 or 81.7% wins.
Federer against all lefthanded players: 77-25 or 75.5% wins
Federer against lefthanded players, excluding Nadal: 69-10 or 87.3%.
No federal case here, just doing my imitation of PolitiFact.