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Last week in Rome Rafael Nadal tied former great Guillermo Villas with his 53rd consecutive victory on clay. Nadal beat arguably the most dominant athlete in any sport right now in a five- hour epic battle.

Roger Federer’s only losses this year have come at the hands (more specifically the left hand) of Nadal.

Federer did have match points in the Rome final but couldn’t close the door on the fiery Spanish teenage prodigy. Federer tactically improved against Nadal compared with the final a few weeks ago against him in Monte Carlo.

I believe that the biggest advantage that Rafael Nadal has over Federer is that he is left-handed.

Nadal’s hits shots at angles other players don't see. His heavy top spin from the left side has Federer out of position and unsure when and where he should attack.

Left-handers have some natural advantages in sports such as baseball, cricket and most racquet sports.

Lefties have traditionally done well in tennis.

In the last 50 years 20 per cent of the Grand Slam winners have been left-handed. At one point (between 1974-1984) all winners of the men’s U.S. Open were left-handed.

Golf is now following the trend. Historically left-handed clubs were difficult to find. In 2003 Mike Weir was the first to win the Masters. Since then Phil Mickelson has won two.

Roughly 10 per cent of the general population is left-handed. Some tennis greats that were lefties were John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Rod Laver, Ivanievic and Guillermo Villas.

Fewer women are left-handed in general and this trend continues in tennis. Currently in the ATP top 100 rankings there are 13 lefties compared with 5 in the WTA top 100. Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova won their fair share of Slams for the lefty cause.

There might be an inherent advantage (biological or strategic) to being a left-handed sportsman.

One reason that they have an advantage might be because right-handers are just not used to playing them. They have to make adjustments that adversely affect their performance and thus their result.

I believe that if Nadal was right-handed their head to head record might be reversed. Nadal is currently 5-1 against Federer and Federer is getting closer to Nadal on Nadal’s favorite surface.

If Federer wants to be considered the greatest player of all time he will have to conquer the French Open, which starts on the 28th of May.

Nadal will probably be his only obstacle in the battle of the only true tennis heavyweights.[[In-content Ad]]

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