Andy Roddick believes Roger Federer made a mistake and fixed Rafael Nadal problem too late

Tennis365 15 May 2026 12:00 PM

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer (Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar)

Andy Roddick believes that Roger Federer may now regret not switching to a bigger racket earlier in his career.

For 17 of Federer‘s 20 Grand Slam wins, the Swiss wielded the 90 square inch Wilson Pro Staff – something that was more akin to a racket from the 20th century.

After briefly experimenting with a larger, 97 square inch blade in 2013, Federer fully embraced his new racket the following year.

The 6ft 1in player had to wait until the 2017 Australian Open to end his near five-year wait for a major, at the grand old age of 35, but after that, Federer turned his rivalry with Rafael Nadal on its head.

Indeed, a 23-9 head to head in Nadal’s favour prior to 2015 ended up being a more respectable 24-16. What changed? Federer’s backhand was no longer a weakness. If anything, it became a weapon.

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On Roddick’s Served podcast, the former world No 1 was asked if it Federer made a mistake in not getting a bigger racket earlier in his career.

After all, his greatest rivals Nadal and Novak Djokovic played with larger frames and as the 2010s progressed, the Swiss lost more than he won against them.

In response, Roddick pointed out that it can be hard to switch from the habits that made Federer the most successful tennis player ever for a time.

But the improvements he got, especially from 2017 onwards when he won a further three majors, does pose a ‘What if?’ scenario.

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.”

Federer did take time to find success with his new racket. And perhaps if he had switched earlier, the 20-time Grand Slam winner would have not picked up the majors he did in his late 20s.

But as Nadal said, the best version of Federer he faced was at the age of 35 and much of that was down to the bigger racket.