Rafael Nadal Ends a Myth
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Nadal never had to switch his “handedness”
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There have always been rumors about Rafael Nadal; that he originally played tennis right handed but switched to left handed when he was young and trained with his Uncle Toni. But after his match versus Kevin Anderson in Toronto, Nadal was asked to discuss the topic during a press conference, and he was finally able to lay that myth to rest.
Q: “When you were younger and you switched from hitting with your right hand to your left hand, how did your uncle Toni come up with the idea to try that? And how difficult was it for you at that age to switch from hitting right handed to left handed?”
Nadal: “That never happened. It wasn’t an idea of Uncle Toni and for sure it was impossible to change the right for the left. I started playing tennis with two backhands – playing two hands forehand and two hands backhand. And one day had to start playing but we didn’t decide I have to play with the left or the right.”
So when Nadal was younger, he played with two hand forehands and two hand backhands…that’s pretty interesting. Maybe we should all learn from him if we want to play like Rafa!
“The natural thing for me was to play with the left. I play futbol with the left all my life. . .The feeling to give something or take something, I do everything with the right, no? But the feeling for the sport I always have the feeling for the left.”
Here’s a video of Nadal and his Uncle discussing this issue. There’s even a video from Rafa’s earlier years, and he's still playing with his Babolat! It’s interesting to see that even though he always played soccer with his left side, when a ball is thrown to him or he throws a ball, he always uses his right hand. His handwriting is pretty ugly though when he uses his left hand.
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A.Yen on
8/15/2010 1:55:24 PM
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