Federer: You can’t prepare to play Nadal

Roger Federer says it would be “wrong” to play a certain style of tennis just to overcome Rafael Nadal,National Daily learnt.

Federer and Nadal have dominated the sport for well over a decade, tallying up 37 Grand Slam titles between them.

The pair have met on 38 occasions with Nadal holding the upper-hand with 23 wins to Federer’s 15.

But to get to that point Federer insists they have to employ different tactics than if they were battling each other in the early rounds.

“I just think maybe your work ethic, maybe you’re more professional, try out different things, the mindset.

“Those kind of things to me stand out and a particular shot that I had to work on to beat Rafa or play against him.

“The thing is, you can’t just start working on your game just to play Rafa because we’re No 1 and No 2 for so long, and we are again.

“So we only play each other in the final. To get there, we have to beat four, five, or six other guys to get there.

“They play nothing like Rafa, like me for him, as well. That’s why it’s the wrong approach to focus on one player.”