Those are the thoughts of Craig O’Shannessy, who will work as Novak Djokovic’s strategy coach next year.

Federer beat Nadal in all four of their encounters last season, and won all three of their final showdowns, including the Australian Open in January.

The 36-year-old benefitted by taking a break at the end of the 2016 season.

And O’Shannessy, who has previously worked with US Open runner-up Kevin Anderson, thinks Federer made the most of his time away to ensure he could get the better of Nadal.

“I don’t know whether he used that time off to improve his backhand – I think it was always there, he was just never committed to it,” O’Shannessy told the Metro.

“Especially, on the return of serve. Rafa was always, always pounding to Roger’s backhand return and Roger sliced his backhand return. 

“It worked great against other opponents where he could slice it and then neutralise the point, get into a baseline rally and then look to run around his backhand.

“Whereas if he slices against Nadal, Nadal will really keep him under the cosh and never let him get ahead in the point. 

“So that situation is one of those deals that everything worked against every other player didn’t work against this one. 

“That’s why Rafa kept pummelling him. He finally had commitment to come over and block the return and it had multiple benefits. 

“It took that time away, it shortened the point. I think in that situation it was just about stepping onto the court and committing to it. 

“And he’s finally done that and been unstoppable.”