It is useless when he applies it to any of the other three in the top four. It works for most of the rest pros.
The fact is that he does not have the ability to beat Nadal in short time. Djok, Nadal, and Murray all know that their ability is not high enough to beat others in 4 or 5 hits for a game, so they've prepared for a long game. However, Federer is the only one who believes that he can beat the other top four in 4~5 hits in a game. If he uses this strategy, he'll keep losing matches without any doubt. Who else believes that Federer can do it? Only fans of your type.