Wimbledon: With “Murray Mania” gripping Britain, it’s the other men’s semi-final at Wimbledon that has many tennis fans waiting impatiently for Friday afternoon.
Six-time champion Roger Federer and last year’s winner Novak Djokovic will face each other at Wimbledon for the first time — in their 27th head-to-head meeting.
“It is interesting that this is our first grass court match. I’m looking forward to it,” said Federer, who is also looking forward to a chance to win a record-equaling seventh Wimbledon title after losing in the quarter-finals the past two years.
“I haven’t put too much thought into it, to be quite honest, yet. I’m just happy that I’m around further than I’ve been the last couple years.”
The 30-year-old Federer already owns the most major tennis titles, with 16. He completed a career Grand Slam in 2009 by winning the French Open. But his last major came more than two years ago, at the 2010 Australian Open. Since then, the aging Swiss star has been far from his best.
But a win over Djokovic on Friday, and another in Sunday’s final, would put Federer back at the top of the game as the No 1-ranked player in the world. So two more wins at the All England Club this week would see him not only equal Pete Sampras’ seven Wimbledon titles, but also tie the American’s record for weeks spent at No 1, with 286.
“I know it’s possible. I know I’m playing really well,” said Federer, who is 14-12 against Djokovic overall but 1-6 since the start of 2011. “I am aware things are going to get complicated in the next match. I better prepare well, because it’s going to be a tough match.”
Tough may be putting it mildly. The top-ranked Djokovic has won four of the last six major titles, and lost to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final in June.
Those kinds of statistics sound an awful lot like what Federer did year after year not too long ago.
“I’m not trying to defend my title here. I’m trying to fight for it as every other player who is in last four of the men’s side,” said Djokovic, who beat Federer in the French Open semi-finals in June. “So my mindset is very positive.”
After years of playing in the shadows of Federer and Nadal, it’s Djokovic that is now the man to beat. The 25-year-old Serb has lost only twice in 45 Grand Slam matches in the past two years.
“He has a lot of respect from me, from all the players. There is no question about it,” Djokovic said of Federer. “But we are all rivals, we are all opponents. I don’t think about his history or his success or whatever too much when I’m on the court. I just want to win that match.”
The other semi-final certainly has Britain all agog. Local hope Andy Murray reached the semi-finals for the fourth straight year, and with Nadal already out of the tournament, the public is expecting more from him than ever before.
“Subconsciously, I’m probably extremely stressed out right now, but I try not to feel it,” Murray said. “Then, yeah, when the tournament’s done there’s normally a pretty big release of that. I just don’t want to be on the court for a few weeks.”
Instead of another semi-final match against Nadal, the man he lost to in 2010 and 2011, Murray faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France — who rallied from a two-set deficit to eliminate Federer in the quarter-finals last year.
Tsonga will have a second chance to reach the Wimbledon final, but without the pressure that is regularly heaped on Murray at Wimbledon. That kind of local fervour is saved for him when he plays at the French Open — along with every other French player.
“Here for Andy is difficult because he’s alone,” Tsonga said. “I mean, in France it’s OK. We have many players and that’s fine, but here for him it’s really difficult because every eyes are on him and it’s tough for him.”
Still, “Murray Mania” won’t be slowed by Tsonga’s words or his chances to win. The fans in Britain have been waiting since 1936 — when Fred Perry won his last singles title at Wimbledon — for a homegrown male champion.
There hasn’t even been a British men’s finalist since Bunny Austin in 1938.
“Tennis in the UK is not really a sport that necessarily gets followed loads for the rest of the year, but everyone gets into it when Wimbledon comes round because they understand how big a competition it is,” Murray said.
“The support that I’ve had over the last sort of five, six years here has been great. I’m trying my best to win the tournament for myself, obviously, but also for everybody else.”
