THE Semifinal

Tomorrow is men's semifinal day at Wimbledon.

Understandably and as expected, Murray-mania is gathering pace and I need magnifying glass in order to find anything written about Novak in the papers.

However, the rest of the world have the eyes only for one match, for THE semi-final, which is quietly and undeservedly going under the radar.

The two have never played on grass.

Novak won their last two slam matches (USO and RG).

Yesterday, Novak Djokovic celebrated his first anniversary at fullfiling his childhood dream: winning Wimbledon and becoming the Number One player in the world.

Tomorrow, he will have to defend both against the man who is a living tennis legend - Roger Federer.

However, despite winning Wimbledon 6 times and being a number one player for all those consecutive weeks, Federer still wants them both back badly.

I won't be buying any of the bad back and ageing talk, for tomorrow, Federer will be playing one of the biggest matches of his life.

I expect him to come full on and give a great performance.

I expect the same from Novak.

The pre-match interview gloves are off.


Novak:
"The success that he had over the period of seven, eight years says enough," Djokovic said. "He has won the most Grand Slams in history. He's rated probably as the best player in history. He has won everything that a tennis player can win and he's coming back for more. He has a lot of respect from me, from all the players. 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."

What he really means it: I don't care about his past here, I'm the boss now.


Federer:
"I don’t know how it changes the preparation, but I certainly think it’s intriguing, and when it’s intriguing, it’s a pleasure. We know our matches on clay, outdoors and indoors, on hard courts. But we don’t know what it’s like to play on grass."

"I was just upset at [Djokovic] calling the trainer out for no obvious reason against my buddy, Stan, in a five-setter," Federer. "That was it. We had a quick chat about it in Madrid after that, and things are cool since a long time between me and him. I've always respected him. Have I gone out for dinner with him? No. But had many meetings with him at the [ATP Players] Council, and then now with the Grand Slams. He's been nice to work with. We've met on several occasions because of other things together. I have no issues with him, and I hope you believe me."

What he really means is: I can't stand his guts and I'm going to teach him a lesson on grass tennis!


Do you believe him?


I say, let the racquets answer the question.

Bring it all on and let's see some sparks fly off in some spectacular tennis fireworks tomorrow.


GO NOLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE