With Roger Federer eliminated on Wednesday, this is a golden opportunity for Rafael Nadal to close the Major title gap from three to two, as he goes for his third Wimbledon title, and his first since 2010. Novak Djokovic is already a three-time winner at The Championships, and is into his first Major semifinal in almost two years. Kevin Anderson is coming off the biggest win of his career just two days ago, and is going for his second Major final out of the last four. John Isner is into his first Major semifinal, and could be just a few tiebreaks away from his first final. As Chris Fowler of ESPN noted on Twitter, the betting odds as of Thursday were shockingly even in both of the gentlemen’s semifinals. Here’s a deeper look at Friday’s matchups as we try to discern who will play for the Gentlemen’s Singles Trophy on Sunday afternoon.
Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic
This will be the 52nd episode of this rivalry, with Djokovic currently holding a slight 26-25 edge. Nadal won the last two meetings, both on clay. Prior to that, Djokovic won 11 of 12 meetings, on clay and hard. Their last match on grass was also Rafa’s last Wimbledon final in 2011, which was the first of Novak’s three Wimbledon titles. In Grand Slam events, Nadal has a 9-4 record against Djokovic, though Novak won their last Major encounter when he finally defeated Nadal at Roland Garros in 2015. This is Nadal’s 28th Major semifinal, and he has a staggering record of 24-3 at this stage (5-0 at Wimbledon). Djokovic has actually reached a few more semifinals at Grand Slam events, but his record, while great, is not quite as impressive at 21-10. Nadal is coming off the men’s match of the year: his stellar five-set, near five-hour quarterfinal battle with Juan Martin Del Potro. Walking onto the court just 48 hours later, there’s no way Rafa will be 100%. But we’ve seen Nadal bounce back in amazing form from such matches many times before. Djokovic should certainly be the fresher of the two, as his quarterfinal against Kei Nishikori was over two hours shorter in length. However, Novak’s confidence level, while growing with every match, cannot be back to 100% quite yet. Djokovic of course missed the last half of the 2017 season due to an elbow injury, and struggled through much of 2018 as well. He hasn’t won a title of any kind in over a year. Is he ready to out-compete arguably the greatest competitor the sport has ever seen? As sore as Nadal must be, I’m not prepared to discount his will. No one’s playing with more momentum than Rafa: he is 35-2 in 2018, and one of those losses came when he retired in Australia due to injury. Throughout this year, we’ve seen numerous instances where Djokovic has become extremely frustrated on court, and no one aggravates opponents like the relentless Nadal. When the match is on the line, I’m betting on Nadal’s fighting spirit to prevail.
Kevin Anderson vs. John Isner
As Randy Walker outlined on Twitter, “The last time John Isner and Kevin Anderson played in college it was at No. 1 singles in the 2007 NCAA team final in Athens in front rowdy, drunk, barking college kids and fans.” 11 years later, they’ll compete in the Wimbledon semifinals on Centre Court. Anderson has the experience edge on such a stage, and has been the more consistent performer over the past year. Kevin also has the better all-around game, as we saw against Federer on Wednesday. The South African showed how much improved his return and ground games are. My concern for Anderson is the emotional and physical letdown coming off his upset of the 20-time Major champion, a match that went the length of six sets. And Isner’s confidence has built with every victory during this fortnight, ever since he saved match points in his second round. The fact that Isner just faced another big server in Milos Raonic should work in his favor. Also, Isner holds an 8-3 career record against Anderson. This includes their last five meetings, as well as their only match on grass. However, they haven’t met in over three years, and Anderson has put a lot of work into his game (both his strokes and his brain) over the past few years. All things considered, I would give the slight edge to Isner, who will likely be the fresher and hungrier player on this day.
Centre Court order of play
Matches starts at 13:00 GMT
Kevin Anderson (RSA) Vs John Isner (USA)
Rafael Nadal (ESP) Vs John Isner (USA)
