Federer, Nadal to battle in semis
They’ll meet for 40th time; No. 1 Djokovic also advances
WIMBLEDON, England — All these years later, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will meet again at Wimbledon for the 40th installment of their terrific rivalry — and first at the All England Club since their memorable 2008 final.
“Such a long time,” Nadal said.
They moved on to the semifinal showdown everyone’s been thinking about since the tournament draw by each overcoming a tough opening set Wednesday.
A 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Kei Nishikori gave the No. 2-seeded Federer his 100th match win at the All England Club, the first man to reach that total at any Grand Slam tournament. Not long after that ended on Centre Court, the No. 3-seeded Nadal finished off Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 Court.
Friday’s other semifinal will draw far less attention: No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, against No. 23 Roberto Bautista Agut, never before this far at a major.
Looking ahead to what comes next for himself, Federer said: “Obviously, I know people always hype it up.”
Well, why shouldn’t they? These are, after all, two of the greatest players in tennis’ long history, winners of more Grand Slam titles than any other men. Of Federer’s 20, a record eight came at Wimbledon. Of Nadal’s 18, 12 came at the French Open, where he routed Federer in the semifinals last month.
That gave Nadal a 24-15 career edge head-to-head, including 10-3 at the Slams.
But that one was on the red clay Nadal rules. This is on Federer’s territory: grass.
This is their fourth matchup at Wimbledon — and first that won’t come in the final. Federer beat Nadal for the 2006 and 2007 titles, but Nadal won the championship 11 years ago in a 9-7 fifth set as dusk descended.
“We have a lot of information on Rafa, and so does he about us,” Federer said. “So you can either dive into tactics and all that stuff like mad for two days — or you’re just going to say: ‘You know what? It’s grasscourt tennis and I’m going to come out there and play attacking tennis.’ And if he can defend that, that’s too good. And if he can’t, well, then, that’s good for me.” Colleges: Michigan State paid a combined $1.2 million to a woman and a former football player who were involved in a Title IX investigation and subsequent lawsuits if they both agreed to “set aside” the findings of an investigation that found the player responsible for violating the school’s sexual misconduct policy. The former female student, listed as “Jane Doe” in settlement documents obtained by ESPN as part of a public records request, received $475,000 from the university; the player, Keith Mumphery, received $725,000. ... The NCAA charged North Carolina State with four violations, accusing former assistant basketball coach Orlando Early of providing payments and benefits connected to the recruitment of one-and-done player Dennis Smith Jr. The notice includes four serious charges, with two that are potential top-level charges. The school has 90 days to respond to the allegations.
Cycling: Three-time world champ Peter Sagan of Slovakia won Stage 5 of the Tour de France. Sagan emerged from a bunch sprint at the end of a 109-mile trek to the city of Colmar, France. It was Sagan’s 12th career stage victory in the Tour. Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe kept the race leader’s yellow jersey and holds a 14second lead over second-place Wout Van Aert of Belgium.
NBA: Reigning finals MVPKawhiLeonard chose a shorter contract with the Clippers that lines up with new teammate Paul
It is the 13th time that the Big Three of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are in the semifinals at a major tournament together. On 11 of the previous occasions, one of them claimed the title.
There were some shaky moments for each Wednesday.
The eighth-seeded Nishikori jumped out to an early edge by breaking in the very first game, enough to give him that set.
But Federer quickly turned things around in the second, conjuring up whatever he wanted, exactly when he wanted it.
Nadal is still a ball-retrieving, shotwhipping machine at the back of the court.
He did have some trouble closing out the first set against Querrey, an American ranked 65th who was trying to reach his second Wimbledon semifinal.
Nadal wasted three set points at 5-3, then another before getting broken when serving for it at 5-4. Again serving for that set at 6-5, he erased a trio of break points for Querrey before holding — and finally was on his way.
Djokovic, eyeing a fifth trophy at the All England Club and 16th overall at Slams, used a 10-game run to transform what was shaping up as an even, entertaining quarterfinal into a 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 romp against 21st-seeded David Goffin.
“I felt,” Djokovic said, “like I managed to dismantle his game.” George’s and sets up the two to be part of the 2021 free-agent class, ESPN reported. Leonard, 28, who last month led the Raptors to their first league title, signed a three-year, $103.1 million contract that includes a player option for 2021-22. George, 29, a six-time All-Star who played the last two seasons with the Thunder, signed a four-year, $136.9 million contract that includes a player option for 2021-22.
NFL: The Texans don’t plan to hire a GM for next season, ESPN reported. They’ll divvy up responsibilities among frontoffice members Matt Bazirgan, James Liipfert, Chris Olsen and Jack Easterby. The Texans fired Brian Gaine last month.
NHL: Former Predators captain Greg Johnson died Monday in Michigan. He was 48. No cause of death was released. Johnson had 145 goals and 224 assists in 785 career games for four teams.
Soccer: CONCACAF will limit direct qualifying for the World Cup to only its six highest-ranked nations. The regional governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean announced a new qualifying format and scrapped the early stages that led to the six-nation final round in place since the 1998 tournament, known as the hexagonal. Instead, the six highestranked nations as of June 2020 will go directly to the hexagonal.