Nadal and Djokovic meet for 52nd time
LONDON After so much speculation about a possible Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, 10 years after their last, the tennis world instead will get a semifinal featuring another outstanding rivalry: Nadal versus Novak Djokovic.
Friday’s showdown will be their 52nd meeting overall — the most for any pair of men and 14 more instalments than Federer versus Nadal — and first at the All England Club since 2011.
That was also the last time Nadal made it past the fourth round at the grass-court major; Djokovic, who holds a 26-25 head-to-head lead, beat him in that year’s final.
“We always played in important stages, important places,” said Nadal, who had a far rougher go of things in the quarter-finals than Djokovic, needing more than 4½ hours to edge Juan Martin del Potro in a five-set thriller. “Friday is another important match against an opponent that is one of the most difficult ones that you can face. He’s playing well. Only way to try to win it is (to) play very well.”
The first semifinal at Centre Court, between No. 8 seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa and No. 9 John Isner of the U.S., features two powerful servers with similar games who have a lot less star power and considerably fewer Grand Slam trophies: The Nadal-djokovic combined count is 29, including five at Wimbledon.
There are zero major titles for Isner, 33, and Anderson, 32, who shockingly ended Federer’s bid for a ninth championship at Wimbledon by erasing a match point and beating him 13-11 in the fifth set of their quarter-final Wednesday.
At least Anderson can boast of one runner-up finish, against Nadal at last year’s U.S. Open.
“I’m trying to get to where he’s already been,” said Isner, who has won all 95 of his service games this fortnight, thanks in part to a tournament-leading 161 aces. “He wants to get back there, wants another crack at a championship.”
Isner, who leads Anderson 8-3 in past meetings, is making his debut in the final four of a Grand Slam tournament in his 41st appearance at one. He’d only once before reached the quarter-finals at any major, back in 2011, and never had been past the third round at the All England Club.
Add in Nadal, 32, and Djokovic, 31, and it’s the first time in the halfcentury of professional tennis that all four male semifinalists at any Slam are in their 30s.
Djokovic seems to once again be among the very elite.
Since winning the 2016 French Open to complete a career Grand Slam and collect a fourth consecutive major trophy, he hasn’t added to his total. He has one Slam final appearance in that span.
A significant part of the problem was a painful right elbow that forced him off the tour for the second half of 2017 after he stopped playing during his Wimbledon quarter-final. After more than a year of trouble, Djokovic had surgery in February, then took a while to find his groove.
“I like the level of tennis that I’m playing on right now. I really do,” Djokovic said. “I think with the performances I’ve had, I deserve to be in the semifinals. I don’t want to stop here. I hope I can get a chance to fight for a trophy.”