The Wimbledon Open men's singles semifinal will feature no Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. But despite the absences of tennis' biggest stars, Wimbledon will never lack excitement as the final four matches of the All England Tennis Club start on Friday.
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World's no.1 Novak Djokovic and Olympic champion Andy Murray are the big favorites to book their spots in the championship match. Yet, Juan Martin Del Potro and Jerzy Janowicz won't fall down easily and could even give the contenders a run for their money, especially if the two are in good form.
This could be Novak's biggest test so far in the tourney after running the table through the first five rounds. Outside hometown favorite Andy Murray, Djokovic has the best chance of winning his second Wimbledon Open title in three years because of the lack of a formidable force in his bracket. Novak dominated Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday to secure his 12th Grand Slam semifinal appearance.
Del Potro, meanwhile, has just reached his first Wimbledon Open semifinal following his straight set win over David Ferrer of Spain, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6. Like Murray, Del Potro has been dominant in the tourney, cruising to the semifinal round without dropping a single set.
In a match between two players with contrasting play, it will be interesting to see how Djokovic will respond to Del Potro's powerplay. In the 11 games they played, Djokovic only lost thrice but the Argentine scored a victory in their latest meeting at Indian Wells.
Andy Murray vs. Jerzy Janowicz
Fresh from his epic comeback victory against Fernando Verdasco, Murray enters the semifinal round with confidence at the highest level. At the same time, the threat of playing an upset-minded Janowicz should not be taken for granted, so the Briton must bring up his best game once again if he ever wants to move onto the final round.
Murray and Janowicz only played twice before Thursday's semifinal round with the Briton winning their first meeting at the Davis Cup Playoffs and the Polish pulling off a stunner in round-of-16 of last year's Paris Masters.
In a David versus Goliath kind of match, it will be fascinating to see if Murray will continue his good play and fulfill his destiny on Wimbledon lawn or will Janowicz come through with another upset in the biggest stage of them all.
Roger Federer will
begin defense of his Wimbledon title on Monday morning, opening play on
Centre Court as per tournament tradition. The third-seeded Federer will
square off against Victor Hanescu, with the match starting at 8 a.m. ET.
Also playing on Centre Court
Monday are 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Andy Murray and 2004 champion Maria
Sharapova. The second-seeded Murray will face Benjamin Becker, while the
third-seeded Sharapova will go up against Kristina Mladenovic.
Second-seeded Victoria Azarenka
opens play on No. 1 Court at 8 a.m., facing off against Maria Joao
Koehler. French Open champion and fifth-seeded Rafael Nadal follows
Azarenka, and he'll be playing Steve Darcis.
ESPN has exclusive television coverage of Wimbledon, and the main network will have coverage from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday.With Nadal, Federer and Andy Murray all on the bottom half of the draw, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic should have a relatively easy path to the final.
He won this tournament in 2011 but was ousted by Federer in the semifinals last year.
But if you're looking for a threat outside of the Big Four, look no further than Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The talented Frenchman has reached the Wimbledon semifinals in each of the past two years, beating Federer in the quarters here in 2011.
2010 finalist Tomas Berdych is another outside contender. When he's firing on all cylinders, the Czech star can be awfully tough to beat on grass.
The women's draw is seemingly Serena Williams' to lose. The American star is playing some incredible tennis coming in. She's won 31 straight matches and has dominated at this event in the past.
A five-time Wimbledon winner, Serena has won three of the past four championships here and has dropped just one set in five finals appearances.
With fellow top-seeded women Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova on the other side of the draw, Williams should cruise to the final barring a stunning upset. That said, Azarenka vs. Sharapova has the potential to be the best match of the tournament this year.
The two have developed a competitive rivalry over the years, with the younger Azarenka holding a 7-6 advantage in head-to-head competition.
Sharapova has taken the last two, but Azarenka leads 2-1 in Grand Slams. The two players have never met on grass, though, which should make for an intriguing semifinal showdown if both can advance through the first five rounds.
2011 Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova is a dark-horse contender worth keeping an eye on. The 23-year-old Czech lost in the quarterfinals here a year ago but has been among the last eight standing in each of the past three years.
