By Chris Oddo | Thursday July 12, 2018

Wimbledon, England—And then there were four. It’s men’s semifinals time at SW19 and on Friday we’ll see an undercard featuring a pair of first-time Wimbledon semifinalists with giant serves battle for a spot in Sunday’s final, followed by the main attraction, a renewal of one of the most epic rivals in tennis history that has the potential to be one of the better Wimbledon semifinals in recent memory.

Wimbledon 2018: Williams One Win from Court | Kerber Back in Wimbledon Final | Isner and the Sweet Life

Ninth-seeded John Isner and eighth-seeded Kevin Anderson will get the party started on Centre Court by contesting their eleventh career tilt, and by far their most important one. Isner came through in four sets on Wednesday when he took out former finalist Milos Raonic, 6-7(6), 7-6(7), 7-5, 7-4, while Anderson created the stunner of the fortnight by battling from two sets down to defeat top-seeded Roger Federer 2-6, 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4, 13-11.

It was a brilliant match for Anderson, who reached the semifinals at a major for the second time in under a year by taking the play to Federer after saving a match point at 4-5, ad-out in the third set.

Isner was unbreakable in his win over Raonic, as he has been all week. The American is the only player remaining in either singles draw that has yet to surrender a break—he has saved all seven break points he has faced and held serve in all 95 games. The American is connecting on his first-serves at a 76 percent rate and 67 percent of those serves have not been returned.

Isner v Anderson promises to be a contest full of big serves, short points and tense moments. Break points will be few and far between and the margins will be very thin for both players. Nerves could be a factor as both are considered to have a golden opportunity with Federer now out of the draw.

Meanwhile Djokovic and Nadal will play in an altogether different key when they meet for the 52nd time in Friday’s second semifinal. It should be a far more musical affair, and fans just might be left wanting an encore. The pair have not met on grass since 2011 and both players have suddenly found their form on a surface that has not been good to them in recent years.

Before we get into the matchups let’s have a look at some relevant numbers:

Nadal owns a 9-4 record against Djokovic at the majors and those nine wins represent the most that any player has recorded against Djokovic at the majors, while Djokovic’s 4 wins against Nadal is the most recorded against the Spaniard by a single player in Grand Slam play.

Djokovic can pass Pete Sampras and move into fourth on the all-time Wimbledon win list by earning his 64th win at the Championships on Friday.

Nadal has never failed to reach the final at Wimbledon when progressing beyond the round of 16—this year is the first year that he has done that since 2011.

Anderson became the first man to break Federer at Wimbledon this year, and he can also become the first man to break Isner, who is the last player that has yet to surrender a break at these Championships.



[9] John Isner vs. [8] Kevin Anderson
Head-to-Head: Isner Leads 8-3

13 and a half feet of bomb-serving goodness is set to kick off Friday’s men’s semifinals on Centre Court. Anderson and Isner have each progressed further than ever before at the Wimbledon, and Isner is into uncharted waters at the majors. On his 41st appearance at a Grand Slam the American has reached his first semifinal—if he had waited two more majors to do it he would have broken the all-time record for most appearance at the majors before reaching a semifinal on the men’s side (held by Sam Querrey, 42).

But Isner’s time to shine is clearly this week at Wimbledon, where he has not just been a serving machine, he’s also won 138 of his points at the net an 101 via serve-and-volley, while cracking 17 return winners.

Isner will need these tactics to keep from getting into protracted baseline rallies with Anderson, the South African's preferred modus operandi.

It should be a close match with more than a single tiebreak, and the eventual winner will be the player that takes advantage of chances, just as Anderson did against Federer when he saved a match point and also when he broke Federer to take a 12-11 lead in the fifth set of their quarterfinal. For Isner, the same. He saved a set point to avoid going down two sets to love against Raonic on Wednesday, and it made all the difference in the world.

Pick: Anderson in 4

[2] Rafael Nadal vs. [12] Novak Djokovic
Head-to-Head: Djokovic leads 26-25

A renewal of one of the greatest rivalries that tennis has ever seen at Wimbledon could be the perfect tonic for a tournament that has seen some air come out of the balloon after top-seeded and eight-time champion Roger Federer was knocked out of the draw.

There’s no guarantee that the winner of this match will go onto to win the title, but whether Djokovic or Nadal comes through, whomever it is will be the heavy favorite on Sunday against either Anderson or Isner.

But who will it be?

It’s a toss-up.

Nadal has been in better form of the two of late, as he recently claimed the Roland Garros title and is 35-2 on the season compared to Djokovic’s 23-9. But the Serb has made significant strides over the last two months, and in that time he has gone from an out-of-form player in search of matches and confidence to a zoning athlete that appears to be very close to regaining the form that made him the most dominant player in tennis from 2014 to 2016.