As the typical mid-summer British afternoon's sun rays shower themselves across the hallowed turfs of South West 19, two seasoned warriors will be striding out - all hammer and tongs - to knock the lights out of one another.
They are not unknown to one another. It will mark the twenty-seventh time that these two will cross swords - or in tennis terms, racquets. No less than seventeen times (in the last twenty) have they been drawn to meet at this stage of a Grand Slam and they have acknowledged this date with destiny yet again. And finally, at Wimbledon. Where dreams are said to come true. Where single-handed champions of the world are crowned.
Roger Federer. Six Wimbledon titles, to One Runner-up. In seven finals.
Novak Djokovic. Six wins over Federer, to One defeat. In their last seven matches.
Tables have turned in their fabled rivalry - Federer, who once boasted of a 13/6 edge in their head-to-head has seen his lead reduce to 14/12.
And it seems a touch intriguing that their first encounter on the original surface of tennis has had to wait so long. Federer was famously dispatched at the quarter-finals of Wimbledon for two years running (Berdych, 2010 & Tsonga, 2011) and had failed to keep his appointment with Djokovic at this stage. But Djokovic had fallen in the second-round (to the ever mercurial Marat Safin) back in 2008 and in the quarter-finals (to a resurgent Tommy Haas) during the 2009 edition of the Championships.
That's four long years of classic Fedekovic semi-final clashes (at Wimbledon) that tennis fans have been robbed off, but we have finally got our due - albeit at the expense of an ageing, yet graceful former champion facing off against the bristling, yet seemingly tireless defending champion.
It will boil down to Federer's supposed grass court nous versus Djokovic's seemingly impossible shot-making on the turf...
Federer is 44-6 on the year. Djokovic, though, is 41-6. History says Federer is the better grass-court player. But in terms of present-day form, Djokovic is probably better. By only just.
Federer has had back issues in this tournament and he wouldn't want it to resurface in this match (or the next, should he make it). But Djokovic looks fit and didn't blink despite losing the first set to Stepanek.
Djokovic has had Federer's number lately and it remains to be seen if the great man can rise up to the challenge in the form of his younger opponent on the lawns that he once ruled.
The great champion that he is, Federer would know better than to keep **THAT** shot from Flushing Meadows still in memory. Instead, he should focus on his serves and attempt to keep the points short. Attempting to out-hit an on-song Djokovic would be suicidal. Novak, on paper, has the simpler task of simply putting the ball in play and forcing Roger to reach for the extra shot... But this is the green stuff and things may not seem too pedestrian.
It would be foolish to write off one's chances at the expense of the other. But I, for one, hope we witness a cracker!
It's but a shame that these two aren't playing on the fresh grass of Day 1. That, in my opinion, would have been a truer test - especially knowing how the speed of the ball off the turf has reduced over the years.
Nevertheless... May the better man win. Ajde Roger! Allez Novak!
- - -
Play!
.
