Wimbledon - Mens Semi Final Day 12

First topic message reminder :

Well here we are at the business end. Centre Court will be the gladitorial theatre. Here's hoping for some blockbuster encounters and winners by the bucketloads!

Novak Djokovic v Juan Martin Del Potro

Andy Murray v Jerzy Janowicz

The first one certainly the pick of the matches.

The money is on another Andy v Novak final. Can Delpo and Jerzy cause the top seeds a massive upset to rival the biggest upsets?

That is an amazing FH at 30-40 under pressure...outrageous!

wow

Come on Delboy my son!

Amazing FH yet again to get to deuce. TB.

Wow.... I can't believe Novak didn't take it there.

Djokovic has absorbed so much power from DelPo. Impressive.

Almost 3 hours for 3 sets of Grass Tennis.

turning point? awful from Del Potro at the crucial moment, Djokovic had given up...

no way back for Del Po surely?

on a side-note, the pace of play has been really slow today, has either received a warning yet?

What a shame.... Such an amazing set, settled by 2 poor errors.

Djokovic takes it. Very well done. Come on DelPo, fight! Want to see a fifth, non-TB set.

shame that, Del Potro had done ever so well to stick with Djokovic, but at the crucial moment made three awful choices in one point, and followed up with two very ordinary misses on the FH. Djokovic rock solid in the TB, with a remarkable get on the last point, but more a case of Del Po losing that set than Djokovic winning it.

In such a bad mood, after losing my game of tennis earlier, in the quarter finals  

I must keep stressing i said before Wimbledon i tipped Del Potro to get to the Semi Finals. No one listened to me. Why i didn't put money on him ill never know!!!

Superb forehand from Novak there!!!!

GSM Djokovic

What character from Delpo!

Tremendous. I'm eager for the Murray match, yet I want this to go to a fifth. It deserves to go to a fifth.

I've never seen Djoko miss so many DTL backhands.

i am so glad for Juan Martin del Potro. even if he goes out, this is tremendous stuff from him. this is why he blew Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to smithereens a few years back at the USO. he is one player i have always wanted to do well.

Another torpedo by Delpoi.

If Berdych had Delpo's balls...

It's great (very satisfactory) to see a player going for his shots on MP down and making them. Great stuff.

Holy moly, Delpo kicking Djoko in his ugly ears. What a set, well done Delpo, go take the 5'th now, Djoko is crushed

Wish I'd been braver on the picking game now - Del Potro looking awesome!

Match of the championships by an absolute mile!

My respect for Delpo has gone up tenfold. What heart!

This match deserves a fifth set. Brilliant by both men.

Delpo you are my hero:yahoo:      

What a match - I predict Delpo will be a new Wimbledon darling in tournaments to come, what a Trojan. Djoko too.

Worth remembering that there has not been a decisive break of serve for two sets - how much longer are these two guys going to play for?

Murray's match will probably have to finish under the roof if it starts after 6pm, which looks likely.

Djokovic serving first has the distinct advantage.

Delpo starting to slow a little bit now... I think this could be a fairly quick set if Novak can apply a bit of pressure to his serve.

Djokovic should avoid his RG SF lapses, and DelPo has been impressive.

This is a really good match - still hard to know who is going to triumph!

Break point to Delpo!

And so brave from Djokovic in reply

Murray playing well so far. His serving again causing the biggest problems.

First time I've seen Janowicz play in this tournament. So far impressed with his overall game, much better than the previous time I saw him play in March.

Murray giving his typical treatment to big servers.

So, if it gets too dark then need to close the roof before turning the lights on, agreed? So, when does it get too dark? Very very sunny day, no clouds, but late in the tournament so less daylight, sunset time 9.19. I think about 9pm they would need to stop. Of course, if a set ended at 8.45pm, surely they would stop then and have a complete set under the roof.
So set 1 should be over by about 7.10pm, set 2 at 8pm, set 3 at 8.50pm. So the roof is not likely to be required in a 3-0 match, probably will be required in a 4-set match (but not if there are short sets) and is almost certainly required for a 5 set match.

Janowicz isn't used to playing players of this calibre, that much is clear. There are certain shots that won't work against the big 4.

Roof surely favours Janowicz? Roof didn't help Murray against Federer nor Rafa against Rosol, it favours the aggressive player as the ball cuts through the air.

I think Murray has the nous to get this done 3-0 if he takes the TB here, otherwise, could be very interesting indeed.

Well done to both players for the quality of the first set. For quality rather than entertainment, it was better than the first set of the Djokovic-Del Potro match. Does anyone else think that match was overrated a bit? Set 1 was average, set 5 was OK, set 4 tiebreaker pretty awesome. I missed sets 2, 3 and half of 4 though, were they better?

Where has everyone gone? Wimbledon semi and I'm talking to myself, maybe because the site was down earlier people went elsewhere or maybe haven't been able to access it yet...?

I'm here, just in from work  

Just checked scores, what is Murray doing in the tie break?

Janowicz attitude seems a bit poor IMO

None the less his serves were superb, but Murray threw that tie break away.

JJ's fist-pumps are very "in your face" are they not? I bet he's not a favourite in the locker room.

This match is currently on JJ's racquet.

Crowd now turning really classless celebrating double faults.

Double Fault 

Chydremion wrote:Crowd now turning really classless celebrating double faults.

Fairness v Patriotism, take your pick.

I am bit late here but Only one word for the semifinal. Awesome. It was one of the best tennis game ever watched. The 4 hr 42 min battle finally won by Djokowic was a full mixture of superb play from both side. It was amazing to see Djoko applauding Deporto's some of superb shots. The last two points of the 4th set that was eventually the match point of Djoko but Deporto took it to 24 rally and finally made it in his favor. Congrats to Djoko but a real fight by De porto.

For those that missed set 1. Janowicz played very well rather than Murray badly. Janowicz played like a top tenner with good all round game, awesome serving (first and second). Murray himself served well too. Murray had a couple of set points when returning but didn't get much chance (at 4-5) on those points.

Murray missed 1 bad shot, an easy, high drive volley in the tiebreak, but other than that it was a high quality tiebreak with some great shots by both and great mental strength from janowicz.

Daft lapse of concentration by JJ here

Murray makes all the chances in the first set, blinks first in the tie-break and hence is extremely vulnerable at the start of the second

I think we've found another genuine challenger to the Top 4 though!!

Roof will now have to go on (assuming it goes to four sets) favouring JJ

I'm remarkably relaxed, if Murray gets beaten returning 138mph serves, so be it