Wimbledon 2015: Men’s Singles Semifinals Preview
The semifinals of the men’s singles draw at Wimbledon will get underway on Friday, as three of the top four seeds will be in action and battling for a spot in the tournament’s final.
France’s Richard Gasquet is the lone player not seeded in the top four (21st), and ousted the fourth-seeded Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals. He will have the pleasure of taking on world number one Novak Djokovic, while seven-time champion and second-seed Roger Federer squares off with third-seed and 2013 champion Andy Murray.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (21) Richard Gasquet
The world number one has looked nearly unbeatable for most of 2015, and will look to dispatch of Gasquet in straight sets. He was pushed to the brink in his fourth-round match versus Kevin Anderson, losing the first two sets before rallying to win the last three over the course of two days, but followed it up with a routine straight-set win over Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals.
Djokovic is the defending champion at the All England Club and is an eight-time Grand Slam winner, while Gasquet will be competing in just the third Grand Slam semifinal of his career. The Serb has a 12-1 record all-time versus Gasquet, and will most likely look to put any thoughts of an upset to bed early.
(2) Roger Federer vs. (3) Andy Murray
The matchup between Roger Federer and Andy Murray is one that fans were hoping for when the Wimbledon draws came out a couple of weeks ago. Federer, who is playing in his 10th semifinal at the All-England Club, has dominated these grass courts over the last decade. He has lost just one set this tournament, but will take on a player in Murray who has been nothing but great over the last year or so.
“I still feel like I’m fresh,” Federer said after his quarterfinal win over Gilles Simon. “I’ve got energy left in the tank for hopefully a great match with Andy.”
He will need that energy when he meets Murray tomorrow. The Scot has dropped just two sets in this tournament and nobody, outside of Djokovic, has been better than him in 2015.
Will we get a rematch of the Australian Open final (Djokovic vs. Murray), or will Federer or Gasquet throw a wrench into that matchup? The semifinals get underway Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. EDT.
