Wimbledon SF previews and picks: Djokovic vs. Dimitrov, Federer vs. Raonic

July 4, 2014 Ricky Match previews 273

Djoker 3Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have gone by the wayside, leaving Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer as the two favorites heading into semifinal Friday at Wimbledon. Djokovic is going up against Grigor Dimitrov, while Federer is facing Milos Raonic.

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (11) Grigor Dimitrov

Djokovic and Dimitrov will be facing each other for the fifth time in their careers when they collide in the Wimbledon semifinals on Friday afternoon. Dimitrov stunned Djokovic 7-6(6), 6-7(8), 6-3 on the clay courts of Madrid last spring, but their other three encounters have been mostly straightforward affairs in the Serb’s favor. Djokovic improved his head-to-head series lead with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 blowout at last year’s French Open.

Dimitrov contested his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at this season’s Australian Open and he is now making his debut semifinal appearance at a major. The in-form Bulgarian is 35-9 for his 2014 campaign following wins this fortnight over Ryan Harrison, Luke Saville, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Leonardo Mayer, and defending champion Andy Murray. Djokovic got past Andrey Golubev, Radek Stepanek, Gilles Simon, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga before needing five sets to beat Marin Cilic on Wednesday. The world No. 2 has not been dominant of late, but this should be a decent matchup for him. These two players are similar in their incredible athleticism and ability to turn defense into offense. The problem for Dimitrov is that Djokovic can do everything he can do while doing all of it better–and, of course, with more experience on the final weekend of majors.

Pick: Djokovic in 3

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(4) Roger Federer vs. (8) Milos Raonic

It all seems to be falling into place for Federer, who is looking like a completely different man from the Federer of last summer who lost in the second round of Wimbledon and the fourth round of the U.S. Open. Most importantly, he is simply playing stellar grass-court tennis. The 17-time Grand Slam champion captured the Halle title and so far at the All-England Club he has taken out Paolo Lorenzi, Gilles Muller, Santiago Giraldo, Tommy Robredo, and Stanislas Wawrinka. Now he is running into Raonic instead of nemesis Rafael Nadal, who bowed out to Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round.

Federer leads the head-to-head series 4-0, but in each of their first three meetings he dropped the opening set before winning the next two. They most recently squared off at the 2013 Australian Open, where Federer cruised 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-2. Their only previous grass-court clash saw the former world No. 1 prevail 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3) in the 2012 Halle quarterfinals. Like Dimitrov, Raonic made it to his first-ever slam quarterfinal earlier this year (French Open) and is now into a semifinal for the first time. The eighth-seeded Canadian booked such a spot by defeating Matthew Ebden, Jack Sock, Lukasz Kubot, Kei Nishikori, and Kyrgios. This is a considerable step up in both competition and pressure, so it remains to be seen how the underdog will handle the occasion. Raonic’s only hope, of course, is to serve incredibly well and take the match out of Federer’s hands.

Pick: Federer in 4

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41 Comments on Wimbledon SF previews and picks: Djokovic vs. Dimitrov, Federer vs. Raonic

  6. In all fairness, Raonic should never have been in the semi in the first place. He is here because of the luck of the draw. He is s nice young man, I like him very much but he is not yet “there”. Same with Dimitrov, Nishikori, and whoever else the Federazzi want to hype as the new generation.

    Geez, Raonic is making this old geezer look like a spring chicken…………

    Even the commies just said it: Raonic’s best is not good enough……

    Reply

    • Yep. I really don’t expect Raonic nor any of the young guns to win a major over the next two years. Anything more would be premature IMO. Never said otherwise.

      I believe that we are in for another weak era.

      #Cycles

      Reply

      • ^^ I think so, too. I think we’re in for a period where there will be many very good players, but none that are great. And the landscape will be full of big servers. My tennis viewing hours will be dropping dramatically.

        Reply

    • Dimitrov has clearly improved the best of the lot esp in last 8-10 months. He has won 4 titles, reached QF of AO, semis of Wimby.

      Ivan has played Fed a lot, is his friend. What strategy did he send Milos with on court?

      Reply

      • @Sanju, you are judging Dimitrov on a win against a below par Muzza. He could not even beat a clearly sub-par Novak…………

        They are all useless………..

        Reply

  7. @RITB
    Why would he want to train with Kyrgios? The only possible reason is to practice returning big serves, but he’s ok at that already…..

    Reply

    • *doing the blushings*

      Well, well @hawkeye63, you and I have extra-terrestrial intelligence. We “know” stuff………

      #TheTruthIsOutThere

      Reply

  9. @Sanju, when is this karma you always speak of going to strike? I am fed up of Rafa drawing the short end of the stick all the time………………..

    Reply

  12. This is a travesty. Rafa has a lot of ‘splainin’ to do………….

    He HAS to come back strong to save tennis.

    Reply

  20. I must say, if anyone had told me, 2 weeks ago, that Fed was in pole position for another Slam I would have laughed in their face.

    Not laughing now………….

    Reply

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