We now know who will compete in the women’s Wimbledon final and on Friday we will find out which two men will take part in the men’s title showdown when the two semi-finals are played out on Centre Court.
The four semi-finalists are from the top six in the world rankings including the best two players in the world at present so it goes without saying that the quality should be high throughout what is expected to be another scorching day at SW19.
Taylor Fritz vs Carlos Alcaraz
The opening semi-final sees a man who has won two grass court tournaments already this summer in Taylor Fritz going up against the player who is two wins away from a third straight Wimbledon title in the form of Carlos Alcaraz in what promises to be a cracking semi-final.
I think it is fair to say that Alcaraz rode his luck a little in the opening week of the tournament and could easily have exited the event in the first round when Fabio Fognini took him to a deciding set. It hasn’t been plain sailing since then but the Spaniard has begun to look better the longer the week has gone on, very much in keeping with his run at Queens where he won the title. While Alcaraz was in trouble in the first round, Fritz dodged a real bullet at the same stage when he fell two sets down to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard but he turned things around and has made it through to tell the tale. Much like his opponent here, Fritz has got better the longer the week has gone on and now he’ll be looking to lay it all on the line as he bids to make a first Wimbledon final, having made his maiden Grand Slam final in the US Open last season. I see no reason why Fritz won’t give this a good go. His serve should keep him competitive at times and although he is yet to win a set in two meetings against Alcaraz, one of which was at Laver Cup which I’m not sure is massively relevant here, I do think he changes that record but I still expect Alcaraz to find a way to win whether he is too good in the end or he outlasts Fritz. You can get 11/8 on Alcaraz to win and Fritz to win a set and that feels about right in this one.
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Jannik Sinner vs Novak Djokovic
The second semi-final sees the world number one Jannik Sinner looking to make it through to a first Wimbledon final when he goes up against the man who has made the Wimbledon final on no fewer than 10 times and will look to make it 11 here in the form of Novak Djokovic.
The first question regarding this semi-final is what is the fitness status of the two men. Sinner was clearly troubled by his elbow when he got the biggest stroke of luck going in the round of 16 against Grigor Dimitrov and then had it heavily strapped in his quarter final win whereas Djokovic took a tumble towards the end of his quarter final and is said to have cancelled his practice session on Thursday as a precaution. If both men are fully fit to go at it here then we should be in for a compelling semi-final between two of the best defenders a tennis court has ever seen. These two have met twice here in the past. Sinner led Djokovic 2-0 in the quarter final in 2022 but couldn’t get the job done and he was beaten in straight sets the following year. These two last met in the French Open last month where Djokovic went down in three straight but tight sets. If I knew that both of these men were fully fit then I would be climbing all over the over 39.5 games line but the questions put me off. I don’t need to get involved in this match as I’m effectively on Djokovic to win it at around the 7/2 mark having backed him outright before a ball was hit so I’ll take the chance that he is fit to compete and gets the job done.
Tips
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