Although Novak Djokovic is a winner till date and posses an unblemished record, he will lock horns with Juan Martin del Potro in the semi-finals on Friday.
History says that Argentine Del Potro will blink first. The world No1 Djokovic has won eight out of the pair's 11 matches, occurring in all three of their previous grand slam meetings.
It can be speculated that Del Potro may also still be impeded by his knee injury. It is evident from the result of the dramatic fall during his quarter-final against David Ferrer. Del Potro accepted what he named as "magic pills" to recuperate him through the match.
It cannot be ignored that the Argentine displayed little sign of discomfort yesterday when he practiced on Wimbledon's Aorangi courts with his knee in strapping. He confirmed that he is ok and will be better tomorrow. He will think about his match and about Novak and nothing else. He is confident for himself with by serve and his game, but he is No.1 in the world. He is the big favorite for the tournament but he will try to thrash him anyway.
Meanwhile, Djokovic looked like a man at ease with himself this week. He mentioned about his visit to a Buddhist centre in Wimbledon village. He described it as very calm and quiet. He stays in a house which is very nearby. They like Wimbledon and London in general because there is so many beautiful parks and nature, places which one can call getaways and where during these two weeks of a frenzied grand slam atmosphere that continues. In addition, so many people, evidently there is huge amount of pressure and stress and everything involved. Hence, one need to have a place where one knows one can switch off and recharge their batteries.
While Andy Murray was still struggling it out against Fernando Verdasco on Wednesday night, Djokovic was at his Wimbledon base, posing for a picture in his golf gear.
Truly he has every reason to feel relaxed as he has been here before. In fact, today's match will be his fifth Wimbledon semi-final. Unlike his fellow semi-finalists, he has actually won this event before. He mentioned that he is using that experience of winning in 2011 to keep his nerve this week. He is trying to use that experience that he had in past to feel comfortable, calm and confident towards the conclusion of the major tournament. But he reminded that anyone who would listen that it was Del Potro who won their only earlier meeting at Wimbledon, where they were contending for a bronze medal at the London Olympics.
The Argentine had just narrowly missed out on a shot at the gold, following he lost the longest match to Roger Federer by 3-6, 7-6, 19-17, over 4hr 26min in Olympic history. Djokovic commented that he is a quality rival. He stressed that there are no real clear favorites now in the later stages of the event. Del Potro too won his last encounter with Djokovic in the semi-finals of this year's Indian Wells tournament.
Del Potro has proved that he has it in him to win big. He is the only man apart from the 'big four' of Federer, Rafael Nadal, Murray and Djokovic to have taken a grand slam title since 2006. He had hammered Federer in the final of the 2009 US Open.
