Although the Olympics may only be getting into full swing now the tennis event is almost finished with the men and women reaching the semi final stage. In this post I'm going to look at the two men's semi finals and what a line up we have. Wimbledon champion and world number one Roger Federer has come through some tricky matches and will face talented Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi final. Home hope Andy Murray has had a relatively comfortable passage through to his semi final but is sure to face his toughest test yet in the shape of Serbian Novak Djokovic, who was sensational in his quarter final demolition of Jo Wilfried Tsonga.
Starting with the match between Federer and Del Potro and this really should be a match full of high quality tennis. It's no secret how much Federer wants the Olympic gold medal and with the games played in London and the tennis played at Wimbledon he couldn't really ask for any more. After picking up yet another Grand Slam and equalling Pete Sampras' record of seven Wimbledon titles, the Swiss star came into the Olympics as the favourite. He's been impressive in how he has coped with some potential banana skins and in his quarter final against John Isner I thought he was playing at a very high level. Isner was playing well coming into that match but Roger stayed patient and waited for his chances and got the job done. Del Potro has also been impressive in his route through. In his first set against Gilles Simon he was outstanding but had difficulty closing it out and in the quarter final against Kei Nishikori he was 4-1 up in the second set and ended up only winning on a tie break. Closing out matches is very important in the game and although he eventually finished them off he will be concerned he let his leads slip. Against a man like Federer you cannot show any weakness. These two have met fourteen times and Federer has come out on top twelve of those times including the last six meetings. Del Potro won his first match against Federer in the US Open final of 2009 and I think head to head records mean nothing when it comes to an event like the Olympics. Federer nullifies Del Potro's big game with one shot in particular, the low slice backhand. With the height of Del Potro, Roger keeps the ball down low with slice and it causes the Argentine all sorts of problems. However, in the French Open this year Del Potro found the solution. He was hitting around the ball a bit more and getting into the rallies and he simply outclassed Federer for two sets until his hamstring injury cost him the match. My worry for Del Potro on this surface is his movement. When he played David Ferrer at Wimbledon he was pushed around the court and had no answers once his movement was tested to the full. I've felt from the start of the tournament that Del Potro would medal and a win today would guarantee that. Federer may have won Wimbledon but I think he can be beaten and I think Del Potro is exactly the kind of player that could do it. This match is going to be close, too close to call. One possible factor is Federer's desire for gold. It could spur him on in the big moments or could it put too much pressure on him? We'll find out if Del Potro puts him to the sword.
The second semi final between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic is another potentially epic match. A lot of people are assuming Murray will reach the final here after his run at Wimbledon but I don't see it. Many people have been saying Murray has been sensational so far but the way I've seen it his opponents have been very poor. Nicolas Almagro in the quarter final was far below his best and offered Murray little opposition. Even if he had been fully fit I don't think he would have played aggressive enough to beat the Scot anyway but he would certainly have given him a better game. The only man to step up and attack Murray was Marcos Baghdatis and he was a joy to watch for a set. He stood up on the baseline and dictated the play and took Murray apart and then at the start of the second set he stood back and rallied and against a player like Murray that is criminal. I have been impressed with Murray's dismantling of his opponents but I would have liked to see someone continuously push him and continuously attack him. Djokovic has been up and down at times and struggled for a set against Fabio Fognini and again against Lleyton Hewitt but he was breathtakingly brilliant yesterday against Tsonga. He dropped sets against Fognini and Hewitt but after he did he stepped it up and crushed them. Andy Roddick was a man on form until he ran into Novak in round two and I think Djokovic has threatened to return to the form he had last season. I fully expect Djokovic to beat Murray and I think he might do so easily. Murray will find it difficult against Djokovic because Djokovic can be aggressive and he won't mind having to rally with Murray and no matter which he does he can be effective. That allows Djokovic to drift in and out and that makes him very dangerous. These two have met thirteen times and Djokovic leads 8-5 and Murray's five wins have all come at Masters 1000 events and this year in Dubai. They've met twice in Grand Slams and Djokovic has come out on top both times including his crushing win at the Australian Open in 2011. Djokovic has really found the range on his ground strokes and that is ominous for the tour. He's serving better and he's backing up his serves even better than he did at times last year. I think Novak is going to guarantee himself a medal by winning this match and improve on his bronze medal in Beijing four years ago.
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