Federer and Nadal in top shape for Wimbledon quarters
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer enter the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in top form on Wednesday, while Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are thirsting for their first tournament title at the All England Club.
The men's top four seeds have made it to the last eight, now facing much tougher opposition towards the climax of the tournament.
Six-time defending champion Federer is bidding for his seventh Wimbledon victory, and will face 12th seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic. The 2008 Wimbledon champion Nadal, will take on sixth seeded Swede Robin Soderling. The Spaniard was unable to defend his title last year, absent from the tournament due to knee injuries. Nadal and Soderling faced off at this year’s French Open final, with Nadal taking home the trophy.
Plenty of tough opponents
Brit Murray faces 10th seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, while third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia will take on Lu Yen-Hsun, the unseeded player from Taiwan, who just shocked Andy Roddick into elimination.
World No 2 Federer is top seeded at Wimbledon, but had a slow start to the tournament. Yet the possibility of injury affecting his game was promptly dismissed by the Swiss maestro.
"My thigh was hurting a little bit after the first match and it in the final in Halle it was hurting me as well. But honestly now I have no more problems, no more strapping. I'm happy I recovered," he said.
If the two end up meeting in the final on July 4th, Nadal must be at his 100 percent, especially since Federer is in top form.
Nadal’s jerky knee
A knee problem has been bothering Nadal during the tournament, but is confident that he can play through the pain.
"I take anti-inflammatorys. I did a lot of treatment with the physio and the doctor," he said. "On Monday I didn't feel pain. It's there, but it wasn't a problem. Hopefully it's going to be fine."
To defeat Soderling, Nadal will have to step it up. The Swede claims that he can match the Spaniard’s prowess, having beat him at the French Open last year, and again in the World Tour finals last December.
"It's definitely easier to play him on any surface other than clay," the Swede admitted. "You have to do everything well to beat him. He's such a great player and he moves so well and has a great offensive game and also a great defensive game."
After Soderling mocked Nadal's habits off-court, the men have not got along well on court, but the Spaniard got revenge with his French Open victory over Soderling.
"I had a little bit of a problem (with him) in a tournament few year ago. After that I never had any problems with him," Nadal said."He is probably one of the more difficult opponents that you can play on all surfaces, but especially here. He's playing with big confidence and a big serve."
Tsonga can do no wrong-a
Tsonga is playing his first quarter-final at Wimbledon, and will have to play over the home court favourite Andy Murray, who has not dropped a single set at the tournament yet. With the odds in favour of Murray, Tsonga still said he felt positive about the match. "I know Andy likes grass. He plays well on this surface. He is at home,” he said.
"But I will be the outsider. Maybe the pressure will be on his shoulders because for me I have nothing to lose. I have everything to win in this match."
Djokovic will take on Lu, who is fresh off his Andy Roddick defeat, and has produced Taiwan's best performance by making it to the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam.
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