The Usual Suspects

There were eight aside, now we have four, and its the usual suspects that make up the semi final lineup at Wimbledon, with all four top seeds making it through on the women's side, while on the men's side, the dream final is still on, but there are a German and an American who always do well on the grass who will do whatever it takes to scupper that dream.

The women step out for the semi finals today, with Venus Williams taking on Dinara Safina, who is making her first appearance in a Wimbledon semi final, and Serena Williams taking on Elena Dementieva.

The women's side has almost had a feeling of 'whats the point' about it since the get go, with everyone presuming that the Williams sisters will make it into the final for the second year in a row, but although the sisters are in scintillating form at present, dismissing their quarter final opponents with consummate ease, this will be their toughest tests as they face the highest seeds they were ever going to face in the lead up to the final.

Dementieva is most likely to upset the apple cart in this one and has a fairly decent record against Serena, albeit a losing record. Safina, despite being world number one, has a public hatred of grass and has to be considerably pleased to have even made it this far having never progressed beyond the 3rd round here before.

I still fully expect an all Williams final, to my distaste, but there is no denying they know better than anyone on the tour how to play the grass and how to dominate like nowhere else in the world.

The men's side is now one step closer to the dream final that the British public, the British press and most of the watching world are hoping for, with Andy Murray making light work of Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Roger Federer having inhuman reactions to Ivo Karlovic's power serve game beating him, also, in straight sets.

The closer we get to the final on Sunday, the more the nerves and anxiousness creep in and unlike the women's side, where everyone sees nothing other than a Williams 1-2 on Saturday, Andy Roddick, who takes on Murray, and Tommy Haas, who takes on Federer, stand in the way of the dream and have more than enough tools to upset a few million people around the world.

Andy Roddick, two time Wimbledon finalist, is one of the usual suspects when it comes to the latter stages of Wimbledon and has the experience that Murray at present doesn't have and is learning by the day.

It was mentioned fleetingly that Murray looked a little tired in his quarter final against Ferrero, so he will more than happy coming through that one in straight sets, expending as little energy as possible as he will need his A game to beat A-Rod, who has markedly improved in recent months.

Haas has always been pretty nifty on the grass. Winner in Halle, beating Novak Djokovic who he subsequently beat in yesterday's quarter final, he can go into his match up against the history making Federer full of confidence. It wasn't much more than a month ago that Haas was two sets to love up against Federer at Roland Garros, the day after Rafael Nadal had been knocked out. How different things could have been.

On the grass, despite this being the surface of choice for both, Federer will always have the edge, you just have to look at the numbers. Five Wimbledons to Zero says it all.

Murray has never been this far at Wimbledon before, and some might think back to his annihilation at the hands of Nadal last year, off the back of another five set thriller against Richard Gasquet, in the Quarter Final.

Following that slam he went on to win back to back Masters titles, and reach the US Open final. There is no one now who can doubt his fitness. Despite Murray being blinkered and giving the usual responses of 'taking one match at a time' and not worrying about what the media are saying and the pressure they are heaping on him, it wouldn't be human if it didn't affect him a little bit, and if Murray can overcome the pressure that plagued Tim Henman in so many Wimbledon semi finals over the years, he can and will come through.

We are at the business end of the championships and the usual names are still on the draw sheet with Venus and Roger looking to make it six championships a piece, Serena hoping to make it three, and Tommy, A-Rod, Elena, Dinara and Murray all hoping to make history of their own and win the most prestigious trophy in tennis.