Tennis: Men's semi-final decided - sans Federer!

So a day after a pretty shocking women's quarterfinal, the men's quarterfinal do not disappoint as well. A couple big matches went down and the result does not fall short of being jaw-dropping.

First of all you have Mr. Federer falling yet again in the quarters of a Grand Slam, this time losing to Tomas Berdych from Czech Replubic. The moment he lost, you can almost hear all the commentator and player thinking out loud: Is this it? Is this the beginning of the steady descend of a champion? And are we ready to start the count-down of Federer's last hurrah before retirement? Two consecutive early loses at Grand Slam (early according to Federer's standard), is a pretty strong signal of something's wrong with Fed's game, especially when he's losing not because he's playing badly, but he was just simply out-played at times. There's one more Grand Slam left in the season, it's really important for Federer to have a strong summer hardcourt swing to restore his confidence, I do not think he can continue to go into the slams and expect to do well and pull a Williams sister; Federer is more the kind of player who needs a good momentum going into slams.

Other Wimbledon Men's quarter final results:

Rafael Nadal def. Robin Soderling 3-6 6-3 7-6 (4) 6-1

Novak Djokovic def. Y. S. Lu 6-3 6-2 6-2

Andy Murray def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 (5) 7-6(5) 6-2 6-2

Men's Semi Prediction:

This one is harder to call than the women, there's just so much more potential and unpredictability in the men's game...mm..

Djokovic over Berdych in 5 sets - I originally picked Berdych, but as I was writing why so, I was more convinced that Berdych's lack of mental strength at the bigger moments will finally get to him in the semi, especially after such an emotional high defeating Federer the round before. And Djokovic is playing some sick tennis this tournament and I don't see Djokovic letting this one go. This could be a turning point for his year and once again set him on track back to the world's best.

vs.

Andy Murray over Rafael Nadal in 5 sets - I think we're in for a battle. The crowd is going to be solely on Murray's side as he once again advances to the semi-final of his home tournament. Nadal has been less than impressive this whole tournament although he's been able to get out of trouble in the early rounds. Murray has beaten Nadal before and has enough game to to do it again, and once we get to the 5th set, I expect the crowd to carry Murray through to his first-ever Wimbledon Final.

vs.

Final Prediction:

Unlike the women's, there no one here who's an outright winner, so I'm going to wait till the semi-final is played out.