WIMBLEDON, England — Rafael Nadal’s left foot is bothering him, and that alone is giving just about every tennis fan in Britain hope that Andy Murray can finally end the nation’s Wimbledon drought.
They will play each other in the semifinals Friday.
“I’m not worried about my foot,” said Nadal, who beat Murray in the semifinals at the All England Club last year and again at the same stage at the French Open a few weeks ago. “[With] the anesthetic there I don’t feel nothing. I don’t feel the pain.”
Nadal has won the Wimbledon title the past two times he has played, in 2008 and last year, bringing his record to 31-2 since the 2006 tournament.
In the other semifinal match, second-seeded Novak Djokovic will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The 12th-seeded Tsonga eliminated six-time champion Roger Federer on Wednesday, coming from two sets down to win in five.
But without Federer and his quest to equal the Wimbledon record of seven titles, much of the attention will fall on Murray.
The 24-year-old Scot is trying to become the first British man to win the Wimbledon title since Fred Perry in 1936 and only second to win at the All England Club in more than 100 years.
No British man has even reached the final since Bunny Austin in 1938.
But Murray is 4-11 against Nadal, including 0-2 at Wimbledon.
“I just have to have a better game plan,” said Murray, who has reached three Grand Slam finals but lost them all. “Sometimes it comes down to strategy.”
Whoever is on the other side of the net will also be looking for a first Wimbledon title, and Djokovic will be the favorite.
The Serb started the 2011 season with 41 straight wins, including an Australian Open final victory over Murray. His perfect season came to end in the French Open semifinals, when he lost to Federer, but he has not dropped a match since.
“Grass court is not my favorite surface, but I still know I can play well on it,” said Djokovic, who needed four sets to beat 18-year-old Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic in the quarterfinals.
Djokovic will also have a bit of added confidence against Tsonga after having beaten the Frenchman in the 2008 Australian Open final.
“I think a lot will depend from our serves,” Djokovic said of Tsonga, who was only broken once against Federer on Wednesday. “I need to serve well because that’s something that he’s going to do, for sure.”
Tsonga is 1-1 in major semifinals, both coming on hard courts at the Australian Open, but his game is suited for the grass. He proved that Wednesday, becoming the first man in 179 Grand Slam matches to beat Federer after losing the opening two sets.
“At the moment, you don’t think about it,” Tsonga said of his mindset after losing the second set. “You just think [that] you have to stay consistent and keep your serve, and that’s it.
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