Wimbledon 2018: Our traders’ picks for the men’s semi-finals

K Anderson v J Isner: Correct Score 1st Set – J Isner 7-6 – 7/4

An unlikely duo at this stage of the tournament, no doubt, but both these men have earned their places in the semi-finals. Anderson shocked the tennis world on Wednesday coming from two sets down to beat the Wimbledon king, Roger Federer, in an epic 5 set encounter.

Whilst Isner overcame the hotly touted Canadian, Milos Raonic, in four sets. Isner leads this head to head 8-4 and we fancy him to get over the line and reach his first ever grand slam final (9/10 match odds). Both men possess monstrous service games so don’t expect this match to have long rallies and deft Paire-esque drop shots. Of their twelve previous encounters, six of these have opened with a first set tie break and we don’t see it being any different this time around. We are offering 1/3 for there to be a 1st set tiebreak but the value has to be with big John Isner winning the opening set 7-6 at odds of 7/4.

N Djokovic v R Nadal: Set Handicap – R Nadal (-1.5) – 13/8

This promises to be a match that will captivate the imaginations of all types of tennis enthusiasts. Two of the greats of the game face off once again in the penultimate stages of a grand slam, and it is great to see. Both men have looked highly impressive so far with Djokovic only dropping two sets along the way to Kei Nishikori and Britain’s Kyle Edmund.

Even though Nadal survived a brutal and relentless onslaught from the Del Potro forehand on Wednesday over five intense sets, we still believe he should be fit and ready to go for this match against Novak on Friday. Prior to his encounter with Del Potro, Rafa barely broke a sweat, overcoming all of his opponent’s enroute to the quarters with ease in straight sets.

Forgive us for being nostalgic but we all dreamed of a repeat of the epic 2008 final between Federer and Nadal, but after Federer’s shock elimination from the tournament we are still hopeful that Rafa makes the final at least. However, he will surely have a battle on his hands in the semis, from what seems to be a rejuvenated Djokovic.

This match really could go either way but we would be highly surprised to see it won in straight sets, whoever the victor should be. That being said, we are going with our gut on this one and fancy Nadal to get the job done in four. We are offering odds of 13/8 on Rafael Nadal (-1.5) in the Set Handicap market.