Giant challenges for top two

Wimbledon 2013 will be remembered as a tournament of shocks but unless giants Juan Martin del Potro and Jerzy Janowicz

Wimbledon 2013 will be remembered as a tournament of shocks but unless giants Juan Martin del Potro and Jerzy Janowicz can chop Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray down to size,Sunday8217;s men8217;s final will be a showdown between the world8217;s top two players.

In a sport that plays on the psychologically vulnerable and demands supreme levels of endurance,Djokovic and Murrays consistency in reaching the business end of grand slams is nothing short of remarkable.

When Djokovic takes to Centre Court to play Argentine Del Potro,it will be his 13th successive semi-final at a major,while Murray8217;s match-up against Janowicz will be his fifth consecutive appearance in the last four at Wimbledon. Should they both win,it will be the third time in the last four grand slams that they have met in the final.

Their rivalry has usurped that of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal as the biggest draw in the sport and with the Swiss maestro and the Spanish matador having been dumped out early,two different faces will contest Friday8217;s semis.

Del Potro,a grand slam winner at the U.S. Open in 2009,is hardly an unknown,but Janowicz has emerged from obscurity and will enter the world8217;s top 20 next week.

Imposing presence

Both players are imposing figures on court. Poland8217;s Janowicz stands at 6-foot-8 and Del Potro is a mere two inches shorter. Both have booming serves and heavy forehands and both are outsiders to cause an upset bookies have Djokovic a 1-6 favourite to beat Del Potro and Murray is 1-5 to end Janowicz8217;s surprise run.

Del Potro will do well just to make it on court. After a nasty tumble in his third-round match,when he collided with a chair,he has played with heavy strapping around his knee.

Story continues below this ad

He will need to be 100 percent to have a chance against Djokovic. The only former champion in the last four has a 8-3 winning record against Del Potro,is one of the game8217;s very best returners and will keep him working his wounded limb from start to finish. Some comfort for Del Potro is that he won their last meeting at the Indian Wells Masters in March as well as the bronze medal match on the Wimbledon lawns at last year8217;s Olympics.

Murray,looking to shed the millstone of becoming the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the Wimbledon title,faces a similar threat.

Janowicz is Poland8217;s first male grand slam semi-finalist and,at 22,is the youngest man to reach the last four at Wimbledon since Murray in 2009. The pair have played each other twice with U.S. Open champion Murray winning one and Janowicz the most recent encounter at the Paris Masters in November.

Live on ESPN at 5:30 pm: Djokovic vs Del Potro followed by Murray vs Janowicz