Well folks, we're down to the semis of both singles competitions. Here's how I see things going.
For the men:
Novak Djokovic v David Ferrer
Novak, as we know, has become Mr Consistent and although he's not reached the dizzy heights of 2011, is playing much better than most of the guys below him. His supreme fitness and will to win has got him to the semis (particularly against Wawrinka). I'd put him down as favourite to lift the trophy on Sunday. However, there's only two guys good enough and have the belief to beat him and these are either Andy Murray or Roger Federer.
David Ferrer is a really good player, a hard worker, with loads of determination, but I'm sorry, he does not have the tools to beat Djokovic. Heart and desire only go so far, but if you've not got the game to beat a better player, you won't, end of story. I'm afraid this is the case - Novak is a far better player than David. Novak in 4.
Andy Murray v Roger Federer
We all know how great Roger is - his record speaks for itself. Write off this man to your peril folks. Andy has improved leaps and bounds and that's down to his coach, Ivan Lendl. A few changes were made to his game and he's more aggressive. Also mentally Andy has become a beast and he won't give in. Andy has to be aggressive from the get-go and needs to show his mental strength to win this one.
Forget the head-to-head record and the Olympics - the bad news is that Andy has not beaten Roger in a Grad Slam match - he has been hammered twice in finals and lost a 4-set heartbreaker at SW19 in the final. Roger has the edge in that aspect as well as experience on his side. The good news is that Roger has not been consistently at his best form for some time now and made mistakes against Tsonga that he wouldn't have made in his glory years of 2003-2007.
Put it simply, if Roger hits his top form he will beat Andy and Novak in the final, end of story. His top form is just a cut above the rest. If Andy is at his best he's got a good shot - and if Roger makes the mistakes he did against Tsonga, Andy will win comfortably. However, if Roger is at his best and Andy is passive, Roger will dish out a straight sets pasting.
Andy does have the tools to beat Roger, and I can see the match being close, but I think that their Grand Slam record is grim reading, so I have to lean towards a narrow Federer win. Roger in 5.
For the women:
Victoria Azarenka v Sloane Stephens
Sloane is a promising young player who has done well to reach this stage and caused a huge upset by beating Serena Williams, albeit Serena was injured. Victoria has been doing her customary shrieking and destroying her opponents. I can't see Sloane causing a surprise here, in fact, Vika will swamp her as well. Vika in a two set thrashing.
Maria Sharapova v Na Li
Li has done well to reach the semis this time and shown why she is a top player. However, she is not playing as well as Maria, who like Vika, has also done her customary shrieking as well as dishing out several bagels along the way. Again can't see any other outcome apart from the "Shrieking Show" on Saturday. Maria to win convincingly in 2.
Thoughts?