World number one Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 champion at the All England Club, trails Djokovic, the 2011, 2014 and 2015 winner, 26-25 in a rivalry which began at Roland Garros 12 years ago.

Along the way, they have fought out a series of classic and epic battles including Djokovic’s 5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7 (5/7), 7–5 Australian Open final victory in 2012.

At five hours and 53 minutes, it was the longest final ever at a Slam.

The following year, Nadal downed the Serb, who was world number one at the time, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7, 9-7 in the semi-finals in Paris, this time in four hours and 37 minutes.

“It’s always a big challenge to face Novak,” said 32-year-old Nadal who is back in the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time since 2011 when he finished runner-up to Djokovic.

“He is one of the more complex players that I ever saw in our sport. You know that you can’t win against him if you don’t play very well.”

Nadal is chasing an 18th Grand Slam title which would put him just two behind Roger Federer who was sensationally knocked out in the quarter-finals by Kevin Anderson.

For his part, Djokovic is eyeing a 13th major after making the semi-finals of a Slam for the first time since finishing runner-up at the 2016 US Open.

This time last year, few would have expected to see either man back in the last-four at the All England Club.

Nadal was knocked out in the fourth round, losing 13-11 in the final set to Luxembourg journeyman Gilles Muller.

On four of his previous five visits to south-west London, he had been defeated by players outside the top 100.

Djokovic’s 2017 Wimbledon campaign ended in a quarter-final retirement with an elbow injury which led to surgery and precipitated a worrying dip in form and confidence.

When he lost in the French Open quarter-finals to world number 72 Marco Cecchinato last month, he even suggested he was ready to skip Wimbledon this year as his ranking slipped to 22, his lowest since August 2006.

But the 31-year-old has been rejuvenated at Wimbledon, sweeping into the semi-finals for the eighth time.

– ‘Not up to standard’ –

“My results were not up to the standard that I had before,” said Djokovic after beating Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals.

“At the same time, I’m trying to use the experience and memories that I have of being in the final stages of Grand Slams, just take things very simple, day by day.”

Nadal had not dropped a set at the tournament until the quarter-finals where he fought back to defeat Juan Martin del Potro 7-5, 6-7 (7/9), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday.

That four-hour and 48-minute epic put him into his sixth Wimbledon semi-final and 28th at the majors.

Friday’s other semi-final pitches Anderson, the eighth seed who lost to Nadal in last year’s US Open final, against ninth-seeded American John Isner.

Both men are in the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time.

Anderson is the first South African to make the last-four since Kevin Curren in 1983.

Isner had never got past the third round at Wimbledon before this year while a run to the last-eight at the 2011 US Open had been his previous best at the majors.

The surprise presence of Anderson and Isner means this year’s Wimbledon semi-finals will feature players all over the age of 30 for the first time in the Open era.

Their clash, however, may not be easy on the eye.

Isner hasn’t been broken in 95 service games and has fired 161 aces,fuelled by a sweet tooth.

“I think after each win throughout these 10 days, I’ve had a Kit Kat. I’m not going to change that now,” said the American.

Anderson has 123 aces to his name.

A gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to Croatia after extra-time denied England a shot at a second World Cup triumph, instead setting up a consolation game against familiar foes Belgium.

Roberto Martinez’s side, who were beaten 1-0 by France in the last four, topped Group G ahead of England after an Adnan Januzaj goal settled a low-key encounter in Kaliningrad.

That game saw both coaches heavily rotate their teams, and a similar scenario is likely in Saint Petersburg, with several fringe players pushing for a start.

“The honest thing is, it’s not a game any team wants to play in,” said Southgate, whose side have drawn praise for the way they have briefly united a country bitterly divided over Brexit.

However, he insisted that will not alter England’s approach as they look to achieve their best finish since they won the competition in 1966.

“We’ll want to give a performance of huge pride, there’s no question about that,” said Southgate.

“Every time we wear the shirt of our national team we want to play with pride, we want to play well and we want to win.”

Reserve goalkeepers Jack Butland and Nick Pope are the only two members of England’s 23-man squad yet to feature in Russia, as Southgate stuck with the same line-up throughout the knockout phase.

– ‘Important game’ –

For Belgium and their “golden generation”, many of the key players should return for the 2022 World Cup, even if Vincent Kompany and Jan Vertonghen will probably be gone by then.

Martinez, who signed an extension until after Euro 2020 in May, can guide Belgium to the nation’s best result at the World Cup. They finished fourth in 1986.

“We want to finish on a high and these players deserve to finish on a high,” said the Spaniard.

“You need to try to see the opportunity of finishing third at the World Cup. That doesn’t happen too often, so we need to understand that this is an important game.

“But I would accept it is very difficult when you had the ambition of getting to the final. It’s very difficult to prepare for the next game.”

European teams have claimed third place at the past nine World Cups. The Netherlands beat Brazil 3-0 in 2014 after the hosts were embarrassed 7-1 by Germany in the semi-finals.

England skipper Harry Kane is the tournament’s top scorer on six goals, while Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku trails by two in the race for the Golden Boot.

With one more goal Kane would become the highest scorer at the competition since 2002, when Ronaldo struck eight times, including twice in the final, as Brazil clinched a record fifth title.

The Tottenham forward would be just the second England player to scoop the award, after Gary Lineker was the top scorer in 1986

The 25-year-old from Bangkok, who is chasing her first victory on the tour, carded 10 birdies and four bogeys to finish the day with a six-under par 65 at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania.

Thidapa’s blistering round included seven birdies on the back nine, the last falling on the 18th to take her one stroke clear at the top of a congested leaderboard.

Even Thidapa seemed taken aback when informed later she had made 10 birdies in her round. “Did I make 10? Yeah, for real?” she asked reporters. “Oh wow.”

“I’m really happy about the way I played today,” she added. “There was a lot of drop on the back nine, and I just keep playing. I didn’t really look at the leaderboard, and did not even expect anything.”

A cluster of seven players were lurking menacingly on the world number 163’s shoulder on five under.

The chasing pack included South Korean stars Chun In-gee, Lee Mi-rim and defending champion Kim In-kyung, who all posted 66s.

Kim was unable to build on a dazzling performance over the front nine, which left her at five-under at the turn, with a bogey and a birdie on the back nine cancelling each other out.

“It was really exciting playing the front nine,” Kim said. “I had a good roll … on the back, I hit a lot of good shots and good putts, just the greens can be tricky, and the wind was a little bit swirling. Overall it was a good round.”

Chun surged up the leaderboard after rattling in four consecutive birdies on her closing four holes.

Also one off the lead were Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall, Taiwan’s Tseng Ya-ni and American duo Jacqui Concolino and Katelyn Dambaugh.

Eight players were two off the lead on four-under, including Canada’s Brooke Henderson, who made five birdies and one bogey in her 67.

The 19-year-old rose to No 22 in the world this week, a career-high ranking and taking him past Khosit Phetpradab, who dropped to No 25.

“I’m very excited as this is the highest I’ve been. It’s a dream come true to become the No 1 player in Thailand but my goal is to reach the top 20,” said Kantaphon, who now has back-to-back quarter finals after also reaching the last eight in Jakarta last week.

But the teenager will have to summon all efforts in Friday’s quarter-final showdown with long-standing rival Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia, who beat him in the final of the 2017 Princess Cup here and at the Malaysia Open two weeks ago.

“I’m confident that I can make a difference this time. I have to be really focused as the last two times I lost to him I lost my concentration,” Kantaphon said.

Tommy Sugiarto 

Reigning Princess Cup champion Sugiarto extended his unbeaten record at the Nimibutr National Stadium to 7-0 this year as he ousted local hope Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, the 2016 champion, 19-21 21-18 21-16.

“I had to push myself more. Even though I lost the first game, I knew I still had a chance to come back in the second and third games,” said the 30-year-old from Jakarta.

Sugiarto who started the year in style, beating Malaysian young gun Leong Jun Hao for the Princess Cup crown, hasn’t yet started thinking about winning his second title in Bangkok.

“I just take it one step at a time and focus on the quarter-final match first. I have been lucky just a bit,” added the world No 15.

Suppanyu Avihingsanon 

Joining Kantaphon in the last eights are Khosit who beat Briton Rajeev Ouseph 23-21 21-13 and Suppanyu Avihingsanon who ousted Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia  21-18 21-12.

On the women’s side, Thai hopes Pornpawee Chochuwong and last year’s runner-up Busanan Ongbamrungphan crashed out in the second round, meaning no Thai presence left in the singles.

Pornpawee failed to maintain the Giant’s Killer’s form that she put on to upset the World champion  Nozomi Okuhara of Japan two weeks ago in Malaysia as she lost to the fourth seed 21-18 21-15. Busanan became the last Thai woman to be eliminated from the draw, losing to world No 13 Michelle Li of Canada 15-21 21-12 21-19.

Mixed doubles hopes Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai moved forward, however, beating Mak Hee Chun and Yeung Nga Ting of Hong Kong 21-17 21-13.

British media reflected Thursday on England’s heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Croatia in the World Cup semi-finals, praising manager Gareth Southgate and his young team despite their exit.

England won plaudits not just for their deeds on the pitch — reaching the semis for the first time since 1990 — but for bringing together a nation bitterly divided over Brexit.

“Our divided nation has been united thanks to a polite Englishman and a bunch of modern ordinary lads,” said the Sun.

“Forget Manchester United, West Ham United, Newcastle United. For now we’re an England United, first in hope, now in defeat.”

The Daily Mirror also credits Southgate and his men for fostering a spirit of unity.

“They go into Saturday’s third-place play-off (against Belgium) with their heads held high, knowing they have done themselves proud and put a smile back on a conflicted country’s face.”

The Times points out that since England won the World Cup in 1966, Britain has joined what is now the European Union and is heading towards the exit.

“Whether we will actually have exited the EU by the time we make our next World Cup final is a moot point,” it says.

“However, as the impressive England manager Gareth Southgate has said, the team did create a brief sense of unity at a time of division,” it adds.

“England beaten, but Southgate has relit the fire, say proud fans,” said a Guardian headline.

“Those players will look back eventually on a tournament that has shifted England’s reputation for leaden football and tournament neuroticism,” it said.

“All the same, it may take some time to shake off the ordeal of losing this semi-final, the knowledge that the World Cup may never open up so obligingly again and the additional trauma from the fact that, for a long while, Gareth Southgate’s team had led us to believe they could do it. They really did.”

The Daily Telegraph believes England have “moved forward into a brighter age”.

“The worst outcome now would be for England’s campaign in Russia to be tossed on the fire with all the others. Blessings should be counted, when the angst wears off,” it said.

“Save us from the kind of revisionism that ignores hard facts. One is that England progressed from a group stage exit in 2014 to a semi-final defeat in extra-time four years later. No country on earth would call that anything other than improvement.”//AFP

In a statement, issued only four days before the end of the tournament, football’s governing body also called on Saudi Arabia and other countries to crack down on illegal broadcasts.

FIFA’s decision comes after it was urged by Qatar’s beIN Sports to take action after the broadcaster said its exclusive rights to show matches in the Middle East had been compromised by a pirate channel in Saudi Arabia, known as beoutQ.

“FIFA has observed that the pirate entity named ‘beoutQ’ continues to use illegally the 2018 FIFA World Cup broadcast signal,” read the statement.

“Accordingly, FIFA has engaged counsel to take legal action in Saudi Arabia and is working alongside other sports rights owners that have also been affected to protect its interest.”

The statement added: “FIFA urges the authorities of Saudi Arabia and of the different countries where these illegal activities have been observed to support us in the fight against piracy.”

Last month, Saudi Arabia said it has confiscated more than 12,000 pirating devices in the country.

Doha-based beIN secured rights to broadcast all 64 World Cup matches from Russia across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to 24 countries.

It said it had been unable to reach a deal with Saudi Arabia to show the matches.

BeIN claims that since last October “beoutQ” — using a signal from Riyadh-based satellite provider Arabsat — has been illegally transmitting its broadcasts.

These have appeared not only in Saudi Arabia but also Morocco, Jordan and countries further afield, according to beIN.

The piracy issue has surfaced at a politically sensitive time in the Gulf, with Qatar boycotted by its neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, in a highly fractious 13-month long diplomatic and economic dispute.

Qatar has been isolated since June 2017, accused by Saudi Arabia and its allies of supporting terrorism and being too close to Riyadh’s archrival, Iran — charges Doha denies.

BeIN had urged FIFA to move as it claims it is unable to secure legal representation in Saudi Arabia because of the boycott.

The piracy row has placed FIFA in an increasingly awkward position.

Qatar is the host of the 2022 World Cup and its national airline, Qatar Airways, is one of the tournament’s major sponsors.

However, in recent months intrigue has surrounded the apparently warming relationship between FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

The pair were widely pictured together at the first game of the World Cup, which the Saudis lost 5-0 to hosts Russia.

Last month, Saudi sports authority chief Turki al-Sheikh, urged Infantino on Twitter to take action against beIN, accusing it of politicising sports.

“When the time is right, and everyone involved is ready I’d personally like to invite the children and the coach to attend a La Liga match” in Spain, president Javier Tebas said in a statement Wednesday.

“We’d like to host them and share with them the joy football can give, and I hope this gesture can help after the events of the last few weeks.”

La Liga said it wanted the 12 boys and their football coach, who form the Wild Boars soccer squad, to “watch many of their football heroes in action in person.”

The boys were trapped for more than two weeks after setting off to explore a cave complex in northern Thailand and getting caught by rising floodwaters.

One of the boys was wearing a Real Madrid t-shirt.

La Liga said it had messaged all its clubs to invite them to participate.

FC Barcelona responded Wednesday it had invited the team to a match at its Camp Nou stadium in April and to take part in a gathering in the Spanish city of more than 2,000 youngsters from the club’s football academies around the world.

Football’s world governing body FIFA had invited the Wild Boars to Sunday’s World Cup final in Moscow, but they remain too weak to come and must stay in hospital to make sure they have no infections.

Two of them are being treated for symptoms of pneumonia.

The last of the group was finally extracted on Tuesday after a painstaking and dangerous international rescue mission led by Thai Navy SEALs.

The boys received support from people as varied as US President Donald Trump, football star Lionel Messi or US technology entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Defending champion Federer lost a Court One thriller, 2-6, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-4, 13-11 as 32-year-old Anderson became the first South African in the Wimbledon semi-finals since Kevin Curren in 1983.

“Down two sets to love I tried my best to keep fighting. Beating Roger Federer here at Wimbledon will be one I remember, especially in such a close match,” Anderson said.

“I kept telling myself to keep believing. I said today is going to be my day.”

In a nail-biting four hour and 13 minute classic, it was 36-year-old Federer’s earliest exit at the All England Club since his shock second round defeat against Sergiy Stakhovsky in 2013.

“Sometimes you don’t feel good, and you try your best. Today was one of those days. I didn’t see it coming,” said Federer.

“I had moments where I was great, I felt like I was reading his serve, other moments where I don’t know where the hell I was moving to.”

Eighth seed Anderson will play American ninth seed John Isner on Friday for a place in Sunday’s final.

Three-time champion Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, reached his first semi-final at the majors in more than two years by seeing off Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

The 12-time Slam champion will face old rival and world number one Nadal who saw off Del Potro 7-5, 6-7 (7/9), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 after four hours and 48 minutes on Centre Court to reach his sixth Wimbledon semi-final and 28th at the majors.

For the only the second time at Wimbledon, Federer was beaten after holding a two-set lead, with his previous loss from that position coming against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 2011 quarter-finals.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion appeared to be moving towards his fifth successive Wimbledon semi-final after taking the opening two sets.

That initial burst gave Federer 34 successive sets won at Wimbledon, equalling his own record set between 2005 and 2006.

But, playing on Court One for the first time in three years, Federer was unusually error-prone.

Anderson had failed to take a single set off Federer in their previous four meetings.

Yet once he had ended Federer’s run of holding serve for 85 consecutive games — a streak dating back to last year’s semi-final — Anderson’s confidence soared.

Only once before had Federer played more games at a Grand Slam and on that occasion, he prevailed 16-14 in the 2009 Wimbledon final against Andy Roddick.

But this time Federer cracked, serving his first double fault at 11-11 in the decider to give Anderson the crucial break that ushered the Swiss to the exit door.

Victory on Wednesday gave Nadal his 11th win in 16 meetings against the fifth seed Del Potro as the Spaniard stayed on course for an 18th Grand Slam title.

“I think it was great quality tennis and in the final set there were some amazing points,” said 2008 and 2010 champion Nadal.

“Sorry to Juan Martin, he’s an amazing opponent and player. In some ways he deserves to win as well.

“Anything could have happened, so this is a big achievement for me to get to the semi-finals at Wimbledon.

“In the last set there was a little of everything, great points, great rallies, he was hitting crazy with his forehands.”

Djokovic, who leads his epic head-to-head rivalry with Nadal 26-25, reached his eighth Wimbledon semi-final and 32nd at the majors after a stormy Centre Court clash against Nishikori.

It will be the 31-year-old Serb’s first semi-final at a Slam since the 2016 French Open when he completed the career Grand Slam.

— ‘Unnecessary warnings’ –

The 12-time major winner prevailed despite picking up two code violations and accusing umpire Carlos Ramos of “double standards”.

“I think the first warning was unnecessary,” said Djokovic, who was sanctioned in the second set for spearing his racquet into the court.

“It didn’t harm the grass. Kei did the same in the fourth set but wasn’t warned.

“The umpire said he didn’t see it. I don’t think it’s fair but it is what it is.”

Despite his anger — and picking up a time violation in the fourth set — 12th seed Djokovic still reeled off 10 of the last 12 games.

US ninth seed Isner made the semi-finals of a major for the first time with a 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (9/7), 6-4, 6-3 win over 2016 runner-up Raonic.

Luka Modric’s team fell behind in just the fifth minute to Kieran Trippier’s superb free-kick but hit back through Ivan Perisic and Mandzukic to win a tense contest 2-1 in front of 78,000 spectators in the Luzhniki Stadium.

In beating Gareth Southgate’s young team, Croatia — a country of just four million people — have surpassed the achievements of the heroes of 1998, who reached the semi-finals in France.

Croatia’s players celebrated wildly in front of their supporters in Moscow while in Zagreb tens of thousands of fans poured onto the streets and squares, singing and waving red-white-and-blue flags.

Having led for over an hour, the defeat will be difficult for England to digest as their hopes of reaching a first World Cup final since 1966 were crushed, but their young team have won many admirers in Russia.

Croatia must recover quickly for Sunday’s showpiece — no easy feat after being taken to extra-time for a third consecutive match.

“It was a very difficult game, we all know what was at stake, how important a semi-final is for a small country like Croatia,” said man-of-the-match Perisic.

“We started slowly but we’ve shown our character, just as we have in the previous two knockout rounds when we were one goal down in both matches. We didn’t used to be that resilient.

“Twenty years ago I was back home in Omis, my home town. I rooted for Croatia, wearing a Croatia jersey, and I could only dream of playing for my country and scoring one of the most important goals to send us to a final.”

– ‘We’re gutted’ –

England’s players slumped to the ground at the final whistle, barely able to believe their World Cup dream was over after reaching the semi-final for the first time since 1990.

“We’re gutted,” said Harry Kane, still on course to finish as the tournament’s top goalscorer with six strikes in Russia, even though his golden touch deserted him on Wednesday.

“It hurts, it hurts a lot. It’s going to hurt for a while of course. We can hold our heads up high. It’s been a fantastic journey. We got further than anyone else could thought we would have.”

“I can’t ask for more from the players,” said a disappointed Southgate. “I think knockout football is about fine margins and when you have good spells against fine sides you need to take your chances.

“Tonight we weren’t quite there but we will learn from that. We left everything out there.”

In London, an initial wave of elation turned to heartbreak as 30,000 beer-soaked fans in Hyde Park watched their team come up short.

Around 30 million people were believed to have watched the match on TV in Britain.

Trippier gave England a dream start, curling in a free-kick from 25 yards past the despairing dive of Danijel Subasic after Dele Alli was brought down in a central position.

Croatia started to find their range in the second half and Perisic levelled for Croatia in the 68th minute, nipping ahead of Kyle Walker to steer home Sime Vrsaljko’s cross past a diving Jordan Pickford.

The game went into strength-sapping extra-time and Mandzukic scored the winning goal in the 109th minute, sweeping the ball low past Pickford after Perisic’s header back into the area caught the England defence on the hop.

Prince William, the president of the Football Association, said despite the defeat England could be proud of Southgate’s team.

“I know how disappointed @england must feel right now but I couldn’t be more proud of this team and you should hold your heads high,” he tweeted.

– Solid French defence –

France have the advantage of a day’s more rest than their opponents after they reached the final for the third time in their history on Tuesday.

A second-half header from Samuel Umtiti proved enough for a 1-0 victory against Belgium in Saint Petersburg, sending tens of thousands of people pouring onto the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris in scenes of joy last seen when France won the World Cup on home soil in 1998.

Despite the much-vaunted attack of teenager Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, France’s defence proved the difference as they shut down Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku and showed they will be hard to beat on Sunday.

England were hoping to reach a first World Cup final since 1966, but let an early lead slip to lose 2-1.

“I think in the first half we were really good and maybe we could have got another goal,” Southgate told ITV.

“I can’t ask for more from the players. I think knockout football is about fine margins and when you have good spells against fine sides you need to take your chances.

“Tonight we weren’t quite there but we will learn from that. We left everything out there.”

Southgate said the players were deeply disappointed, but that his young team could achieve great things in the years to come, with the European Championship just two years away.

“It’s impossible to say anything to make the players feel better at this moment in time,” he said.

“We have to be proud of what we’ve achieved. I don’t think anyone could have given any more.

“Players had run out of steam but that’s partly their age –- they’re still physically maturing. Croatia have hardened warriors whose understanding of big matches at times came to the fore.

“The players have to go through big matches and experiences to become a team that can win. They have to use this experience for benefit and I know that what’s happened over the last few weeks will make them a stronger team.”

Harry Kane looks set to claim the Golden Boot as the World Cup’s leading scorer, but the Tottenham star rarely looked like adding to his six goals against Croatia.

– ‘Suffer the result’ –

“I think he’s given absolutely everything for the team,” Southgate said of the 24-year-old England captain.

“I think now is the time for us to be strong as a group and take the time to reflect on the performance a little bit over the next couple of days.

“He’s captained the team brilliantly over the tournament and I can’t ask for more from him.”

It was England’s best performance at a major tournament since Southgate was part of the team that reached the semi-finals at Euro ’96.

England arrived at this World Cup with the least experienced squad in terms of caps, but Southgate said the agony of losing was just as strong despite surpassing limited expectations.

“We all feel the pain of the defeat. Did we expect to be in this position? I don’t think realistically any of us did,” he said.

“But when you’ve got to this point, and we’ve played as well as we have, you want to take those opportunities in life.”

“There will in time be a lot of positives to take,” he added. “It’s very hard to put that into context and a bit too soon really, because I think you have to suffer the result a little bit. It’s too easy to move on quickly.”

England will return to their Repino base near Saint Petersburg ahead of Saturday’s third place play-off against Belgium, a repeat of their final group match.

“The honest thing is it’s not a game any team wants to play,” Southgate admitted. “We have two days to prepare and we’ll want to give a performance of huge pride.

“Of course it’s going to be a really difficult task over the next 24 hours to get everyone mentally back to where we want them for a game like that. That will be the challenge.”