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ShareLondon: London: Roger Federer will put friendship aside while Andy Murray must turn his back on national hype and growing media hysteria when they aim to set up a dream Wimbledon final.
Five-time champion Federer tackles close friend Tommy Haas on Friday who, at 31, is two wins away from becoming the oldest Wimbledon champion for 34 years.
Then later in the day, Murray faces two-time runner-up Andy Roddick in his semi-final where he will be riding a wave of emotional support from a desperate nation.
Federer holds a 9-2 record over Haas but is aware of the danger posed by a man who almost shattered his French Open dream last month when the German won the first two sets of their last 16 tie before the world No.2 crawled back.
Haas, playing in his first Wimbledon semi-final, put out world No.4 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals having had to save two match points in his marathon third round win over Marin Cilic.
Federer, who went level with Pete Sampras's record of 14 majors with his breakthrough French Open triumph, believes Haas will be a tough proposition on grass.
"He's talented. He's always been one of the best strikers in the game. I think he's really gotten his game together again after some tough injuries," said Federer.
Haas will bring a new challenge into the semi-final having reached this stage by reviving the dying art of serve and volley.
"When you get older you try to get free points as much as you can. It's been working so far," said the German. It's been good when I'm serving well. I feel like at the net I can do some good stuff. We had a good battle at the French, but I'm realistic of who my opponent is. So I'll just (go) out there, compete hard and see what happens."
Murray, with the likes of Hollywood superstars Kate Winslet and Ewan McGregor rallying to his cause, insisted he won't get carried away by the hype.
"It doesn't make any difference the way you perform," said Murray, only the third British man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in the Open era.
"If you work in the media and spend a lot of time reading the papers, watching everything on the TV, all the things that are getting said on the radio, then you get caught up in it. If you ignore it you don't realise it's happening."
The 22-year-old Scotsman believes his game matches up to any man left in the tournament.
"I feel confident because I've won a lot of matches on grass. But every day when I get up to play the matches, I know that I'm going to have to perform very well, and that gets the nerves and the adrenaline going."
Roddick trails Murray 6-2 in career meetings including a third round, straight sets loss here to the Briton in 2006.
