PREVIEW: Murray, Nadal carry rivalry into "PlayStation" semi-final

Jun 30, 2011, 12:13 GMT

London - Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal meet in a Wimbledon semi-final Friday for the second straight year, with both seeds carrying injuries into the high-profile contest.

With Nadal cautiously confident about continuing treatment a heel problem he suffered on Monday and Murray sure that a hip muscle twinge which he felt in his quarter-final win over Feliciano Lopez will come good, the emphasis in the rivalry has shifted off court - to the PlayStation arena.

It turns out that Murray and his coach/friend Dani Vallverdu have long been key computer gaming rivals with Nadal and best mate Juan Monaco.

But there remains an ongoing dispute as to which team holds the winning advantage. 'We play PlayStation outside the court when we are in the same hotels in the tournament,' said Nadal. 'Now he (Murray) really don't want to play more. He lost the last few times.

'Seriously, that's true. He lost almost every time. He played with his friend Danny against Monaco and me, and we won.'

That's not how Murray sees it though.

'He (Nadal) actually isn't very good at PlayStation, His partner Juan Monaco is very good. As a team, they play well.'

Murray stand 4-11 in the tennis series with the Spaniard, whom he beat twice in 2010 at the Australian Open and in a Toronto semi-final.

Murray said part of the problem is that the Latin team makes the rules in the gaming confrontations. 'There's different camera views, and we play with one camera view and they play with a different one. But we always play with their one,' complained Murray.

'They play with Inter Milan, and we're not allowed to play with Inter Milan even though they're the best team in the game. We have to play with a different team. When we lose, we're a little bit like, we blame the rules that they have.'

Murray goes into tennis battle with the usual weight of British expectation bearing down, but more than confident.

'I believe I can win against him, I had chances last year,' said the Scot. 'Sometimes it comes down to strategy. Sometimes it comes down to having more experience. I just have to go out there and play well and serve well and believe and I'll have a chance.'

Nadal said that with his physical queries now sorted, he can concentrate totally on his game as he bids for the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double.

'The match will be very difficult for me. I think Andy's playing at a very, very high level. We'll see what's going on. It will be a big challenge for me, and I'm going to try my best.'

In the second semi, France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will try and follow up his ouster of six-time winner Roger Federer as he plays second seed Novak Djokovic in a repeat of the 2008 Australian Open final won by the Serb.

Since then, Tsonga has compiled an overall 5-2 record in the series. Djokovic put out Australian teenager Bernard Tomic in their quarter-final as the Serb edges closer to a shot at the number one ranking held by Nadal.

'We are both baseline players,' Djokovic said of his match with Tsonga. 'A lot will depend from our serves. I need to serve well because that's something that he's going to do, for sure. I expect a very, very even match.'