Federer is anticipating a repeat of last year’s semi-final when the duo wowed spectators and fellow players alike with four hours of high octane stroke-play. Neither of these two like to give an inch from the back of the court so prepare for an afternoon’s worth of supreme shot-making and jaw-dropping defensive skill.

“It's pretty straightforward, you know,” Federer said, looking ahead to the match. “I think we're both gonna play aggressive.  He's moving well since years now.  He's probably taken his game up to a bit of a higher level, but mostly in terms of confidence I think. But I think when we do play against each other it's always exciting.  We have great rallies against each other.  I like playing against him because it's a battle of the baseline a bit if you like. He's been having an amazing season so far, so it's a challenge right now in the men's game. That's what I like, who I like to play against.”

Djokovic is deservedly the favourite and he’s beaten Federer three times this season but the Swiss turned on the magic to upset his rival in the Paris semis and this is one of his favourite courts in the world.

“We're going to go out there and give it the best possible shot, at least myself.  I can only speak for myself.  I don't know where Novak is coming from,” Federer said. “These last two weeks he's had a pretty easy trip to the semis.  Me too.  I have been very dominant in my matches.  I hope I can take all the confidence I have been able to build here during this tournament and use it against Novak. I'm looking forward to it.  Like I said, it's always a great matchup between the two of us.  We've played over 20 times, I think.  So there is no real secrets out there.  We have had particularly good matches here at the US Open, and I have the feeling it's going to be something similar again.”