Wimbledon men’s semi-final preview: Lorenzo Musetti hoping to stun Novak Djokovic

Wimbledon semi-finalist Lorenzo Musetti lives for tennis so much he has a tattoo of a racquet on a graph of his own heartbeat on his left arm.

It is one of three tattoos on the Italian’s body. He also has an anchor representing the importance of family in his life and a quote from his coach saying ‘Il meglio deve ancora venire’ meaning ‘the best is yet to come’.

The 22-year-old, who became a father in March, will hope that mantra will help him when he faces seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic in the second of Friday’s semi-finals.

Musetti, a finalist at this year’s Queen’s, has had a rollercoaster run into the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.

He has won three of his matches this fortnight in four sets and the other two in five, overcoming 13th seed Taylor Fritz in an epic quarter-final that lasted three hours 27 minutes.

The crowd on Court One quickly sided with the Italian, appreciating his powerful and resilient play as well as his passionate reaction to victory.

As the underdog on Friday, the 25th seed is likely to have even more support when he walks on to Centre Court for the first time.

Djokovic, meanwhile, will be hoping for a better reaction after accusing some members of the crowd of disrespectful booing during his fourth-round win over Holger Rune.