IT is one of the most eagerly awaited match-ups in world sport.

No, not Andy Murray versus Rafael Nadal at tennis on Centre Court, but Murray and his old Sanchez-Casal buddy Dani Vallverdu against Nadal and Juan Monaco on a football simulator the next time they are near a PlayStation.

The trash talking ahead of tomorrow's Wimbledon semi-final began in earnest when both men conceded that computer games had formed the basis of their friendship, but offered differing opinions about their respective abilities.

The world No.1 was first into the interview room, having shown little sign of his apparent foot problem in making short work of Mardy Fish by a 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 scoreline.

"Normally we play PlayStation when we are in the same hotels in a tournament," said Nadal, who was never in trouble against the American and has a 4-2 head-to-head record in grand slams against the Scot. "Now he really doesn't want to play more. He has lost the last few times. Seriously, that's true. He has lost almost every time. He played with his friend Dani against Monaco and me, and we won."

The Scot was having none of this and got some cyber sledging of his own in. "Rafa actually isn't very good at PlayStation," claimed Murray. "His partner is very good. He plays with Juan Monaco, and Juan Monaco is very good. As a team, they play very well.

"We always play with their rules," the Scot added. "We play with one camera view and they play with a different one. But we always play with their one. They play with Inter Milan, so we're not allowed to play with Inter Milan, even though they're the best team in the game. Once the game starts, you're not allowed to make substitutions.

"I did play them once with our camera view and we won, but that's the only time we got a chance to play them. But come Friday, obviously all that stuff is irrelevant. You just need to put friendships and stuff to one side and play."

That was certainly no problem for Novak Djokovic and Bernard Tomic out on Court No.1. The 18-year-old Tomic, who had 2001 finalists Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter in his box as he attempted to become the youngest man since Boris Becker in 1986 to reach the semi-finals, has been a friend and practice partner of the Serbian ever since they played an exhibition match in Kooyong last year.

But this was hardly a training exercise for the world No.2, who raced away with the first set 6-2 but could not shake off the qualifier. Tomic levelled at one-set all and was a break to the good in the third before the Serb's superior fitness told. He would break twice more in the third and fourth sets, but Tomic had laid a marker down for the future.

Instead of Roger Federer – the only man to beat him this calendar year – Djokovic faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a man who has a winning 5-2 record against him. But the Serb is in another semi-finals and feels there is still more to come.

"I think I can play better than I did today," he said. "Lets say the performance against [Michael] Llodra was great, against [Marcos] Baghdatis not so great. I have been kind of up and down. Hopefully, now it is going to go back up."