The temptation would be to believe the 137th Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles final is destined to be a rematch of the glorious 136th, when Carlos Alcaraz dethroned Novak Djokovic in the most fabulous of showdowns.

Just don’t suggest that to Daniil Medvedev, the man Alcaraz salutes as the great wall of tennis, nor to Lorenzo Musetti, the Italian artist who recently kept Djokovic up until way past his bedtime in Paris with a near horror story.

These really are belting semi-finals in the making. Yes, Alcaraz did smash the wall to smithereens at the same stage last year, but there’s a marvellous indomitability and intelligence about Medvedev, the way he soaks up his setbacks, adapts tactically and returns even more steely.

Two months after that hammering on Centre Court, Medvedev dismantled Alcaraz at Flushing Meadows. Here, he’s already avenged his Australian Open final defeat by knocking out world No.1 Jannik Sinner.

“I always said a lot of things in my life come with experience. Every time I do something for the first time, I’m super nervous,” shrugs the 28-year-old. “I can do it, but I’m super nervous.”

Then that big, whirring brain clicks into action – and next time, he’s learned that bit more, he’s just that bit harder to beat. Playing Medvedev, opponents moan, is like pitting wits against a chess grandmaster with awfully long arms.

Actually, though, it’s Alcaraz who’s the chess whizz, regularly sharpening his wits with a pre-match game. “You have to have intuition about where your opponent’s going to send the ball, you have to move ahead of time, try to do something that will make him uncomfortable. So I play chess a lot.”

Last year, like some genius cross between Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov, he checkmated Medvedev in no time.

So, what makes Alcaraz special? “To be honest, everything. You know whatever shot you hit, he can hit a winner from there,” sighs Medvedev. The dazzling pyrotechnics have been mixed with a few damp squibs this Fortnight, but the suspicion is the real fireworks are about to be ignited.

Meanwhile, Djokovic sails on serenely, even having the luxury of being able to relax with a fun hit against kids Stefan and Tara on his 10th wedding anniversary after his last projected opponent, the luckless Alex de Minaur, had to pull out with a hip injury.

So far, Djokovic’s path towards his record 49th Grand Slam semi-final has featured wins over the world Nos.123, 277 and 47, the out-of-sorts world No.15 Holger Rune, and then a walkover. He has passed the sternest possible tests throughout his career, but this year's run has been kind to his recovering knee.

Musetti, though, believes he’s ready to tackle the great champion, even if we really expected another 22-year-old Italian, Sinner, to be the one to get this far.

But then there was a time when it was Musetti who was just as fancied as Sinner to become the next big thing, a world No.1 junior and Australian Open boys’ champion with a stylish touch of a young Federer about him.

Now, perhaps, his time has arrived after he’s become such an adornment to our tennis summer, following up his Queen’s Club final appearance with his rollercoaster five-set quarter-final win here against Taylor Fritz.

“A magic day … after the birth of my son, I will put this in the second position today. For my career, is the best day of my life,” beamed Musetti, who promised after Ludovico’s birth in March that his “main goal for this season is to try and be a nice father”.

He never mentioned his other ambition – to continue to make life as difficult as humanly possible on a tennis court for the superhuman he considers to be the best to have played the game.

For Musetti’s already given Djokovic a couple of scares in Paris and actually beat him on the clay at Monte Carlo last year. Yet it was their latest encounter at Roland-Garros the Italian found most stressful as they ended up slugging it out on Court Philippe Chatrier until 3.07am, the tournament’s latest ever – or is that earliest ever? – finish.

The stress comes, says Musetti, not least because of who’s on the other side of the net. “You walk on court with a different mentality against him,” he admits. “And I always finish with a lesson.” Often, a fairly brutal one, he might have added, as he glances at the 1-5 head-to-head score.

But these are heady times for Italian tennis and the man with the beautifully polished game from Carrara, the Tuscan town built on marble, is in good company.

“For sure, I’m going to be watching,” beams our ladies’ finalist Jasmine Paolini. “I think we are inspiring each other, no?” Inspiring a nation too. Forza!