Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal spark insane ticket price hike at Wimbledon

They’re two of the greatest players in the history of tennis, the stars of perhaps the finest match in the sport’s history.

When Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal meet Friday in the semi-finals of this year’s Wimbledon tournament, they’ll command a worldwide audience ... and some phenomenal ticket prices too.

Immediately after Federer and Nadal won their quarter-finals matches to set up yet another titanic showdown, ticket prices on Stubhub started — started — at about £7000, the equivalent of nearly $12,500(AU).

When sports betting expert Darren Rovell checked out the cost for a pair of tickets, he reported that people would have to pay US$15,643 - over $22,000 in Australia.

Why are tickets so expensive?

Both players are in the late sets of their careers, with Federer already possibly closing the door on returning to clay at the French Open.

That makes this matchup, one with both still relatively close to their primes, one of the last opportunities to see two legends face off ... and ticket prices are appropriately stratospheric.

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For comparison purposes: this year’s Super Bowl featuring the Rams and Patriots had a get-in-the-door price of about US$3,500 the morning of the game.

Anecdotal reports put the cheapest tickets for the NBA Finals’ Game Six in Oakland at about $500, while the previous game in Raptors-mad Toronto was about $2000.

Other sports had similar steep costs, though not quite Wimbledon-level.

The Masters, where Tiger Woods won his 15th major earlier this year, ran from about $2000-$3000 each day.

Wimbledon first for Federer and Nadal

The two most successful men's performers in grand slam history will be going head to head at a major for the 13th time.

But in a first at Wimbledon, Federer and Nadal won't be playing for the trophy - not that that changes too much, or reduces the stakes.

"We have a lot of information on Rafa, as does he on us," Federer said after becoming the first man to notch a century of wins at Wimbledon and advancing to a mind-boggling 45th grand slam semi-final in all.

"So you can dive into the tactics like mad for two days, or you say 'it's grass court tennis so I'm going to come out and play my tennis'.

"People always hype it up. It was a joy to play against Rafa again on his court at the French Open (last month) and I'm very excited to play him here."

After five consecutive losses to Federer starting from their 2017 Australian Open final, Nadal finally turned the tables on the 20-times major winner with a straight-sets success at Roland Garros en route to his 18th grand slam triumph.

Nadal, 33, leads 37-year-old Federer 24-15 head-to-head, but Federer said past results counted for nothing now.

"Who cares. It's about how has he played so far, how have I played so far. I hope it goes my way," Federer said.

"It's going to be tough. Rafa really can hurt anybody on any surface. I mean, he's that good. He's not just a claycourt specialist, we know."

with Yahoo Sports and AAP