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Despite being a three-time champion, Djokovic has played only once on the central court – against the British home favorite, Kyle Edmund, in the last 32 minutes – when first four rounds.
On the other hand, Federer, eight-time champion, and Nadal, winner twice, played exclusively on the 15,000-seat Center Court.
So with two quarterfinals at Center Court and two at Court One, you have to give something.
"We will see, hopefully," said Djokovic when asked when he was waiting to confront Japanese Kei Nishikori in the most famous arena of tennis .
The Serb has played twice on the 11,000-seat Court One this year, but was redirected to the 4,000-seat Court Two for his second clash against Horacio Zeballos.
Three times he was programmed last on the field, putting him in danger of falling victim to the declining light with the burden of having to come back the next day.
He managed to finish the Russian Karen Khachanov in three sets in the dark.
Twelve months ago, his last-minute match with Adrian Mannarino, also scheduled for Court One, was canceled despite the Center Court with his retractable roof available.
Djokovic had to play this fourth round Tuesday and quarter-final on Wednesday, when he was forced to retire against Tomas Berdych due to an elbow injury.
On Monday, he almost fell victim to the planning curse again.
"I heard that the organizers were planning to cancel my match if Gael Monfils and Kevin Anderson were going to a fifth, luckily for me, that did not happen", he said about the meeting with Khachanov.
Oddly enough, the organizers decided to put a mixed doubles match on Center Court, which ended under the roof after sunset.
"That's what I wanted," said Djokovic when asked if he would have preferred to go to the Court Center.
"Like last year, I received information that they could not postpone my match on the other field because of tickets that are pre-sold .
"I guess there are other factors that come into play."
Wherever he ends up playing, Djokovic, the 2011, 2014 and 2015 champion, will be favored to get rid of Nishikori for the 14th time in 16 games.
Nishikori plays in his first quarterfinal of Wimbledon.
He is also the first Japanese to reach the quarter-finals since Shuzo Matsuoka in 1995.
"It's still like a great war for me," Nishikori said while facing Djokovic.
Defending champion Federer will compete in his 16th quarter-final at Wimbledon and 53rd at all Grand Slam tournaments.
His opponent on Wednesday is Kevin Anderson, eighth seeded, the first South African since Wayne Ferreira in 1994 to qualify for the last eight.
The 36-year-old favorite Federer has now won 32 straight sets at Wimbledon, just two behind his third-round record in 2005 until his triumph in 2006.
He also holds a 4-0 career lead over the American Anderson 2017, who has not yet taken part in the Swiss round.
Federer has not dropped service at Wimbledon until here but is wary of the challenge posed by Anderson whose grand model of service is blooming on short cooked by heatwave last week.
"That certainly helped a certain style of player, maybe the big servers," said Federer, a big winner 20 times.
Nadal played in the quarterfinals for the first time since he finished second to Djokovic in 2011.
The world number one will face either Juan Martin del Potro or Gilles Simon, whose last meeting was suspended due to the darkness on Monday.
Nadal, chasing a major 18th, leads the former champion of the US Open Del Potro 10-5 and Simon 8-1.
Many are already anticipating a final on Sunday between Federer and Nadal, 10 years after their epic championship event of 2008 widely considered the biggest final ever played.
"To face Roger will be something fantastic," Nadal said.
"But if you ask me if I prefer another, I say yes, it is to be smart, right?"
The other quarter-finals on Wednesday sees Milos Raonic, runner-up 2016, attacking the ninth seeded American, John Isner, who debuted at Wimbledon in eighth place at 33 years.
It will not be pretty.
Isner, 33, was not beaten in 74 service games while Raonic lost his serve only three times in 72 games.
Isner clocked 135 aces in first place in the tournament, while Raonic, 13th seed, is in second place with 117 points.
Raonic has the fastest service of Wimbledon this year at 236.5 km / h, while Isner is just behind at 144 mph (231.7 km / h).
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