Tommy Haas plans to follow in the footsteps of Wimbledon's German legends after defeating fourth seed Novak Djokovic 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals for the first time on Wednesday
Tommy Haas plans to follow in the footsteps of Wimbledon's German legends after defeating fourth seed Novak Djokovic 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals for the first time on Wednesday.
Haas, 31, is the oldest man left in the draw, but the 24th seed showed he can still cut it at the highest level with a superb display of grasscourt tennis.
The German will face five-time champion Roger Federer in the last four as he bids to reach a Grand Slam final for the first time in his 13-year career.
If he can somehow shock Federer, he would be one win away from becoming the oldest Wimbledon champion since Arthur Ashe in 1975 and joining Boris Becker, Michael Stich and Steffi Graf as a German winner at the All England Club.
"Obviously Steffi had such great success here and I watched Boris when I was young. He won it three times. Then Michael Stich came along and beat Boris in the final," Haas said.
"We were very blessed in Germany having three of those players. So it was very hard for all of us to maybe try to get in their footsteps. You want to try to maybe accomplish some of the stuff they have, but it's not an easy task.
"My next opponent is somebody that's probably going to go down as the greatest player ever. It's going to be a tough hurdle, but we'll see what happens. It's not over yet."
It is seven years since Haas was rated as the second best player in the world but a succession of injuries, including a recurring shoulder problem, have forced his ranking outside the top 30.
He admitted defeating Djokovic made all the pain worthwhile.
"Tennis players have a short career. You want to be able to look back and say, 'Hey, I played the sport that I love as long as I could and I've tried my best'," Haas said.
"You look back at what you have accomplished and you want to be proud of yourself. These are the moments, playing Djokovic, one of the best players in the world on Court One at Wimbledon."
Things began to look up for Haas at the French Open last month when the Florida-based star pushed Federer all the way in a dramatic five-set match, then he beat Djokovic in the final of the grasscourt tournament in Halle last month.
Haas took the first set here with a single break. The second set followed a similiar pattern. Djokovic struggled to make an impact on Haas's serve, then dropped his own serve to go 5-6 down.
Haas finally faltered as he served for the set and Djokovic broke back before earning three set points in the tie-break.
Even that couldn't halt Haas. He saved all threeu00a0set points and went for the kill, taking the set with some sublime serve and volley play.
Djokovic refused to go quietly and the Serb broke for a 4-3 lead before serving out the third set.
Yet as the temperature rose on Court One, Djokovic began to wilt and Haas broke in the fourth game to move 3-1 ahead. That was one blow too many for Djokovic as Haas closed out a famous victory.
Djokovic admitted he could have few complaints because he played the key points so badly.
"I just somehow couldn't relax in those moments, especially five-all in the first two sets. I was playing very defensively and making some unforced errors," he said.
"He was serving really well and I knew that the key was going to be my return. But I was returning really badly. It was a real disaster. So he deserved to win."
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