Wimbledon 2009: Tommy Haas beats Novak Djokovic to set up Roger Federer semi-final

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and three times is enemy action: Tommy Haas’ cover is truly blown.

The German took Federer to five sets in Paris in May, and eyebrows lifted. He defeated Novak Djokovic in the final of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle earlier this month, winning his first ever title on grass, and people started to talk. Now the oldest man in the men’s draw is through to the semi-finals at Wimbledon, with Djokovic again the victim. This is no coincidence.

For anyone who has been bored to tears by the somnambulistic Williams steamroller as surges its way through the women’s draw, inexorable and predictable as the turning tide, this match was the antidote, the antithesis of the Williams roadshow. This 7-5, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 match was a contest, at last, although in truth it could have been even better. Djokovic, the world No 4, could have put up more of a fight, for starters. As it is, the day is rightfully belongs to Haas.

It is a strange business, this Indian summer of Haas’. His ability with a ball and a racquet in his hands has never been questioned; his body has. Shoulder, elbow – the former world No. 2 could always have done with a drop of oil. That he is in so rich a vein of form now, at the grand age of 31 years old, suggests he has gone to town with a entire can of WD-40.

From the start he had Djokovic’s number, to the extent that even the ground around the baseline, which with ten days of play now resembles a green carpet worn down to the threads, began to irritate the Serbian. Slipping and sliding, the Serbian put a backhand into the net when facing his first break point and went down 6-5 in the first set. Haas closed the set out with a smash.

But having gone ahead, Haas took his eye off the road and almost had a second set car crash. All was fine until he broke to go 6-5, but then he immediately returned the favour, succumbing his service game to love thanks to a flurry of double faults. Nerves were the cause, and they continued into the tie-break, and Djokovic found himself with three set points. Somehow Haas hung in, and suddenly found himself sitting pretty with a two set lead.

There is not-unpopular opinion in the locker room that Djokovic is somewhat lacking in mustard. When the going gets tough, the tough get going, so they say, but Djokovic has in the past often chosen to adopt a more literal interpretation than is intended: he has retired from matches in three of the four grand slams.

It is a family habit, it seems, for in the break between the second and third sets Djokovic’s mother, brother and coach all left. Most in Court No 1 thought that the son would follow suit. Only once in his career has he fought back from two sets down, here at Wimbledon against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez back in 2005.

To be fair to Djokovic, he was not going to go home that quietly. The world No 4 wasn’t going anywhere for a while, taking the third 6-4. But it was only a brief regroup. The well of Djokovic’s fighting spirit doesn’t run that deep. Haas wanted it more, of that much we can be certain.