Tommy Haas has never been like most of Roger Federer’s contemporaries; that is, he's never been just a whipping boy. Or at least that’s never how he’s seen himself. You wouldn’t know that from his career head-to-head record against Federer; coming into their final yesterday in Halle, Haas hadn’t beaten him in 10 years, and was 2-10 lifetime. But unlike the Youzhnys and Davydenkos and Ferrers of the world, those fellow 30-somethings who have endured and internalized a lifetime of beatings from the Maestro, Haas can still dimly remember a time when he was supposed to be the next great player, the next Grand Slam champ, the next man to see his one-handed backhand on billboards and in bronze.
After all, it had been Haas who had reached the Top 5 first, who had eliminated Federer from the 2000 Olympics and won a silver medal, and beat him again in a five-set thriller in the fourth-round at the Australian Open in 2002. Commentating on that match, ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe described it as a battle between the present (Haas, who was 23 and would reach the semis) and the future (Federer, who was 20 and hovering just outside the Top 10). The next summer, the future turned into present when Federer won his first Wimbledon. It would be seven years before an oft-injured Haas would reach another Slam semi, at Wimbledon in 2009. (Guess who straight-setted him in it? That’s right, the Maestro.)
Along the way, Haas took Federer to five sets in Australia in 2006, and complained, rather vividly, about TV commentator Jim Courier’s lavish praise for his opponent, who was kicking off what would be his finest season. Three years later, Haas nearly spoiled Federer’s one real shot at a career Grand Slam when he went up two sets to love in their fourth-rounder at the French Open, the day after Federer had seen Rafael Nadal go out. So despite all of the losses, and despite winning fewer overall titles (12) than Federer had won Grand Slams, there was still, somewhere in the recesses of Haas’s brain, a belief that he could stop what one commentator in Halle called “Federer’s assumed procession to the championship.”
The best reason of all for Haas to believe wasn’t his own distant history, but the recent state of Federer’s game. By his own admission, Federer hadn’t found his "rhythm" in Paris, even during his wins, and his loss had been much worse. He went away completely during the last set and a half of his semi with Novak Djokovic. In Halle, Federer had whipped resident whipping boy Youzhny, but he had eked out a third-set tiebreaker against Milos Raonic. Before the event, he talked about a hip injury that had constrained him during the clay season. With the 34-year-old Haas in the midst of a last-hurrah surge, the moment was, in retrospect, ripe for an upset.
For Federer, the final against Haas played out much the way last two sets of his semi with Djokovic had. He was up early, looked poised to win the first set, but squandered it with some head-scratching forehand errors. The shanks and mistakes from that side flowed even more freely in the second. He was caught off-balance a few times, with his right leg rooted awkwardly to the ground, a pose I had never seen before from the always-flowing Federer. Near the end of the match, he took a scary-looking tumble on a distant and slippery section of the court; that’s also not a common sight. There was a lack of urgency to Federer even as the second drew to a close. He was broken at 4-4 on a drop shot that he popped right into Haas’s strike zone.
Halle is obviously not going to inspire the same urgency as Wimbledon from Federer, but watching, I wondered whether he ever really thought he was going to lose, until he did. If so, he had good reason. At 4-4 in the second, Haas struggled to break a very inconsistent Federer. Serving for the match one game later, he sent an easy forehand at 15-15 into the back curtain, before gathering himself for the win.
According to Federer, though, overconfidence was hardly the issue. He said that he was frustrated and disappointed after losing the first set to Haas, much as he had been after losing the second set to Djokovic in Paris.
“I should never have lost the first set,” Federer said yesterday. “So, obviously that hurt. He got momentum after that. . . . He was aggressive. He was maybe the more inspired player out there today. And that’s why he deserved to win.”
Haas looked stunned as Federer’s last shot went over the baseline. Even as his German family and fans celebrated, he walked expressionlessly to the net. But the emotion was there.
“I don’t have any words to say, really,” Haas claimed, “except that it is an amazing feeling to win another title in Germany. . . . It’s probably up there [among my best wins], if not the sweetest one considering the injuries, considering how much longer it would really go.”
The injuries have hurt him over the years, but there was also a sense in the locker room that, when Haas was younger, he didn’t rise to the big occasions—if Andy Murray is the best player never to win a major, Haas could be the best never to reach a Slam final. We all remember angry Tommy letting out his spiky frustrations on his coaches, and that may have been the biggest difference yesterday. When a fan made a noise during a crucial point late in the match and distracted him, Haas stared in his direction, appeared briefly ready to snap, but kept himself under control. Has angry Tommy finally mellowed? With less pressure on him now, will he handle the stress better in his dotage? If he does, this probably won't be his last significant win.
The best thing about this match, to me, wasn’t Haas’s victory, but the sight of his one-handed backhand in full flow again. He was drilling it the way two-handed players do, flat and through the court. He’ll never reach No. 1 or be the next great player. He’ll never win 16, or probably even one, Grand Slam. But he can still show off that backhand, another one that's worthy of bronze.
