Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Textbook Tennis with Tommy Haas


Tommy Haas continues his string of upsets as he advances to his first Wimbledon semifinal


Today, as Tommy Haas fought his way past Novak Djokovic in the second set he reminded everyone present the simple components to winning a match. These components are commonly called "Textbook Tennis". And here is Tommy's clear overview of the basics.

Chapter 1: Don't Get Down on Yourself

A few moments before the tiebreaker Haas had seemingly blown the opportunity of the tournament. At 5-5 Haas played a solid game to break Djokovic and it appeared as if he was going to repeat the first set and serve out the set to win it 7-5. Yet Haas did the exact opposite. He was broken at love. Including two groundstroke errors, a double fault, and a tentative approach shot resulting in a passing shot winner from Nole. As everyone watched on we all expected Haas to have another one of his infamous explosions. Haas, however, surprised us all and held it together right at the start of the tiebreak. On the very first point he blasted a forehand return winner, sending a message to Djokovic that he would not mentally go away.

Chapter 2: Keep Your Nerve

Haas clearly held his nerve in that second set tiebreak, trailing 3-6, he fought off 3 consecutive set points. On one point, specifically, you could see why Haas perfectly illustrated "Textbook Tennis".

"Thwack". The stoic sound of Haas' technically sound one-handed backhanded reverberated through Court 1 as he blasted an up-the-line winner passing shot past Djokovic. It was a beautiful sight to see. Clearly, Haas was not afraid to finish the point, while throughout a large part of the match Djokovic waited for errors from the German.

Chapter 3: Research Your Opponent

Throughout his match against the talented Serb, Haas, wise and aging, clearly did his homework. Countless number of times Haas made some plays that were clearly more than luck. Specifically, in the second set tiebreak, Haas had just fought off three set points and it was 6-6 in the breaker. Djokovic hit a serve and Haas was there to cover it. Clearly, Tommy knew Nole's favorite deuce serve was out wide and after blocking the return Nole pushed a forehand long, setting up a chance for Tommy to gain a two set to love lead.

Chapter 4: Construct Your Points

On Tommy's first set point in the second set he illustrated the perfect way to construct a point. He set he play up with a wonderful deep topspin backhand that landed a few inches from the baseline. Knowing this would draw a short ball, Haas moved forward to attack the next ball. Viciously, Haas knifed a slice cross-court to approach the net. Finally, Haas showed his precise footwork as he knocked off a crisp backhand volley winner to finish the set.


Overall, as Tommy won in 4 sets over Novak, he taught Novak a simple lesson on how to play strategic and effective "Textbook Tennis".

Men's Quarterfinal Results:

(6) A Roddick def L Hewitt 6-3 6-7 7-6 4-6 6-4
(3) A Murray def (WC) J Carlos Ferrero 7-5 6-3 6
-2

(24) T Haas def (4) N Djokovic 7-5 7-6 4-6 6-3
(2) R Federer def (22) I Karlovic 6-3 7-5 7-6

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