A lot of interesting stories continue to develop in Tennis Land, so I thought I’d put them all down in one place:

Let’s start with some fun stuff. Reporter Matt Cronin via Twitter: “Sharapova recently began dating the Lakers’ Sasha Vujacic. Now if she can only help “The Machine” get his deadly jump shot back.”

Vujacic is 25 years old, Slovenian and 6′7″ tall (so about Sharapova’s stiletto-height.)  Last year, he signed a three-year, 15 million dollar deal with the LA Lakers. Have fun, kids!

Here’s Sasha working the red carpet, Sharapova style:

Speaking of the young and super-rich – after collecting her $1.5 million dollar check in Doha this weekend, Serena Williams set the single-season record for prize money earned on the WTA tour: $6,545,586. Earlier this year, Serena surpassed Lindsey Davenport to become the first woman to earn more than $23 million in career prize money in any single sports league. (via Reuters) Serena may only have won three titles this year, but she knows how to pick ‘em. But Serena is not picking Fed Cup this weekend, abruptly withdrawing her participation last week just days after volunteering it. Here’s the reaction of team Captain, Mary Joe Fernandez via ESPN:

Fernandez, the ESPN analyst who was once a Fed Cup stalwart herself, sounded as if she had a little emotional whiplash Saturday after getting the news. “[Williams] e-mailed me,” Fernandez said. “She said she feels terrible and wishes she could be there, but she feels like she’d be a burden. I’m watching her play (in Doha) now.” “We were so excited that she was going to go, but what can you say? It’s the end of the year and everybody’s hurt. Billie Jean King always told me that you have to take the people who can go and who want to be there.”

Perhaps Serena’s exhausted by the Battle of the Books, as the hype surrounding Andre Agassi’s autobiography “Open,” continues to dominate the headlines. Shortly after winning in Doha she flew to London to promote her own book “My Life: Queen of the Court” at a book signing at Harrods. Agassi will be appearing on “60 Minutes” this Sunday, the evening before his book hits the shelves.

Andy Murray is the latest tennis star to offer his opinion on Agassi’s crystal-meth use and drug test cover-up, offering this supportive take (via the Guardian):

I don’t think any of the players expected it, but you’ve just got to move on,” he said in Valencia, where he is due to return to the ATP Tour tomorrow after six weeks off with a left-wrist problem.

“I loved Andre, met him numerous times. He was unbelievably nice to me. I practised with him quite a lot. I guess it’s something he has to deal with himself. He’s entitled to say whatever he wants and I wish him the best.”

“I judge him as a tennis player, he was great, a great player, one of the best of all time. From the experiences I have had with him, he’s been nice to me. No one wants drugs in sport but everyone makes mistakes.”

“I didn’t play in those times [when Agassi failed a test] so I don’t know what it was like. There are even cases now where guys get off, with failed tests and contaminations, mistakes, like with the [Richard] Gasquet case. Sometimes things like that happen. People get away with it sometimes but I just don’t think drugs in tennis is a big problem like it is in other sports.”

Fernando Verdasco, who has recently spent some quality time in Las Vegas with Agassi and Adidas trainer Gil Reyes, agrees with Murray:

“He was my idol, all my life when I was a kid, and he will still be my idol,” the Spaniard said. “Everyone can make mistakes. My thoughts about Andre will not change because of this. He is a great person, he is always trying to help me and that for me is more important.”

Tennis writer Peter Bodo thinks more players should be voicing their support of Agassi, and condemns cynics who think Agassi’s confession is a ploy to sell more books: “Condemn Agassi all you want, but he respected you enough to tell the truth about himself and his time in the game.”

But if you still want to condemn the ATP for the cover-up, click here to read a former ATP-exec’s inside story.

Super-coach Brad Gilbert, who worked with Agassi from 1994 – 2002, told the The New York Times he had no idea about Agassi’s drug problems or the failed 1997 test:

“Maybe it was me being naïve, but I had no clue,” Gilbert said in a telephone interview Friday from his home in San Rafael, Calif.

“I did a really good job of sticking to the tennis court,” Gilbert said. “If Andre asked for something outside it, I would give it. I just wouldn’t ask him about it or volunteer something I wouldn’t have knowledge about. Because we hung out a ton, but that doesn’t mean you ask things that are personal.”

“I probably would have been up a creek if I would have known,”

Someone who always seems to be up the injury creek is Tommy Haas, who has withdrawn from this week’s Davidoff Swiss Indoors tournament due to Swine Flu. He came down with the flu before withdrawing from the Stockholm tournament a couple weeks ago and is unlikely to participate in the Paris Masters (via the Telegraph):

“I did a test because I suspected I had the swine flu and the test was positive,” he said. “It was obviously a shock for me.”

“I am quite relaxed because I know that swine flu is a particularly strong form of flu, but when you are in a good physical condition like I am, then you can quickly beat it off,” he added.

“It was really bad for three days and I couldn’t leave my hotel room,” he revealed. “I felt really bad.”

This will be Haas’s third straight withdrawal/retirement, having started the streak at October’s Shanghai Masters, where he retired from his second round match due to a shoulder injury.

Haas may be out of contention for the World Tour Finals in London, but plenty of other guys are still fighting for the last two spots. Click here for the ATP’s “on the bubble” break-down. (Hang tough, Stepanek fans!)

Rafael Nadal, who is taking a break from tennis this week, will appear in an in-depth interview on CNN’s Talk Asia. Here’s some of what he has to say:

On how Roger Federer has inspired him:

“What makes me a better player isn’t seeing Roger being a perfect player. What makes me a better player is to watch Roger always improve because when he was number one in 2004…I saw him and he was an unbelievable player, but after a few times, he was better and he was improving during all his career. And that says to me is you must improve all the time.”

On his career’s longevity:

“A lot of people finish their career at 29 years old and he started at 20 or 21. But I started at 16 and already I have seven years in total. I am not finished. I expect to be here and hope to be here for a long time. That’s what I can say. . .I think if I am not having chances to win important tournaments, I’m gonna go. That’s my feeling. I have already seven years like this and I hope be here as long as I can, but having 14 or 16 career years seems a lot.”

Click here for more from Rafa.

French chicken – and I’m not talking coq au vin. The French Tennis Federation is threatening to pull the French Open out of its current location if the Paris city council continues to stall the tournament’s expansion plans (via ESPN):

“It seems that the mayor’s entourage has become more hostile to our project — which was not the case when we launched it,” (FFT director general Gilbert) Ysern said. “Add to that the residents’ opposition and we are now forced to look for other options, including that of leaving the premises.”

A site near Disneyland Paris is a rumored alternative. I say it’s a stupid idea – roof or no roof, the French Open belongs at Roland Garros!

The men put in a good day’s work on Day Four of the US Open on Thursday, including some solid wins by Tommy Haas, Fernando Verdasco, Novak Djokovic and Tommy Robredo. Here are some of our snapshots.

*fellow bloggers are more than welcome to use our photos, please link us if you do.

 

Well, that was a waste. I was kicking back on Wednesday evening, glass of wine in hand, ready to watch Rafael Nadal battle the feisty David Ferrer in his first ATP singles match since Roland Garros. Then Ferrer retired after the seventh game and all I got out of it was: Rafa looks good in blue and David has an adorable habit of licking his top lip from left to right and then from right to left while waiting to return serve. (And against Nadal, Ferrer’s tongue covered a lot of ground.)

Oh okay, I got more than that – like Rafa’s serve is screwy and his court sense and movement are still coming out of hibernation. To be expected. No big thang. But how strange that his first match back, Rafa gets a guy with a gimpy knee?

Nadal chose to accentuate the positive after his match:

Anything gonna be ‑‑ everything gonna be positive. Only bad thing can be is if I have another time problems with the knees, but the rest of the things, everything is positive, no?  Every match, every point.  Because everything is helping me to be ready as soon as possible when I return to my level.

The Comeback Kid speaks:

Nadal gets Phillipp Petzschner next.

I’m a huge fan of Jo-Dubya Tsonga. And he keeps driving me crazy with these close matches. Rainer Schuettler is a good player but Tonsga needs to start dominating these dudes, not scraping by 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round.

The guy who is playing like a top dog right now: the Mosquito a.k.a. Juan Carlos Ferrero, who beat Gael Monfils in straight sets on Wednesday. How fitting that the Anti-Safin took out the guy who beat Marat Safin in the previous round. I’m going to start calling Marat the Anti-Ferrero from now on.

In other old guy news - when I saw that Tommy Haas retired against Fernando Gonzalez I thought, “Oh no, what bizarre, career-threatening calamity has befallen the resurgent German now?” Then I read it was a blister on his right hand that done him in. Getting cocky with the Tennis Gods, Tommy?

The Old Guys even have their own video:

I was hoping for a Marat Safin cameo at the end – toasting his contemporaries from a Moscow nightclub or amongst a colony of Penguins on the tip of Patagonia  or wherever it is he plans to go after Bercy. A missed opportunity, ATP.

Andy Roddick is not quite an old guy at (almost) 27, but he’s definitely a tour veteran. After beating Igor Andreev 6-1, 7-6(3) on Wednesday, he spoke about the surge of support he’s received after this year’s Wimbledon:

It’s been humbling, that’s for sure. I don’t know that I’ve ever had this level of support in my career so far, and that’s not saying I haven’t had support, but you know, there’s different support than kind of like at a tennis tournament, at a match, and support now where it’s kind of walking to put cream in your coffee at the coffee shop.

Tomorrow’s the best day of the tournament, with all the men in Round of 16 action. Here are the match-ups:

Youzhny vs. Djokovic, Del Potro vs. Hanescu, Roddick vs. Verdasco, Murray vs. Ferrero, Petzschner vs. Nadal, Gonzalez vs. Davydenko and two Davis Cup specials in Wawrinka vs. Federer and Simon (remember Gilly?) vs. Tsonga.

Of course, I can’t sign off without congratulating this week’s greatest Come Back Kid, Kim Clijsters, who beat Patty Schnyder in straight sets on Wednesday in Cincinnati. “Does it look easy?” she asked reporters after her match. Why yes, Kim, it does. It should get a little harder when she meets Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Rd. of 16, but then I thought Kimmie had no chance against Bartoli.

At post time, the WTA’s Kim Clijsters comeback video wasn’t embeddable – click here to check it out.

In other Cincy news Ana Ivanovic continues to make tennis look very, very hard, with a second round, straight-set loss to Melinda “who?” Czink. Serena Williams served 14 aces to breeze past Kateryna Bondarenko and Jelena Jankovic got past Maria Kirilenko.

Both men’s and women’s action will be televised on Thursday. Click here for the Montreal TV schedule and here for Cincy’s.

Watching Tommy Haas this week at the LA Tennis Open reminded me that he is a world class headcase. He even held his own against Marat Safin in the quarters. Cliff Drysdale mentioned this Tommy Haas self-flagellation classic on ESPN the other day. Hilarious stuff:

Who says on-court coaching isn’t allowed on the ATP tour?

Tommy Haas was knocked out of the LA Tennis Open semifinals by Sam Querrey and the Samurai on Saturday night (click here).

Sam Querrey beat Tommy Haas on Saturday evening at the LA Tennis Open, 6-3, 7-5. The towering American was surprisingly fleet of foot, hit serves consistently in the 130s and rushed the net when he could. It was a great win for Sam, who is now in his third straight ATP final, having played Sundays at both Newport and Indianapolis this summer. He’ll play a surprise finalist, qualifier Carsten Ball, in the final this Sunday.

It was not so great of a night for Tommy Haas, the No. 1 seed and a two time champion in LA (2004 and 2006.) Sam’s big shots kept Tommy pinned near the fence for much of the match – Haas was angry when the line judges got in his way. He failed to convert any of the 5 break opportunities he had. And the on-court conditions were driving Haas nuts – he complained after Friday’s quarterfinal that the balls were flying and he couldn’t get a good feel on the ball.

The conditions got a hell of a lot worse on Saturday.

I’m talking about Sam Querrey’s rowdy fan club, the “Samurai”, a group of his high school buddies who have been busting eardrums all summer. The Indianapolis tournament even flew them out last week in a questionable effort to boost its unpopulated tournament. The Samurai rallied Saturday night at UCLA for Querrey’s match against Haas, commandeering a corner of the small stadium. They cheered, cajoled and beat their painted chests after every point. They used a drum during changeovers.

An example of the Samurai effect: 1st set, Sam’s up 4-3 on serve. Tommy’s serving and down 30-40. The Samurai – always on their feet – link arms, sway and start a slow and steady chant before Haas steps to the line: “BREAK! BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!”

It works. Sam gets his break and serves out the first set, hitting two aces and sprinting up to a feathery drop shot on set point that Haas obviously thought he couldn’t touch.

“They were awesome.” Sam said of his Samurai after the match. “You couldn’t ask for a better group of friends and a bunch of guys who support me.  They get me through a lot of the Love-40 downers and (keep me) fired up on set points.”

Tommy Haas did not find the Samurai awesome, saying the group had “no class” and behaved inappropriately: “It’s up to Sam to take control of the situation. This was not the fifth set of a US Open.“

Sam disagreed: “I think they’re pretty considerate considering none of them play tennis. They’re just fired up. It’s a home match. It’s the semifinals. It’s a night match. Yeah they get fired up, but it’s not my fault.”

To complain that the Samurai have “no class” is just stating the obvious. We’re talking about a swaggering gang of shirtless dudes in bodypaint – just add kegger. And Sam (or his intern) has obviously trained them on a few etiquette basics. I was sitting two rows away – lucky me! – and observed the group applauding Tommy’s winners every now and then. They kept their mouths shut during the points and between first and second serves. Sure, they cheered Haas’s errors, but nowadays even the players fist pump when their opponents’ double fault.

Sarah Foster, Haas’s fiance, warned ESPN’s Pam Shriver that there would be blood if the Samurai didn’t behave. I’m sure she was sharpening her knife to a deadly point all match long.

But what did the ticket-buying “neutrals” in the crowd think of Sam’s Club? I disagree with Querrey’s own appraisal that “99% of the people in (the stadium) think that they’re awesome.” A couple feisty kids and their mom got into it with the Samurai, and I detected a few sighs and shaking heads around me. Personally, the dudes got on my nerves. My ideal tennis crowd is energized, balanced in its support and respectful of the game’s sporting traditions. Like at Wimbledon. But the LA Tennis Open ain’t SW19. (Talk about stating the obvious!) And I admit that I’m a curmudgeonly tennis snob who likes her players classy and the fans wearing shirts.

“That’s why (tennis) isn’t more popular.” said Sam, reacting to the criticism. “I think if you had a group like (the Samurai) in every stadium tennis would be more popular.”

Well, what do you think?

Here are some photos of some of the action on Saturday night:

 

Marat Safin and Tommy Haas played Friday night’s marquee quarterfinal at the LA Tennis Open. There are two “Major” differences between these two friends – Marat has two slams, Tommy has never made it to a major final – otherwise, they have a lot in common: flashy backhands, over a decade on tour, and the complete inability to be poker-faced on court. (Yes, the tournament DJ played Lady GaGa during a changeover.)

Racquets and epithets (in both Russian and German) flew throughout the match, but it was the German who cracked first. Safin broke Haas at love early in the first set and sent him glowering at his box. Not to be outdone, Marat gave Tommy the break back on his next service game, again at love. Safin broke a second time, but failed to serve out the set at 6-5. Then Haas won the breaker 7-3 and ran away with the match, nabbing the second set, 6-2.

“I think he mentally gave in a little bit,” Haas said of Safin after the match.

Which brings us to another major difference between Tommy Haas and Marat Safin. At the tail end of his career, Haas is motivated and focused. Marat, who has eight tournaments left before he retires from the tour, is. . .not.

Safin has yet to beat a top 50 player this year. Until this week, he hadn’t put together back-to-back victories since the Australian Open (where he lost in the 3^rd round to Federer.) Tommy Haas, on the other hand, has had a resurgent year. He’s in the top 20 and rising, was up two sets to Roger Federer at the French, won his first title in 2 years (and his first on grass) at Halle, and made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon for the first time, losing again to Federer.

Haas described his season, much like the first set of Friday’s match, as an up and down battle: “You kinda saw the light a little bit and then you saw no light at all,” is how he described his progress this year. “And the last two months have been more than unexpected and unbelievable for me. So I’m really proud with what I’ve accomplished. . and I really enjoy every moment and try to enjoy every moment, win or lose.”

And what about Tommy’s “good friend” Marat, who told reporters this week that he’d like L.A. a lot better if he wasn’t playing tennis here (click here.):

“If (Safin) would train hard and put all of his effort into it, he could still be, I think, going for these titles. But sometimes motivation is huge and where you are mentally in your life. I think he’s looked into some other big business opportunities already after his career, and you know, when you put your mind into these things a lot then sometimes you’re not taking (tennis) as serious.”

But at the same time, he (played) for a good 10 years and he was very successful. I think any player that just wants to play one last year, or the tournaments one more time, you just have to let it go and let him enjoy it. Let him have fun and let him go out this way. He’s going to look back and say ‘I had a pretty good career.’”

Haas, should he suddenly feel like joining his buddy on the beach, could say the same about his own time on tour. But right now, he still prefers the tennis courts to white sand. And he’s not ready to look back.

Tommy Haas plays Sam Querrey on Saturday night in the LATennis Open semis. Aussie/So-calian qualifier Carsten Ball will take on Argentine Leonardo Mayer in the afternoon match. Click here for the LA Tennis Open TV Schedule.

Tommy Haas beat Marat Safin Friday night in the quarterfinals of the LA Tennis Open, 7-6 (3), 6-2. We took some photos of these two world-class players and on-court hottieheads.

Not sure how John McEnroe and William Shatner got in here. . .

**Found  Stefan Edberg pics – Enjoy!

 

LA Tennis Open Results – Friday, July 31 – Singles, Quarterfinal Round
[1] Tommy Haas (GER) d Marat Safin (RUS) 76(3) 62
Leonardo Mayer (ARG) d [2] Mardy Fish (USA) walkover – abdomen strain
[6] Sam Querrey (USA) d [4] Dudi Sela (ISR) 63 75
[Q] Carsten Ball (AUS) d John Isner (USA) 64 64

Click here for the LA Tennis Open TV Schedule.

Yeah. . .it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt! Today at Wimbledon, it was Tommy Haas feeling the pain of defeat as Roger Federer trounced him in the semifinals in three sets: 7-6, 7-5, 6-3. Not that he seemed too distraught about it:

Q. Can you sum up your whole Wimbledon experience. It’s been a special one for you.

TOMMY HAAS: It was great. I couldn’t be any happier.

Roger, of course, exists on a completely different plane when it comes to happiness. Check out some of these giddy numbers (via The Age):

Federer will play a seventh consecutive Wimbledon final, a record since the abolition of the challenge round in 1922 whereby the defending champion was automatically elevated to the final. That broke Federer’s tie with Bjorn Borg (a finalist from 1976-81) who was one of the legends court-side, along with Australia’s Rod Laver, another whom the Swiss now rubs shoulders in the game’s pantheon.

This will also be Federer’s 20th grand slam final, one more than Ivan Lendl with whom had shared the all-time record. The 27 year-old has played in 15 of the last 16 grand slam finals – a streak broken at the 2008 Australian Open – and has won 10 of those.

Here’s Mr. Happy on what the records mean to him:

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, look, I’m very proud of all the records I’ve achieved, because I never thought I would be, you know, that successful as a kid. You know, I would have been happy winning a couple tournaments and maybe collecting Wimbledon, you know, sort of achieving the dream scenario, you know.

But not really all those records. But it’s quite staggering now, you know, having reached again I think it’s my sixth straight Grand Slam final I’ve achieved, as well. Having so many things going for me now again, opportunity again on Sunday, it’s fantastic.

Quite amazing to be back in the Wimbledon final already because it seems like now all of a sudden everything happened very quickly.

Of course the record everyone cares about is the one he tied a couple weeks ago in Paris. Roger will have to beat Andy Roddick in Sunday’s final to reach the top of tennis mountain: 15th Heaven, anyone?

Thanks to GTT reader, Goldi, for sharing the video!

Thumbnail photo of Mr. Happy by AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus via Daylife

The final Friday at Wimbledon. The Gentlemen’s Semifinals. Yep, this is the stuff.

First up we have the Grass Court King vs. a resurgent veteran who is playing the tennis of his life (see Federer vs. Haas, Rd. of 16, 2009 Roland Garros.) Head to head: 9-2, Roger. I’m not picking a winner due to extreme Fedophiliac tendencies.

Then we have the Andys. One Roddick, one Murray. One American, one Scottish. One can serve. One can serve and return. Both hired and fired Brad Gilbert. Both have girlfriends with Rapunzel hair and Ray Bans. Etc. Etc. Head to head: 6-2, Murray. (That’s the same head to head he has over Fed. . .spooky!) Winner: Andy.

Here’s the schedule:

Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Semifinals Schedule

All times BST

Centre Court, 1:00 pm:
(24) Tommy Haas v (2) Roger Federer
(6) Andy Roddick  v (3) Andy Murray

Who are you cheering for?

Re: U.S.A. television coverage. As far as I can tell, ESPN2 will show Haas vs. Fed LIVE in all time zones – the match starts at 8am ET. NBC will go on at noon (”in all time zones.”)  I have no idea what will happen if (when?) the Fed vs. Haas match wraps up before NBC’s broadcast window begins. I’m assuming Roddick vs. Haas will be held “hostage” until noon and shown on tape delay if necessary while ESPN2 shows doubles, replays of old matches or a Fowler vs. Gilbert smackdown. (West Coasters – we’re screwed.)  I suggest you check out NBC’s live stream at http://wimbledonlive.nbcsports.com if at any point you are writhing in agony in front of the set, wondering where the live tennis went.

If you need to vent, click here and here.

I missed the Roddick vs. Hewitt thiller! Why? Because NBC’s “protected” tape-delayed coverage messes up everything here in the Western time zone, and it makes hunting for tennis on t.v. akin to wandering the Sahara without a map. NBC’s live streaming option may be too little, too late, but it beats drinking my own pee. Click here to check it out.

Okay, moving on to the wrap.

Andy Roddick summed it up best on Twitter: “124 home….. 4 left”

And he’s one of those four remaining after beating Lleyton Hewitt today in the aforementioned classic. You know it was an exciting match when you see this:

(That’s Hewitt’s coach, Tony “Dozy” Roche cheering in the stands.)

Roddick will be the underdog in his semi against Andy Murray, who beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in three straight-forward sets (though JCF was up a break in the second.)

P-Andy-monium is my new favorite expression for the whirlwind of excitement, expectation and exhortation that’s swirling around the Scot right now. The Scottish Daily reported that people began queuing up on Monday morning to score a ticket for today’s semi final – that was 17 hours before Murray beat Stan Wawrinka in the Round of 16. Over 12 million people tuned into the BBC to watch that match at home. The Scot’s even being credited for reviving Britain’s failing economy – or at least helping his country-folk forget about it.

Here’s a summary:

If, like the freaky butcher in the video, you are among the few who’d prefer the “other Andy” to get to the final, you’ll like today’s ominous quote from Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Q. Do you think you might have lost to the eventual winner?

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO:  Of course, he’s playing very well. He’s moving well in this court. He’s serving very well. So of course he has a lot of chances to win. But he has two matches left. He will suffer, for sure.

I like Andy Roddick’s strategy: “I’m just going to pretend when they say “C’Mon Andy” that they mean me.”

Federer Fans will love this quote from Ivo Karlovic, who lost to Roger today in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6:

Q. Can you explain what Roger does differently than other players with your serve? Does he hit it back sooner, or is it clear to you why he can handle it a little bit better than others?

IVO KARLOVIC: Oh, it is only because he is better than everybody else. That’s it.

Roger broke Dr. Ivo’s serve twice in their quarterfinal match – the first time(s) the Croatian’s been broken all tournament. But an alert Fedophile never rests easy – here are a couple press conference quotes that set us on edge:

ROGER FEDERER: We’re just gonna try to, you know, push through this weekend, you know, and then after that (Mirka) can completely relax, even though she is already. There’s still obviously the pressure with all the big matches, and especially towards the final weekend.

Doesn’t Roger realize that using the word “pushing” when his wife is ready to pop sends BabyFed Watch into the red zone? Even more nerve-wracking was Roger’s talk of five set matches and Tommy Haas:

ROGER FEDERER: It’s fun, you know, playing the biggest matches. Especially I like playing best‑of‑five‑set matches. And maybe this is where, you know, I’m best at, you know, because everything comes out. Not only your mental strengths, but physical, tactical skills. Tactical skills, you know there needs a lot happening, you know, that I lose a match over best‑of‑five sets, you know.

No, it’s not fun, Roger! (Please excuse me while I wipe off my sweaty palms. . .I think I have mild PTSD from the French Open.)

Tommy Haas will have another chance to push Roger to the limit on Friday, when the two meet in the semifinals. He took out a hang dog Novak Djokovic in four nervy sets – continuing his win streak on grass and his cunning evasion of the Tennis Gods’ caprices.

TOMMY HAAS: Yeah, well, I mean, basically I think if you just look through the past, I don’t know, maybe 13, 14 years of me playing Wimbledon, you know, there’s a lot of bad luck involved.

Even the matches that I have lost in the third round to maybe get a little further, you know, I’ve lost a lot of tight ones. I always felt like deep down Wimbledon will maybe still have something left for me. It better come up soon, because I’m not getting any younger.

And the Tennis Gods aren’t getting any kinder, either. At this point I don’t know if they’re waiting to take him out with a wasp sting when he’s, say, 5-0 up in the fifth set against Federer,

or if Tommy’s endured such a flood of bad luck that it’s finally overflowed into the good karma bucket. We will see.

Novak Djokovic isn’t suffering from bad luck as much as bad attitude. The No. 4 seed was just becoming the talked-about “guy who nobody’s talking about” at Wimbledon, easing into the quarterfinals losing only one set. And now everyone will be talking about him – because of today’s lackluster loss to Haas.

“Today was a real disaster.” Novak said after the match, blaming nerves and pressure.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I just think that the difference, you know, is a little unpatience (sic) in that important moments. I think I get nervous a little bit more than I used to. And I guess that’s probably pressure that I feel. But I shouldn’t.

Sports psychologists all over Serbia are plumping the sofa cushions and putting out the Nole Bars and Aqua Novak in anticipation of a new client. Maybe some Orbit gum, too.