The Hindu : Sport : Novak Djokovic fails to keep his semifinal date with Roger Federer

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Novak Djokovic fails to keep his semifinal date with Roger Federer

Nirmal Shekar

Haas beats the Serbian fourth seed while the Swiss brushes off Karlovic

Karlovic hit 23 aces to Federer’s seven
Haas played superb overall tennis to get past Djokovic

— PHOTO: AP

STUNNING WIN: Tommy Haas upset fourth seed Novak Djokovic to set up a semifinal clash with Roger Federer.

London: It is not an elite club but one whose members reside on the margins of Grand Slam history. It is the One Slam Wonders club. Talented, ambitious young men seldom look to join this group but when things don’t go the way they were expected to at the time when they won their first big title, membership is often thrust on them.

Novak Djokovic would certainly not be looking forward to this.

When he won the Australian Open last year, handing out Roger Federer his first Grand Slam defeat ahead of the finals in a long, long time and then stopping Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final, Djokovic appeared very much the Prince waiting to inherit the kingdom.

Since then, he has not managed to move past the semifinals at the majors — at Roland Garros and the U.S. Open last year — and on Wednesday, in the 123rd Wimbledon championships, the Serb, seeded four, failed to keep his semifinal appointment with Federer.

Tommy Haas of Germany, at age 31 something of a veteran, played superb all-round tennis in the quarterfinals to beat Djokovic 7-5, 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3 to earn another shot at Federer. At the French Open, Haas almost pulled off a major upset before going down in five sets to the eventual champion.

Federer had finished his business an hour earlier, dealing with the bullets directed at him by the Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic as only he can. The five-time champion won 6-3, 7-5, 7-6(3).

Haas did very well to come back from 3-6 down in the second set tiebreak. Although Djokovic did play himself back into the contest in the third, the German broke to 3-1 in the fourth and never looked back.

“It is unbelievable. I have no words,” said Haas. “Now I am going to give it (the semifinal against Federer) my best shot.”

Karlovic’s serves seem to have been hit from on top of the new centre court roof. Going into Wednesday’s match, the Croatian giant had not been broken even once in the 79 service games he has needed to advance to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

As Karlovic goes through his service motion, you look up in the skies for any low flying aircraft that might be under threat. And on bouncing, the ball’s climb is so steep that you feel sorry for his opponent — unless, of course, the man across the net from Karlovic happens to be Federer.

If the four men who had failed to break Karlovic’s serve in this championship had been watching, the fourth game of the first set might have come as a lesson to them. But then, there is no question of learning from Federer because what the great man does is not something that can be taught — something that can be seen and then imitated.

The five-time champion makes the inimitable routine. First came a backhand return that flew off the fully stretched Karlovic’s racquet. That takes some doing because this is the man (6ft, 10in) with the biggest wingspan in the sport.

Then came a forehand return which the Croat had as much chance of dealing with as perhaps anyone in the crowd.

Taking control

Before the match had so much as begun, Karlovic had been put in his place. When someone who serves like the Croat is broken so early in the match, it is a sort of emasculating process — the psychological hurt is much more than the loss of a single service game.

Karlovic promptly responded by putting on his sun-glasses, suggesting that the strong sunshine might have had something to with the loss of the service game for the first time in 10 days.

But the heat and glare might have come from Federer’s red-hot racquet instead as the Swiss went about the job of dismantling the tall man’s game.

Karlovic hit 23 aces to Federer’s seven but what made all the difference was quality of the five-time champion’s returns and passing shots. They were breathtaking to watch, but for Karlovic withering to face.

In the second set, Karlovic hung in there for a while but the great man broke to 6-5 with a delightful backhand half-volley that used to be one of John McEnroe’s patented shots in the 1980s — the one that is plucked off the turf as if by magic and sails low over the net out of the reach of the opponent.

By now Karlovic might have already been thinking about the tournament office and the quarterfinalist’s cheque — the biggest of his career. Yet, the Croat went about his business like a true professional before Federer raced home in the tiebreak.

“Mentally it was hard. It is not easy to break him,” said Federer.

“Once you are in this kind of situation (semifinals) you try to win the tournament.”

Hey Pete, are you listening? Two more matches to go.

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seeding

Men’s singles: Quarterfinals: 2-Roger Federer (Sui) bt 22-Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 6-3, 7-5, 7-6(3); 24-Tommy Haas (Ger) bt 4-Novak Djokovic (Srb) 7-5, 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3; 3-Andy Murray (GBr) bt Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.

Men’s doubles: Quarterfinals: James Blake & Mardy Fish (U.S.) bt Simon Aspelin (Swe) & Paul Hanley (Aus) 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-6(5).

Women’s singles: Quarterfinals: 2-Serena Williams (U.S.) bt 8-Victoria Azarenka (Bel) 6-2, 6-3.

Women’s doubles: Quarterfinals: 4-Serena & Venus Williams (U.S.) bt 12-Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) & Vania King (U.S.) 6-2, 7-5; 1-Cara Black (Zim) & Liezel Huber (U.S.) bt 11-Nuria Llagostera Vives & Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Esp) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0; 2-Anabel Medina Garrigues & Virginia Ruano Pascual (Esp) bt Alisa Kleybanova & Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) 6-4, 7-5.

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