Quick Take: Tommy Haas, the Most Incredible Man Alive, Upsets Novak Djokovic in Miami

ICYMI, on a windy and cold night down in Miami, TOMMY HAAS defeated Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-4 in the fourth round. That’s right. IT WAS A THUMPING.

I’m a bit lost in a sea of chills, excitement, and hyperbole right now, so before I start writing why don’t we look at some stats?

• Novak Djokovic is the No. 1 player in the world, and won Miami the past two years.
• Tommy Haas turns THIRTY-FIVE next week.
• Tommy Haas once played in a Masters Series final against Max Mirnyi. IN SINGLES. He won that match for his lone Masters shield, 2001 Stuttgart.
• Tommy Haas won the silver medal. FOUR OLYMPICS AGO.
• Tommy Haas was in his first tour final in 1997. That’s SIXTEEN YEARS AGO.
• Tommy Haas has played both Jim Courier and Milos Raonic in ATP finals. There is a 20 YEAR age gap between the two.
• Tommy Haas played his first Miami Masters in 1997. Djokovic was NINE YEARS OLD.
• THIS IS THE FARTHEST TOMMY HAAS HAS EVER GONE IN MIAMI.

Apologies, I can’t be held accountable for caps tonight. Back to paragraphs.

Let’s start with the obvious, so I can go back to gushing: Novak Djokovic did not play good tennis tonight. He was bothered by the wind, the cold, himself, and his opponent. He hit 30 unforced errors in two sets, which is very unusual for the economical Serb. This was not Novak Djokovic in his top form. He had a bad night. He’s human. It happens.

However, he was not alone on an island of ineptitude tonight, and I don’t mean this offensively, but this isn’t really about him. TOMMY HAAS won the match fair and square, and he did it in style. He played fast, focused, efficient, and BEAUTIFUL tennis. He mixed up his service placement, stepped into the court and obliterated short balls, and used a brilliant mixture of lobs, cross-court forehands, and powerful backhands. He returned like his life depended on it. There were games where he was zoning beyond belief, there were games where he weathered the Novak storm, and there were games where he was just the smarter and more experienced tennis player.

The first set was just a straight up ass-whooping, but I was even more impressed with how he handled himself in the second set when Djokovic woke up and broke back to level things. Like most others, I feared it was over for Haas then. As much as I love and respect and admire Tommy Haas, he’s not exactly known as a being a beacon of mental strength. So when Novak woke up, I figured it was over. (Sorry!)

But then he broke Novak Djokovic again late in the second set and got a chance to serve for the match. With the Miami crowd going wild and a lifetime of chokes to look back on and remember, Tommy Haas remained cool. He remained calm. He served it out with barely a hiccup, and pulled off the impossible. And then he didn’t even act like he’d done anything that special afterwards.

But he did do something special. Tonight he was a legend. Tonight he was TOMMY. HAAS.

I don’t know what else to say, so let’s just look at some press conference tweets, then let’s talk some more about it in the comments:

Haas:"I had the mentality tonight going out there believing in it. You've got to"

— Tennis Panorama News (@TennisNewsTPN) March 27, 2013

TH-"I'm just really happy and proud of that tonight against such a great player who has been dominating the sport the past couple of years."

— Tennis Panorama News (@TennisNewsTPN) March 27, 2013

https://twitter.com/AmyFetherolf/status/316760331672223744

https://twitter.com/AmyFetherolf/status/316760821218803712

P.S: Can I make this about me again for a second? THANKS. My friend Rachel reminded me tonight that Tommy Haas was my very first one-on-one interview way back in 2011 at Legg Mason when he was just beginning The Comeback, and had no clue how far it would take him. You can read my frantic recap of the interview when he LOOKED DIRECTLY IN MY EYES, and watch the video below. Back then his favorite tournament memory was in 1996!

Could he have dreamed at that point that less then two years later he would be ranked (approx.) No. 15 and have defeated Federer and Djokovic in a nine month period??? I mean COME. ON.

TOMMY. HAAS.

Does anyone else have more coherent thoughts than I do? Please share.

Lindsay is an author, a filmmaker, a long-winded blogger, and a huge tennis fan.

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