Tommy Haas recalls when he almost defeated Roger Federer at French Open
In an interview to The Telegraph, the former world No. 2 Tommy Haas recalled his 2009 French Open fourth round loss to Roger Federer. The German was leading two sets to love and he wasted a break point that would have him serve to win the match on 5-3 in the third. Haas believes the final result was a sign of destiny: "It's one of those things like it was in the stars. He was quite nervous because Rafa Nadal had just lost the day before against Robin Soderling, so there was a lot of pressure, a lot of thoughts, questions for him - is this his year now that Rafa is out? He certainly didn't play his best tennis in the first two, two-and-a-half sets and I was playing at a good level. I was feeling quite good about my game, and myself.
I had a break point at 4-3 in the third set and all I could think was if I win this point I will win the match. I hit a quite good return off his second serve, and he ran around it and actually landed outside the doubles line. His shot clipped the line and I remember him pumping his fist. He held and he turned it all around. The next game there were a couple of game points, break points, but he served out the third set and found the next level. I was very close, and he knew he was very close to losing that match. If we were playing just on time I might have got the better of him. But at the end of the day, I was just happy that he came through and won that title because that was the one he really wanted. It was a good chance for him and he did it."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2EtmhkJ
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