Sunday Showdown In Halle By Cheryl Jones

Written by: Staff on 15th June 2013

Sunday Showdown In Halle By Cheryl Jones

epa03555004 Roger Federer of Switzerland during his semi final match against Andy Murray of Great Britain at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 25 January 2013. EPA/Mark Kolbe Pool uses. Use in books requires separate approval. NO LICENSING FOR CONSUMER PRINTS. |

Roger Federer will have another chance to take away the title at the Gerry Weber Open, where he has won a record six titles. Tommy Haas, last year’s champion was a worthy opponent for the man who has made a multitude of revisions to the record books when it comes to playing on all surfaces, but especially lawns. Saturday, Haas just didn’t have enough in his bag of tricks to overpower Federer. Once the first set was out of the way Federer had little trouble controlling the match that gave him a spot in the Sunday afternoon final, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. His opponent will be a Russian, Mikhail Youzhny who easily defeated Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, 6-3, 6-2 soon after Federer’s triumph. Youzhny has never beaten Federer in their fourteen previous meetings.

At Roland Garros, a little over a week ago, it was Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on either side of the net in a semifinal. Many thought that should have been a matchup for the last Sunday in Paris. Not to be outdone, the Gerry Weber Open featured a semifinal match with a similar aura. This time it was Tommy Haas versus Roger Federer. The match began promptly at 13:00 if you’re in Europe or in the military, (or 1:00 p.m. to the rest of us) and the two men seemed anxious to get on with it. The stereo system was blasting Elton John’s, “I’m Still Standing” in the background and avid fans filled every possible nook and cranny of the 12,000 plus seat stadium. No one was disappointed with either the play, or with the outcome, save Haas and his family.

It is unlikely that there had ever been two men whose ages combined to add up to 66 (Federer – 31 and Haas – 35), competing in center court at the Gerry Weber Stadium in any competition other than an exhibition. The contest was anything but geriatric, though. The two men are still amazingly athletic and the crowd was thrilled by the on court action. The two players are friends and yesterday, Federer reminded everyone that this semifinal contest was a replay of last year’s final where Haas won and he came in second, but still managed a win at Wimbledon.

As the match began, it was good to hear the crowd get behind both of them. Federer has helped place the Gerry Weber Open on the world tennis competition map and locals are grateful. Tommy Haas plays as a German. He was born in Hamburg, which is northeast of Halle, but close enough to be an easy day’s drive. Locals have followed him throughout his long career, even though he moved with his family, to Florida as a teenager, in order to train at the Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton. (He has dual citizenship with Germany and the US.) There is still an affable connection with the fans here and last year’s win was his second, as he had come out on top in 2009, the year Federer took home his only title at Roland Garros and chose to rest in lieu of competing at Halle. (And, yes Federer did go on to triumph at Wimbledon that year.)

His match with Mischa Zverev on Friday had him slicing out only the second “double bagel” (6-0, 6-0) of his professional career. The Swiss maestro said that it even amazed him. Though he has dominated professional men’s tennis for the past decade. Friday after the match, he said, “Yes, I was very surprised today that it happened, especially on the grass.” And, it seemed so.

Having performed at an unprecedented high level on court for such a long time, Federer has often appeared as if he was merely testing his tactics to see how they fit the venue of the day. Losing a game or two seemed part of the process, but seldom was there a negative effect on the outcome of a match. It was almost as if he was working on becoming stronger and more sure of his choice of shots on a particular surface or against an opponent, as the play commenced.

Against Haas, there was no testing. That had already been accomplished earlier in the tournament where he hadn’t shown any mercy or actually found a need to do so. Having a bye in the first round gave him the opportunity to reach the semifinals with only two matches under his belt – or should I say waistband? Up until Saturday, he had lost a total of 6 games, thanks to his double bagel effort against Zverev. (Haas had a bye as well, but he had lost 23 games contesting the same number of matches.)

Before the Youzhny versus Gasquet match had been decided, I asked if he preferred facing a player that he had played often and defeated (assuming that the other player might be more apt to play over his ability level) or does he feel it might be easier facing someone with whom he was unfamiliar (knowing that the opponent might feel nervous because of Federer’s obvious reputation). He grinned and was quite succinct in his answer, “Well, I prefer to play a guy who I’ve beaten 30 times in a row, no doubt about it.” He went on to say that that player doesn’t exist. Then he gave a piece of advice that every tennis player at any level should give serious consideration, “I think it is important for each and every player to focus on their own game strength first before going too crazy about breaking the opponents game, saying things like ‘he’s got a good forehand, he usually goes down the line’, and make yourself crazy with those kind of statistics.”

Sunday, there will be a man who has lost to Federer each time they have met, Mikhail Youzhny, He will be 31-years-old in a few days (so that shouldn’t be a factor), and his game here in Halle has looked strong. He will not be wasting a shot. Federer will not be wasting a shot. Either man could take home the title. Each has experience and each has a different reason to look for a win when the match commences on Sunday in Halle, Germany. The seats will be filled as usual.

The play will begin at two in the afternoon, rain or shine. After all, there is that roof. It is one of the best moves that a tennis tournament has ever made. The action on court will surely be a solid match up for the best little grass court event to be contested anywhere.

Topics: Mikhail Youzhny, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Tommy Haas