Nearly man ready to bring the Haas down

Tommy Haas is determined to end his role as the ’nearly man’ and finally reach the final of a Grand Slam at the expense of tournament favourite Roger Federer.

Haas, a Wimbledon semi-finalist for the first time at the age of 31, has been there or thereabouts throughout the last decade.

He has spent much of that time in and around the top 10, rising as high as number two in the world in 2002 after making the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

This is Haas’s fourth Grand Slam semi-final, but he lost the previous three (all in Melbourne) and Rome has been his only appearance in an Masters series final.

“I always felt like on the grass, maybe something is still left there for me,” said Haas.

“If you just look through the years of me playing Wimbledon, there is a lot of bad luck involved. I have lost a lot of tight ones.”