Bringing Down the Haus

As if this draw weren't blown open enough already to begin with, Tommy Haas unseated Novak Djokovic last night for the last quarterfinal berth at Key Biscayne. Nole wasn't anywhere close to his best, but it's not like Tommy was trying to leave the door too open for him to mount much of a comeback either, a la Dominika Cibulkova against Serena earlier in this tournament.

The resident tour veteran was lights out, especially in the first set, hitting incredible passing shots and utilizing the slice and his aesthetically appealing one-handed backhand down the line to throw Djokovic for a loop. Let's all remember that our favorite German in 34 YEARS OLD. (It's about 82 in tennis years, according to my own brand of math where I choose random numbers.)

Here are other reasons to be obsessed with Grandpa Tommy:

• He's beaten the Top 2 players in the world on their respective favorite surfaces in the last 8 months
• He's in the Top 20 ATP rankings for the first time since May 2010; the first time he reached that milestone was in February of 1999(!)
• He wears a lavender shirt with a backwards baby blue baseball cap and hot pink wristbands

Kudos for pulling off the look though.

If those three reasons (particularly the last one) weren't age-defying enough, I'll never be able to convince you of Haas' resurgence. Here's to hoping he goes all the way to win his second ever Masters title, first since 2001 in Stuttgart, now an ATP 250 event. Damn, he's old.

Leave some love for Tommy by commenting on that sweet backhand, or his shirt, or his abs, or whatever. In the meantime, be mesmerized by Haas' oscillating rankings history.

(Update: one step closer for Tommy! He pummeled Gilles Simon earlier tonight to reach the semis.)

Timber

Returning Serve Lesson #1: looking up helps

"Why do Americans suck at tennis?"

I posed this question to my friends last week in the early goings of the Isner-Hewitt match. And while none of them follow tennis nearly as obsessively as I do, they knew that American tennis is no longer what it once was. Gone are the yesteryears of Sampras breaking records and Agassi's badassery and blonde locks. Gone even is Andy Roddick, the big-mouthed kid brother of the aforementioned legends. Yeah, we gave him a lot of well-deserved crap, but until this year, he was the only one carrying any sort of Grand Slam for the U.S. on the ATP.

Roddick departed suddenly-ish, but we were already hopping on the bandwagon of another American stud. His name was John Isner. Big John, Mr. 70-68, was supposed to proudly take the torch of passed down by Sampras and the like and lead us into the promised land (and by promised land I mean someone's trophy cabinet). He was surging at this point in 2012: finalist at Indian Wells, Davis Cup hero (on clay!), and recent addition to the Top 10 and the "player-none-of-the-Big-Four-want-to-face" list. Unfortunately, Johnny took that glowing torch into a wet, dark cave and farted on it.

The end of his 2012 season was quite the letdown. A disappointing result at Roland Garros, first-round loss at Wimby, and a lackluster, second-week-less U.S. Open have all bled into 2013 where he is now 6-6 with losses against the always-hard-to-take-down Eduardo-Roger Vasselin and Dennis Istomin (note: they are not always hard to take down).

We are now faced with the reality of having no American men in the Top 20 of the ATP rankings since...ever. Our new guy at the head of the pack is Sam Querrey, who owns only one title of ATP 500 calibur. Sam might be better in the return game and is a little harder to break down in rallies, but he's not particularly "threatening" to the guys in the ATP penthouse. Sam did just get engaged, however, and Janko Tipsarevic said it has improved his game tremendously. Still, can we honestly rely on that Serbian magic? Americans hate marriage! And Janko hasn't been playing all that well so far this year...

We're doomed.

Joking aside, it's time we figure this out or men's tennis will be done for in the United States. Yes, more and more countries are participating in the sport, but something about our dedication to developing talent has been surpassed by our European competitors. Is it that America doesn't care about tennis all that much? Is tennis too expensive of an outlet for families and their kids? Is it too socially taxing for young athletes to want to participate in it? Tennis is quite a lonely sport and that doesn't lend well to our culture, whereas other cultures have a strong sense of family where a player can thrive being surrounded by their team of supporters constantly.

Digging a little too deep there, but clearly the problem is multifaceted and won't be figured out overnight. What do you think of our substandard men's game in America? Minor dip? Major issue? Leave a comment for your thoughts, especially if you have any semblance of a solution. Miami up next for both circuits! Quick turnaround for everyone, don't know if I'm ready!

Happy Holidays!

Good ol' Saint Novak.

A very merry World Tennis Day to all!

Although I just found out such a day existed last week and only remembered it after roaming around the web this afternoon, 'twas a joyous and exciting 24 hours to be a fan of this beautiful sport.

Kudos to all the players getting involved in those lighthearted matches to spread tennis joy around the world.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the goofing off ends here. March is upon us, which means it is U.S. hard court season! Two combined events, loaded draws, and several thousand points and dollars to be awarded. Who's gonna reap the bulk of those benefits? Let's find out by taking a quick look back at an unusually busy February.

Doha: Serena is back at #1, but Vika had the last laugh in their final round match. Serena holds a big lead in their H-to-H record, but Vika has always played her tough and seems to be making more inroads each successive faceoff. Don't be surprised if Azarenka gets back to the top spot by year's end (Serena has a TON of points to defend this summer).

Dubai: Kvitova got back on track with this Premier title. The draw was trimmed down after the Doha finalists withdrew, but hats off to getting the job done. Now that she's pulled off playing well for two matches in a row, is it no longer wishful thinking that she could do it for consecutive tournaments? We'll see, but we do know she has all the weaponry to dominate.

ATP 500s: Federer is stunned at Rotterdam and Dubai. He can't seem to hold MPs anymore. The door is open for Murray, who was absent for the entire month, to leapfrog him in the rankings. Djokovic wins Dubai, undefeated in 2013. Nole's on a serious roll, 18 straight matches to be exact. Is a repeat of 2011 in store? He seems unstoppable at the moment, especially on hard courts. Nadal blows away David Ferrer in Acapulco. The scoreline may be ho-hum, but Rafa has only just started playing tournaments and is only going to get more comfortable out on court. The only question is will he play Indian Wells and/or Miami? WE STILL DON'T KNOW. It's not like IW begins in two days or anything...

I don't know about you, but I am so excited for Indian Wells and Miami because: a) combined events are easy to follow both men and women, and b) they are both in my country's time zone. Those of you who feverishly followed the Australian Open like I did feel me...

Leave a comment to discuss the happenings of February or to look forward to March. Should be another exciting month!