Haas savoring the limelight after long wait

By Neil Maidment

LONDON (Reuters) - Germany''s Tommy Haas grew up watching Wimbledon masterclasses from compatriots Boris Becker and Steffi Graf, now after 11 years of trying the 31-year-old is finally enjoying some of the limelight himself.

"You want to try to maybe accomplish some of the stuff they have, but it''s not an easy task," Haas said Wednesday after reaching his first Wimbledon semi-final by beating Serbia''s fourth seed Novak Djokovic.

"Obviously Steffi had such great success here. I was watching Boris when I was young. Every year I was looking forward to watching it on TV, him playing Wimbledon."

Haas, winner at Halle in June and unbeaten on grass this season, continues to enjoy something of a purple patch at the All England Club after a career riddled by injuries and setbacks.

"The year I would have been maybe third seed here (at Wimbledon in 2002), when I was three in the world, my parents had a really bad motorcycle accident so I skipped that year," the 24th seed added.

"Then when I had a pretty good decent draw where I felt I could get far in the draw, I stepped on a ball in a warm-up."

Saving two match points on his way to a mammoth five-set victory over Croatia''s Marin Cilic would suggest this time around fortune has not deserted him.

Haas, a three-times Australian Open semi-finalist, now stands between Swiss second seed Roger Federer and a chance to break American Pete Sampras''s record of 14 grand slam titles.

"My next opponent is somebody that''s probably gonna go down as the greatest player ever," Haas said.

"It''s gonna be a tough hurdle to go by, but we''ll see what happens. It''s not over yet."

(Editing by Miles Evans)