Tommy Haas insisted he never gave up on his Wimbledon dream after moving to within one match of a maiden grand slam final appearance at the age of 31.
The Florida-based German, who had never been past the fourth round in 10 previous visits to SW19, secured a 7-5 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-3 victory over fourth seed Novak Djokovic to earn a semi-final showdown with Roger Federer.
Haas stunned the 22-year-old Serbian with a magnificent display of serve-and-volley to become only the fourth German to reach the men's semi-finals in the open era, joining such illustrious company as Boris Becker and Michael Stich.
Haas will now seek to make up for his disappointment of two years ago when he was forced to pull out of a fourth-round class with Federer due to a torn stomach muscle, one of a series of injuries that have dogged his career.
"In 13, 14 years of me playing Wimbledon, there's a lot of bad luck involved but I don't live too much in the past," he said.
"Whatever happens happens for a reason, I believe. There was one year when I would have been maybe seeded three but my parents had a really bad motorcycle accident so I skipped that year."
"Then, when I had a pretty decent draw where I felt I could get far in the draw, I stepped on a ball in a warm-up and I also lost three tie-breakers against Wayne Arthurs in the third round one year."
"I don't remember most of it anyway. That's all in the past. I always felt like on the grass maybe something is still there for me left."
"I always felt deep down that Wimbledon will maybe still have something left for me. It had better come soon because I'm not getting any younger."
Originally unseeded, Haas was elevated to 24 when Gael Monfils withdrew and went into Wednesday's match full of confidence following his victory over Djokovic on grass at Halle last month.
Haas, who saved two match points against 11th seed Marin Cilic in his third-round match, belied his age by edging the thrilling baseline rallies and demonstrated his agility with some majestic volleys at the net.
Secure on his own serve, Haas gained the only break of the first set to take it 7-5 and served for a two-set lead only to be broken to love.
He was then forced to save three set points before reeling off five points in a row to crucially take the tie-breaker.
"It was huge, maybe the key to my success today," Haas said. "I got a little careless and, at 6-3 in the tie-break, I was yelling at myself to wake up."
Djokovic, who had entered the match having won 12 sets in a row, grabbed a lifeline by taking the close-fought third set 6-4.
But Haas edged a tense fourth game in the fourth set on the Djokovic serve.
The Serbian saved two break points but Haas maintained the pressure to secure the all-important break and consolidated to move into a 4-1 lead and then held his nerve to serve out for a memorable victory.
Haas, whose victory over Djokovic in Halle last month was his first against a top-10 player for two years, knows he will have to find another gear when he takes on Federer.
He trails the world No.2 9-2 in previous head-to-heads and let slip a