NEW YORK -- In the end, Tommy Haas just had to laugh.

The wind swirling around Louis Armstrong Stadium had done its best to ruin his elegant game -- hell, he had done his best to sabotage things with double faults on two match points. But, ultimately, Haas survived David Sanchez and himself 7-6 (1), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to advance Wednesday to the second round of the U.S. Open.

And when Sanchez' return of serve soared wildly wide and the three-hour and 23-minute match was over, Haas seemed to be laughing in spite of himself as he raised his fatigued arms in victory and bowed to the crowd.

"So many emotions played a factor," he said later. "I've pretty much been a fighter, not maybe always shown it in some matches. You know, sometimes you change your life and some things happen to you in life where you might change your perspective a little bit."

For while Wednesday was a long day for Haas, it has been a positively endless summer.

Haas, a 24-year-old German, had been cruising along at the top of the world, or very close to it in terms of tennis. He was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world through the spring with some impressive results when he got the call from his girlfriend on June 8. She was sobbing hysterically, telling him that his parents, Peter and Brigitte, had just been in a serious accident.

They had been driving the Harley-Davidson their son had given them when they collided with a truck on a street in Sarasota, Fla. Neither was wearing a helmet. His father was in a coma for two weeks and Haas was there by his hospital bed the whole time; in his mind, playing at Wimbledon was never an option.

For six weeks, he tended to his parents. Eventually, his father regained consciousness and his mother, who escaped serious injury but suffered emotional damage, found an equilibrium. Today, they are back at home in Germany, although Peter suffered serious right leg and brain damage.

"My dad has a long road ahead," Haas said a week ago of the man who first put the racket in his hand at the age of 4. "It's going to take him time to get on track again. He's starting to talk again. Obviously, he's not back to the way he used to be, and probably never will. But they're both alive, and I thank God for that."

In a sense, Haas is back home, too. After those six weeks off, he returned to the men's tour in Los Angeles in late July. In his first match since reaching the Round of 16 at the French Open, Haas was humbled by Alex Bogomolov in the first round.

He came back the next week at Toronto and ripped through the field, including Pete Sampras, all the way to the semifinals, where he lost to Guillermo Canas. After losing to Greg Rusedski in Indianapolis, Haas withdrew a week ago in Long Island before his match with Paradorn Srichaphan. The tendonitis in Haas' right shoulder had led him to overcompensate with his right arm and, in turn, left him with tendonitis of the right elbow.

"It's been a pain in the butt for two months," Haas said, oddly, enough, of his shoulder and elbow.

He is in the awkward position of needing matches and, at the same time, rest for his tortured forearm and shoulder. He said the pain wasn't too bad, but certainly he can't play too many more five-set matches if he wants to reach the semis here.

Haas delivered his post-match comments from a standing position because he was afraid his legs were going to cramp up. There actually were more questions about the sleeveless white muscle shirt he attempted to play in than about his tennis. The U.S. Tennis Association told him it as inappropriate and forced him to change into a shirt with conventional sleeves. He said he will attempt to get the shirt approved.

Clearly, Haas likes the attention. The New York Post ran a provocative photo of Haas and his girlfriend in the all-together; if he had been suffering from elbow tendonitis when it was taken two years ago, it would have been an R-rated shot -- or worse.

"I was a little surprised," Haas said. "At breakfast I saw it. It was a good wake-up call."

Haas has flirted with stardom since 1997, when he started playing the ATP on a full-time basis. Mostly, the 19-year-old suffered in the German media in comparison to icons Steffi Graf and Boris Becker. Last year, though, he began to deliver on his great promise.

He finished the season in a rush, winning at Long Island, Vienna and Stuttgart and his year-end ranking was an eye-opening No. 8. Haas led Marat Safin two sets to one in the Australian Open semifinals when the heavens opened. After a rain delay, Safin regained his composure and won 12 of the last 14 games. Still, it was Haas' deepest penetration in a Grand Slam event and he followed it up with a fourth-round appearance at the French Open, losing to Andrei Pavel.

That was his last match until Los Angeles. In retrospect, he was lucky to get past Sanchez. He had to scuffle to win the fourth set to level the match and promptly dropped the first three games of the fifth set. He rallied to 5-all, then watched one, two, three and four break points get away before nailing down the fifth.

Serving for the match, Haas was up 40-15 when he proceeded to hit three straight double-faults.

"Got a little bit nervous," he explained. "First double-fault, you start to think. Then double-faulting three times, how many times does that really happen? Not much.

"Just my legs wouldn't push off anymore. I was lucky to get through the game."

Lucky, really, all the way around.

Greg Garber is a senior editor at ESPN.com.