Tommy Haas: Renaissance Man

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 10, 2011

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Tommy Haas, who is always in renaissance, is in renaissance.

A player that had the “tennis world at his size 12s,” in the words of Stephen Bierley (The Guardian, 1999), Haas has seldom been in a position to capitalise on his irrevocable talent. The best indication of what might have become of his career is his rise to number two in the world in 2002.

At that time, with Pete Sampras moving towards retirement, Andre Agassi not far from his final major title and Marat Safin stagnating, there was something of a power vacuum in men’s tennis. Entering his prime and with two Australian Open semifinal appearances behind him, it would not have been fanciful to have placed Haas with the likes of David Nalbandian, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer in the race to fill it.

From that point, such peers streaked ahead while Haas found himself on a carousel of injury and tragedy, not playing at all in 2003 due to persistent physical complaints and the need to tend to his ailing parents who were recovering from a motorcycle accident. Just like now, he had to return as a castaway, beginning the second stage of his career with a hyphen where his ranking should be. Undeterred, he went on to reach the sharp end of several more majors but never managed to evade the treatment table for a full season.

A hip injury placed Haas in his second extended exile—he was gone so long that some news outlets claimed he was coming out of retirement. With only a solitary doubles match in his legs, he threw himself into the first round at Roland Garros, losing to Marsel Ilhan in four sets in what was a largely throat-clearing exercise. For his second match, he moved to more familiar ground, taking on Andreas Seppi in Halle this week.

He earned an early break in the first set, striding into a 2-0 lead and displaying all the hallmarks of his thrilling all-court game. Daringly, and perhaps in light of his small energy reserves a...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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