Guten Tag Tommy

Lawn Tennis, Ace Tennis Magazine, Lawn Tennis Magazine

Guten Tag Tommy
By Tripp Mateschitz, Lawn Tennis Analyst, Posted: Thursday, May 2, 2013 8:32pm PST USA

Guten Tag Tommy, Tommy Haas Wins On Clay, Munich

MUNICH-- With his recent inspired performances, the 35 year old Tommy Haas of Germany is proving this year that he is still a threat on the ATP Tour.

After receiving a first round bye this week in Munich at the BMW Open, Thursday in the second round the third seeded Haas defeated Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-4, 6-7(3-7), 6-1.

Friday in the quarterfinals, Haas, 15-7 this year, takes on his fellow German, the sixth seeded Florian Mayer.

This year Haas reached the quarterfinals at Auckland, the final at San Jose as well as the semifinals at Delray Beach and Miami.

Tommy Haas Of Germany | Image: Getty

In 2000, Haas won Olympic silver in men’s singles at Sydney, Australia.

In March at Miami in the fourth round, Haas shared an especially memorable win with his wife Sarah Foster and his two year old daughter Valentina Haas as he turned back the clock to upset the world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.

Currently the top ranked German player at number 14, Haas reached a career high singles ranking of two eleven years ago in 2002.

But then the German suffered a string of injuries throughout various years, forcing him off the ATP Tour for several months at a time.

In 2010, Haas took time from the tour to recover from right hip and right shoulder surgeries before returning to win the 2012 ATP World Tour Comeback Player of the Year award.

As did many other professional tennis players, Haas left his home country at a young age to move to Florida to train at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. Haas moved from Hamburg, Germany to the USA at age 13.

Among his best grand slam results, Haas reached the semifinals at the Australian Open in 1999, 2002 and 2007 as well as the Wimbledon semifinals in 2009.

In 2000, Haas won Olympic silver in men’s singles at Sydney, Australia. Haas told me a few years ago he keeps the silver medal in a safe and it only removes it on special days.