Tommy Haas

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**Tommy Haas**

Country	Germany
Residence	Sarasota, Florida, USA
Date of birth	April 3, 1978
Place of birth	Hamburg, West Germany
Height	6 ft 2 in (187 cm)
Weight	195 lbs (88 kg)
Turned Pro	1996
Plays	Right; One-handed backhand
Career Prize Money	$8,239,928
Singles
Career record:	391 - 207
Career titles:	11
Highest ranking:	No. 2 (May 13, 2002)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	SF (1999, 2002, 2007)
French Open	4th (2002)
Wimbledon	3rd (1998-2000, 2006)
U.S. Open	QF (2004, 2006)
Doubles
Career record:	41-54
Career titles:	0
Highest ranking:	No. 127 (February 18, 2002)
Infobox last updated on: April 2, 2007.

Men's Tennis
Olympic medal record
Silver	2000 Sydney	Singles

Thomas Mario Haas (born April 3, 1978 in Hamburg, Germany) is a German tennis player. He is 187 cm tall and plays right-handed. He is currently ranked #9 in the world. He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 2 in May 2002. Tommy is particularly well-known for his exceptionally strong forehand.^[1]

His hobbies include movies, music, golf, the NBA, personal watercraft, table tennis, and fast cars.

1 Career
2 Masters Series singles finals
- 2.1 Wins (1)
- 2.2 Runner-ups (1)
3 Titles (11)
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Career

Haas started playing his own version of tennis when he was two-years-old, by using a wooden plank to hit balls against the wall or into his father's hands. When his father noticed his talents, he started bringing Haas to his job, which happened to be that of a tennis coach.

At five-years-old Haas won his first youth tournament, in Hamburg. At eight-years-old he would win his second, in Munich. Between eleven and thirteen, Haas would twice win the Austrian Championship, the German Championship, and the European Championship.

Haas's talents were noted by world renowned tennis guru Nick Bollettieri of the Bollettieri Academy in Florida. Nick was so impressed by the young German's talent that he offered Haas to stay and train at his academy for free. At 13, speaking little English, Haas moved to Florida to begin training at the academy.

In 1996, Haas became a professional tennis player. He gained attention as an upcoming tennis star when he won his first ATP title in 1999 and managed to make it to the semifinals of the Australian Open and was a finalst in the Grand Slam Cup. The following year he won a silver medal in the Sydney Olympics.

In 2001 he began to make even greater strides in his tennis career by winning four ATP titles, including his first ATP Master's title. Haas was quickly rising to the top of the tennis ranks when his career would be suddenly halted at #2 in the world, after a tragic and severe accident that nearly claimed the lives of Haas's parents, leaving his father in a coma. Haas would spend much of the 2002 year taking care of his family instead of playing tennis. At the end of the lay-off from tennis because of his parent's accident, he seriously injured his shoulder, requiring a major operation. He would be plagued by further injuries and related complications afterwards, and would not return to professional tennis fully until 2004. Before his parents' accident and various injuries and related complications, he had an impressive record against notable former, current, and future #1 ranked players: 3-0 against Andy Roddick, 5-5 against Pete Sampras, 2-1 against Roger Federer, 2-1 against Marat Safin, and 2-0 against Jim Courier. Haas would win two more ATP titles in his return year of 2004, while trying to gain back his form.

In 2006 he won three ATP Tournaments and would put in an impressive performance at at the U.S. Open, making it to the quarterfinals where he was knocked out by Nikolay Davydenko, despite having been up two sets. Haas began having severe cramps in his legs in the third set, and from then on his limited mobility on the court perhaps cost him the remaining three sets and a match in the semifinals. During the match he was visibly disturbed, repeatedly hitting his legs with his racquet, frustrated at the cramps.

At the end of the year he had to win the Paris Masters to qualify for ATP Championship. He lost after a semifinal run to Dominik Hrbaty with health problems and did not play again for the rest of the year.

In 2007, Haas, with his trademark long hair now cut short, had battled his way to his third Australian Open semifinal, which included intense matches against David Nalbandian and a five-set quarterfinal rematch against Nikolay Davydenko. He lost the semifinal against first time Grand Slam semifinalist Fernando Gonzalez from Chile in straight sets. Despite this loss Haas is returning into the Top10 of the world rankings for the first time since 2002.

On February 25 in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at Memphis Haas stopped Roddick's quest in the final, winning 6-3 6-2. This was the first time Haas had won a title without facing a single break point in any of his matches, as well as the first time he has won titles in consecutive seasons. It is also only the 2nd time a player has won 3 titles at Memphis, the last time being Jimmy Connors, who won in 1979, 1983, and 1984. Haas has not lost a final since losing to Agassi in Rome 2002.

Most recently Haas reached the quaterfinals of the Pacific Life Open, a Masters tournament held in Indian Wells, Calafornia, where he lost to Scotland's Andy Murray in a match tiebreaker. He is currently placed at #2 in the 2007 ATP Champion's Race.

Haas is seen as an intense and emotional player, sometimes having outbursts on the court by muttering at himself or at his coaches, or even off the court.

[edit] Masters Series singles finals

[edit] Wins (1)

Year	Tournament	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2001	Stuttgart	Max Mirnyi	6-2, 6-2, 6-2

[edit] Runner-ups (1)

Year	Tournament	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2002	Rome	Andre Agassi	6-3, 6-3, 6-0

[edit] Titles (11)

Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (1)
ATP Tour (10)

[edit] Singles (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	15 February 1999	Memphis, USA	Hard	Jim Courier	6-4 6-1
2.	1 January 2001	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Nicolás Massú	6-3 6-1
3.	20 August 2001	Long Island, USA	Hard	Pete Sampras	6-3 3-6 6-2
4.	8 October 2001	Vienna, Austria	Hard (I)	Guillermo Canas	6-2 7-6 6-4
5.	15 October 2001	Stuttgart, Germany	Hard (I)	Max Mirnyi	6-2 6-2 6-2
6.	12 April 2004	Houston, USA	Clay	Andy Roddick	6-3 6-4
7.	12 July 2004	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Nicolas Kiefer	7-6 6-4
8.	5 February 2006	Delray Beach, USA	Hard	Xavier Malisse	6-3 3-6 7-6
9.	25 February 2006	Memphis, USA	Hard (I)	Robin Soderling	6-3 6-2
10.	24 July 2006	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Dmitry Tursunov	4-6 7-5 6-3
11.	25 February 2007	Memphis, USA	Hard (II)	Andy Roddick	6-2 6-3