Tommy Haas

Titles Won (11): 

(1999) Memphis, (2001) Adelaide, Long Island, Vienna, Stuttgart, (2004) Houston, Los Angeles, (2006) Delray Beach, Memphis, Los Angeles, (2007) Memphis

Tommy Haas is a professional tennis player from Hamburg in Germany. He began playing tennis at the age of four with his father, Peter, who is Austrian and an ex-schoolmate of Hollywood star and current Governor of California Arnold Schwarznegger. At the age of 11 he moved to Bradenton in Florida to attend the Nick Bollettieri Acadamy and has been there full-time since he was 13. As a junior he reached the Orange Bowl 18s final, losing to Zabaleta. Haas turned professional in 1996 and made his ATP debut at Indianapolis as a wildcard where he beat D. Norman, Furlan and Woodforde before losing to world number one Pete Sampras in teh quarter final. He also reached his first Challenger final at Weiden, losing to Nydahl. In 1997, Haas became the youngest player to finish in the Top 50 ande made second-biggest jump among Top 50 players. He reached his first ATP final in Lyon, where he defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the semi-final and losing to Santoro in the final. In 1998, Haas finished as the number one German for the first time. In February, Haas reached the quarter final at San Jose (l. Chang) and then reached consecutive semi-finals at Philadelphia (l. Sampras) and Scottsdale (l. Agassi). In September he reached his fourth ATP quarter final of the season at Mallorca (l. Muster) and then reached his second consecutive final at Lyon, losing to Spain's Alex Corretja. In 1999, Haas captured his first ATP title in Memphis, defeating two time winner Todd Martin in semi-final and former world number one Jim Courier in the final. He started the season by reaching the final at Auckland (l. Schalken). He then went on to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open, losing to Yevgeny Kafelnikov. At Roland Garros (l. Mantilla) and Wimbledon (l. Arthurs), the German made a third round exit. In July he reached the final at Stuttgart on clay, but lost to Sweden's Magnus Norman in five sets. In February, 2000, Haas advanced to the semi-final at Memphis (l. Black). He reached his first ATP final of the season on the clay courts at Munich, losing to Argentine Franco Squillari in straight sets. At Roland Garros and Wimbledon, Haas once again made third round exits for the second consecutive year. Haas played in the Olympic Games at Sydney in September representing Germany and reached the final after defeating Roger Federer in the semi-final before losing to Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov to take the silver medal. He returned to the ATP tour a few weeks later and reached his third final of the season in Vienna, losing to Britain's Tim Henman in straight sets.

In 2001, Haas had his best season to date by finishing as the number one player in Germany for the first time in three years and also finished inside the Top 10 for the first time. He started the season by winning his second career ATP title at Adelaide, defeating Nicolas Massu in the final 6-3, 6-1. At the Australian Open, Haas lost in the second round to local favourite and world number seven Lleyton Hewitt.in straight sets. After being forced to retire against Wayne Black in the first round at Wimbledon due to injury, the German went on a fine run of form in the second half of the season winning three titles. In July, Haas reached the quarter final at Los Angeles (l. Kuerten) and in his next tournament advanced to the semi-final at the Masters Series event in Montreal (l. Pavel). Haas won his second title of the season on the hard courts at Long Island, defeating Pete Sampras in the final. At the US Open he reached the fourth round before falling to Hewitt. In October, Haas won his third title of the season at Vienna (l. Canas) and in the next week won his first Masters Series title at Stuttgart (d. Mirnyi). He ended the season by reaching the semi-final at the Masters Series in Paris (l. Grosjean). In 2002, Haas just missed out on finishing inside the Top 10 for a second straight season. This was largely unhelped by injuries and taking time out to take care for his family who were seriously injured in an accident. He started the season by reaching the semi-final of the Australian Open (l. Safin), his best Grand Slam showing of the season. In his next tournament he reached the quarter final of the ATP event at Memphis (l. Blake). In April, Haas advanced to the quarter final of the Masters Series event at Monte Carlo (l. Ferrero) on clay. The German, reached his lone ATP final of the season at the Rome Masters, losing to Andre Agassi in straight sets. After a fourth round exit at Roland Garros (l. Pavel), Haas took time out to care for his family and did not return until the Masters Series in Toronto where he reached the semi-final, losing to Argentine Guillermo Canas. In being forced to withdraw from Wimbledon, the German ended his run of playing in 20 consecutive Grand Slam events. In August, he reached back-to-back semi-finals at Indianapolis (l. Rusedski) and Long Island (l. Srichaphan). At the US Open, he reached the fourth round but lost to eventual champion Pete Sampras.

The German was forced to miss the entire season in 2003 due to injury and was forced to undergo right rotator cuff surgery on his shoulder in New york at the end of 2002 and then underwent arthoscopic surgery on the same shoulder in July. He had a protected ATP Entry Ranking of number 11 in 2004 when he returned to action in February and slowly improved his ranking month-by-month. He captured his first clay court title in Houston (d. Roddick) in April. After his victory, the German was unable to win back-to-back matches until June when he reached the quarter final at Halle (l. Novak). His first title of the season came at Los Angeles in July, where he defeated Andre Agassi en route before dispatching Nicolas Kiefer in the final 7-6(6), 6-4. In August, Haas reached the quarter final of the Masters Series in Cincinnati (l. Roddick). At the US Open, Haas reached the quarter final, falling to world number five Lleyton Hewitt. In the remainder of the season, Haas reached semi-finals at Vienna (l. Canas) and Stockholm (l. Agassi). The number two German finished in the Top 50 in 2005 for the eight time in nine years, highlighted by reaching four ATP semi-finals at San Jose, Memphis, Munich and Halle. In May, he helped his native country to the ATP World Team Championship title over Argentina by winning three of four singles and doubles matches (w/Waske). In the first round at Wimbledon, he was forced to retire against Tipsarevic after spraining his right ankle in warm-ups (stepped on a ball) and was forced to miss one month before returning to action at Los Angeles in late July. At the US Open he reached the third round, losing to American Robby Gienepri in five-sets. In 2006, Haas returned to finish in the Top 20 for the fourth time in six years. He started the season well by reaching the semi-final at Doha (l. Federer) and then advancing to the fourth round at the Australian Open, where he lost once again to world number one Roger Federer in five sets. At the end of January, Haas won his first title of the season at Delray Beach in Florida, defeating Belgium's Xavier Malisse. His second title of the season came at Memphis when he defeated Robin Soderling in the final in straight sets. At Roland Garros (l. Djokovic) and Wimbledon (l. Berdych), the German made a third round exit. His third title of the season came at Los Angeles, beating Russia's Dmitry Turusnov in the final. At the US Open, Haas advanced to the quarter final where he was edged out by Russia's Nikolay Davydenko in five sets. He ended the season by reaching the semi-final at the Masters Series event in Paris, being forced to retire against Dominik Hrbaty.

In 2007, Haas started the season by reaching his third Australian Open semi-final, which included victories over David Nalbandian and Nikolay Davydenko, before falling to first-time Grand Slam finalist Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in straight sets. Despite the loss, Haas returned to the Top 10 of the world ranking for the first time since 2002. In his next event he reached the quarter final at Delray Beach (l. Spadea). The German won his third title in Memphis in February by defeating American Andy Roddick in the final 6-3, 6-2. He then went on to reach the semi-final at Dubai (l. Federer) and the quarter final at the Masters Series at Indian Wells (l. Murray). At Wimbledon, Haas was drawn in the fourth round to world number one and eventual champion Roger Federer but was forced to withdraw due to injury. At the US Open he reached his second Grand Slam semi-final of the season, losing to world number four Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets. During the season he also helped his country to the semi-final of the Davis Cup, posting a 3-1 singles record. In 2008, the German finished outside the Top 50 for only the second time in his professional career, following a comeback from shoulder surgery in late 2007. He opened the season in February at Delray Beach and went 2-4 through the first four events before breaking through to reach the quarter final at the Masters Series at Indian Wells. In June, the German reached the third round at Wimlbedon, defeating Guillermo Canas and Tommy Robredo before losing to local hero Andy Murray in four sets. In his next tournament he reached the quarter final of the quarter final at Indianapolis (l. Simon). In August, Haas reached the semi-final at Washington (l. Del Potro). At the US Open, he made a second round exit after defeating world number twelve Richard Gasquet in the first round. He did not pay for the remainder of the season after the US Open in order to rest and strengthen his right shoulder. In 2009 he started the season by reaching the third round at the Australian Open, losing to eventual winner and world number one Rafa Nadal in straight sets. In his next tournament he reached the quarter final at the ATP event in San Jose, losing to America's Andy Roddick.