Tommy Haas

Thomas Mario Haas (born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player.

As a junior Haas reached as high as No. 11 in the junior world singles rankings in 1995 (and No. 5 in doubles).

He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017.

In 1996, Haas became a professional tennis player.

He played his first Grand Slam tournament at the US Open, losing in the first round to compatriot Michael Stich in four sets.

After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997 and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May 2002, his career was interrupted by injuries: Haas twice dropped out of the world rankings due to being unable to play for twelve months.

He also beat Andre Agassi at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships in the second round.

He gained attention as a future star when he won his first ATP title in 1999, made it to the semifinals of the Australian Open, and was a finalist in the Grand Slam Cup.

The following year, he won a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics defeating Wayne Ferreira, Andreas Vinciguerra, Àlex Corretja, Max Mirnyi and Roger Federer en route to the gold medal match where he lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

He won 15 career titles in singles, including a Masters title at the 2001 Stuttgart Masters, and a silver medal from the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Born in Hamburg, Germany to Brigitte and Peter Haas, Tommy started playing his own version of tennis when he was four years old, using a wooden plank to hit balls against the wall or into his father's hands.

When his father observed his talents, he started bringing Haas to work, as he was a tennis coach.

At five, Haas won his first youth tournament, in Hamburg.

At eight, he won his second, in Munich.

Between 11 and 13, Haas twice won the Austrian Championship, the German Championship, and the European Championship.

Haas's talents were noted by tennis guru Nick Bollettieri.

He was so impressed by the young German's talent that he offered Haas the chance to stay and train at his Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Florida, for free, and Haas began attending at age 11.

At 13, speaking little English, Haas moved full-time to Florida to train at the academy.

His sister, Sabine, also played professional tennis.

In 2001, he won four ATP titles, including his first Masters shield, finishing 2001 as world No. 8 and only missing out on playing in the season-ending Masters Cup because of Goran Ivanišević's Wimbledon victory, which meant Ivanišević took the eighth and final spot.

In the 2002 Australian Open, he won in five sets against Todd Martin and Roger Federer, and in four against Marcelo Ríos to reach the semifinals.

He led Marat Safin two sets to one but suffered from a stiff shoulder after a rain delay, and Safin won the match, taking the final two sets 6–0, 6–2.

Haas was quickly rising to the top of the tennis ranks when his career was suddenly halted at No. 2 in the world by a severe accident that nearly claimed the lives of his parents, leaving his father in a coma.

Haas spent much of 2002 taking care of his family.

At the end of this lay-off, he injured his shoulder, requiring a major operation.

Despite this loss, Haas returned to the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time since 2002.

His first period of injury saw him miss the whole of the 2003 season, and he did not return to the world's top 10 until 2007.

He was plagued by further injuries and related complications afterwards and did not return to professional tennis fully until 2004.

Before his parents' accident and his injuries, he had a winning record against several former and future No. 1 ranked players: 3–0 against Andy Roddick, 2–1 against Roger Federer, 2–1 against Marat Safin, and 2–0 against Jim Courier, as well as 5–5 against Pete Sampras.

Haas won two more ATP titles in his return year of 2004, while trying to gain back his form.

In 2006, Haas won three ATP tournaments and reached the quarterfinals at the US Open, where he was knocked out by Nikolay Davydenko after having been up two sets.

Haas began having severe cramps in his legs in the third set.

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 the Masters Cup, the ATP year-end final.

He lost after a semifinal run to Dominik Hrbatý with health problems and did not play again for the rest of the year.

In 2007, Haas, with his long hair now cut short, had battled his way to his third Australian Open semifinal, which included matches against David Nalbandian and a five-set quarterfinal rematch against Nikolay Davydenko.

He lost his semifinal match against first-time Grand Slam finalist Fernando González from Chile in straight sets.

He also was absent between February 2010 and June 2011, but returned to world No. 11 in 2013 by reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open for the first time.

Haas reached the semifinals of the Australian Open three times, and in Wimbledon once.

He reached the quarterfinal stage of each of the major events.