Tommy Haas is a versatile player whose technique is particularly diverse. A tennis player is known for his ability to act effectively both on the long line and under the net. Haas had a powerful blow to the right, the spectacular execution of which always caused delight of the public.
Tommy Haas: biography
The famous German tennis player in the city of Hamburg was born on April 3, 1978. The boy received his first tennis lessons at the age of 4 from his own father, who initially acted as his personal mentor.
When Tommy turned 11 years old, the family decided to move to the United States. After all, it was here, in Florida, that one of the best tennis academies in the world named after Nick Bolletieri was located.
Already at the age of 17, Tommy Haas ended up in the finals of the popular Orange Bowl tournament. However, in the duel for the honorary trophy, the guy had to concede to the more experienced player Mariano Zabalete.
Start a professional career
Tommy Haas is a tennis player who went on to become a professional player in 1996. The debut tournament for the guy was the competition in Indianapolis, where he was immediately lucky to reach the quarter-final stage. However, the young talent did not advance further, since the tournament bracket brought him to one of the main stars of world tennis at that time - Pete Sampras.
Tommy Haas attracted the attention of the general public to his own person a year later. At the next tournament in Lyon, which took place in 1997, a 19-year-old guy beat Evgeny Kafelnikov himself, who had the status of the seventh racket of the world.
The result of the first seasons as a professional for Haas was the 50th position in the world ranking, to which the player rose from 155th place.
Achievements
The most successful career for Tommy Haas was the year 2000, which brought the silver medal of the Olympic Games in Australia to the athlete's piggy bank. Thanks to inspiration after the first significant achievement in his career and fruitful work in training, the tennis player began to regularly reach the final stages of the Grand Slam tournaments. Thus, soon Tommy Haas firmly entrenched in second place in the world classification of singles.
Subsequently, Haas was regularly bothered by injuries, which was reflected in the rather rapid shift of his name from the top positions in the ranking of the best tennis players in the world. To speak at the tournaments of the Grand Slam series, Tommy Haas in full force began only in 2009. However, the athlete’s game was not so spectacular, and his results left much to be desired. However, glimpses of past talent still often slipped on the site. Therefore, Haas remained a formidable opponent for any tennis player until the very end of his career.
National team appearances
Tommy Haas played 31 matches for the German national team. On the player’s account, there are 19 victories with 7 losses for the country's team.
It is noteworthy that due to constant injuries, the tennis player held the penultimate match in the status of a collection in 2007, and the last game as part of the national squad took place for him only in 2012.
Interesting Facts
What is Tommy Haas keen on? Tennis is not the only serious occupation in life for a player. At one time, the athlete showed quite impressive success in golf. In addition, the hobby of a tennis player includes high-speed driving, as well as water skiing.
Haas is a true football fan. Athlete's favorite team is Bayern Munich. As for tennis, the player’s idol was always his compatriot - the legendary Boris Becker.
In 2007, after a series of successful matches, Haas ended up in the Davis Cup final, where the national team of Russia appeared to be the rival of the German national team. However, due to poor health caused by an upset stomach, Tommy never appeared on the playground. The forced absence of a leading player subsequently forced the captain of the German team to put forward an assumption regarding the possible poisoning of Haas by representatives of the Russian side. However, evidence was never found.
Tommy Haas has repeatedly received ankle fractures, which, in fact, was reflected in a decrease in his results in sports. Tommy broke the first in 1995. After a successful recovery in 1996, the player broke his ankle on his other leg.
Peter Haas, father of Tommy, is a former world judo champion. To lead to the success of his own son, he later retrained in tennis coaches.