Tennis Acumen

34 Year-Old Tommy Haas Secures Main Draw Berth at Roland Garros

PETE ZIEBRON

Tommy Haas hitting with good friend Roger Federer in Cincinnati last year.       Pete Ziebron Images

Former world #2 Tommy Haas of Germany fought his way through 3 qualification rounds last week and gained entry into the main draw at Roland Garros.  Haas, currently ranked #112, was seeded 11th in qualifying and advanced to play Filippo Volandri of Italy on the 4th and final match on Court 3 on Monday.

Three years ago, Tommy Haas was involved in one of the most memorable matches at Roland Garros in recent times.  In a blockbuster 4th round match, Haas faced world #2 Roger Federer, the day after Rafael Nadal lost to Robin Soderling.  Federer's Career Grand Slam resume was only lacking the Roland Garros crown at that time.

Despite not winning a single point on all of Federer's service games in the 1st set, Haas managed to win all of his service games as well and the 1st set went to a tiebreaker.  Finally, Haas would win points on Federer's serve in the breaker and he stole the opening set 7-6(4).  Haas would go on to take the 2nd set 7-5 and the unthinkable was beginning to set in for Federer.

However, immediately after a Haas forehand down the line went just wide deep into the 3rd set, Federer would break Haas, win the 3rd set 6-4 and proceed to steamroll his way to victory.  Tommy Haas would only win 2 more games in the next 2 sets and Federer would go on to win Roland Garros in 2009, sealing the Career Grand Slam in the process.

Haas would take positives out of his close call with Federer and win the grass tournament in Halle a few weeks later, defeating then world #4 Novak Djokovic in the Final.  Ironically, Haas would beat Djokovic once again in the Wimbledon quarterfinals before losing to eventual Champion Roger Federer in the semifinals.

Only a few weeks ago, Haas defeated world #5 Jo-Wilfired Tsonga on clay in the 2nd round in Munich before crashing out in the semifinals to Marin Cilic.  Earlier this year, Haas played competitively against world #2 Rafael Nadal, losing in the 2nd round at the Australian Open 4-6 3-6 4-6.

Following the match against Nadal in Australia, Haas was asked if he could see himself playing competitively on tour for a few more years:

"That's a big question.  That's really the question I have to see for myself.  That's going to be very interesting what happens in the next I guess three, four, five months. 

If you don't get wild cards, then it becomes tricky where you have to play qualifying and maybe go back and play some challengers.  I'm not sure if I'm up for the task doing that.

At the same time, when I play at certain moments like today like I did today, you know, I feel like I can definitely still play with some of the big guys and maybe still have some success.  That's the challenge that I have to ask myself, if I'm still willing to do that after so many injuries, after being on the road now for 15 years, and, you know, if I still want to do that. So these are discussions I have to obviously have for myself, with my team, with my family, and then see if it's going to be worth it."

Defeating the #5 player in the world 6-1 6-4 earlier this month should give Tommy Haas all the motivation he needs to continue to battle on the ATP Tour.

 

Roger Federer Wins on the Blue Clay in Madrid, Rafael Nadal & Novak Djokovic Threaten to Boycott Madrid Going Forward

PETE ZIEBRON

New world #2 Roger Federer wins the Madrid Masters 1000 on blue clay.

While the top two players in the ATP complained bitterly about the blue clay in Madrid, Roger Federer simply went about his business all week long and won the Mutua Madrid Masters 1000, defeating Tomas Berdych today 3-6 7-5 7-5.  The victory was Federer's 20th Masters 1000 crown and elevated him to world #2.

Weeks before the tournament, Rafael Nadal expressed his displeasure about the color of the surface.  As a result, Nadal carried that attitude into the tournament and lost in the 3rd round to countryman Fernando Verdasco, blowing a 5-2 lead in the 3rd set in the process.  Nadal was broken each of the last 3 times that he served in the match and it would be the first time in 15 matches that Verdasco would finally be able to break through against Nadal, despite coming close a few times the last few years.  Following the loss, Nadal stated that he would not return to the Madrid Masters 1000 next year if the courts remained blue.

The decision to use a blue playing surface has been questioned by many players and media.  A common concern is that the non-red court color in Madrid somehow disrupts the preparation of the players for Roland Garros.  One common question has been: How can a tournament be played on blue clay only a few weeks prior to the major in Paris?

However, two years ago in Cincinnati, I asked Rafael Nadal why Francisco Roig accompanied him for Masters 1000 tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati, rather than Toni Nadal, since these tournaments are usually used by players to prepare for the US Open, held a few weeks later.  Nadal answered that each tournament he plays is important to him and not necessarily preparation for an upcoming major:

• "That doesn't matter if my uncle came to these tournaments or not to prepare the US Open. But first thing, I don't play this tournament to prepare the US Open; I play these tournaments because these tournaments are very important for me."

The day after Nadal lost to Verdasco, defending Champion and world #1 Novak Djokovic was upset by countryman Janko Tipsarevic.  The loss prompted Djokovic to issue a threat similar to Nadal, that he also would not plan to play in Madrid next year either if the tournament was contested on blue clay.

While the top players let the fact that the courts in Madrid were colored blue mentally impact their games, Roger Federer let his play do the talking.  In 2009, I asked Federer if the then recent change from green hard courts to blue improved his vision on the court.  Federer shared that he actually liked the purple-blue colored courts (Miami and Dubai) best of all:

• "I think it does improve, sort of that purple blue. I think it's -- I mean, for TV it's better. Doesn't have any impact on me. I think you still do you see the ball is bit better when it's blue.  I think the Australian Open went from green to blue if you remember. That was a good change as well. I just think it's good for the TV. You see the ball better, because our ball is already pretty small. For that reason, I think it's good."

Ironically, Federer wore a blue shirt all week in Madrid, the same color as the courts.  Nadal wore an orange shirt in his matches, the traditional color of clay courts.

The ATP tour moves on to Rome next week for the Internazionali BNL d'Italia Rome Masters 1000.