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Tommy Haas: The Journey, First & Last Matches
57 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
A very recognizable face was strolling the US Open grounds yesterday. And he agreed to share his first and last matches. Tommy Haas, now the tournament director at Indian Wells, was once the second ranked player in the world (in 2002). He won 15 singles titles, 567 singles matches and over $13 million in prize earnings. Also the resilient Haas endured nine different surgeries, twice sidelined for over 12 months. He reached the semis of AO three times and once at Wimbledon. He won a silver medal in the 2000 Olympics…
FIRST PRO MATCH: My first match was in Indianapolis in 1996 (age 18, ranked 390 at the time) against Dick Norman (won 63 63). At the time I was just trying to get as many points as I could. (He won two more rounds in Indy vs Renzo Furlan and Mark Woodforde before losing to world no. 1 Pete Sampras in the QF 63 64).
LAST MATCH: Last match was in Kitzbuhel, I lost to Jan-Lennard Struff (63 76 in 2017). I was hoping to win a few more matches. My last match win was in Germany (Stuttgart) against one of my good friends (Roger Federer, 26 76 64).”
MEMORABLE MATCHES: Beating Agassi at Wimbledon, Roger in Halle and winning the Masters title in Stuttgart in front of my German fans.
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« Previous 1 2catherine · August 31, 2019 at 1:21 pm
Scoop – one thing about controversy, you can quickly get awfully sick of it. Tennis isn’t pro wrestling, although sometimes I get the feeling you wish it was.
Andrew Miller · August 31, 2019 at 1:55 pm
Will Kyrgios complain to a US Open title? Or will he receive all votes for most entitled player? Will he assume the Gimelstob throne, where your greatest accomplishment is saying the worst things about Anna Kournikova because you enjoy putting people down rather than raising your ranking because you don’t work hard enough? It’s hard to tell.
All I know is, these aren’t worthwhile awards. And the history books don’t have an asterisk by players that fall by the wayside. Will Kyrgios be one of those guys who attends the Australian events reserved for all England Club members who have a victory in some event at Wimbledon?
He’s going to regret all of this.
Andrew Miller · August 31, 2019 at 2:12 pm
Townsend d. Cirstea. Nice contrast between Townsend and her SV and Cirstea grip it and rip it. Sorry to see Cirstea lose, glad to see Townsend win. Fan of both.
jackson · August 31, 2019 at 6:04 pm
I’m with you completely Hartt (and you too Andrew). The Kyrgios fad will fade pretty quickly as people tire of his ugly antics. Already the stadiums are pretty empty before the end of his matches. There may be a small proportion of tennis fans that love the WWE aspect but from what I read around the web, there are far more people turned off by it.
What will force the ATP to finally take some substantial action against Kyrgios is going to be the other players who have to play against him and his histrionics. When it starts costing them in lost prize money because Kyrgios’ antics have upset them too much to concentrate and play their own game,maybe something will be done. That and the umpires refusing to officiate his matches.
Scoop Malinowski · August 31, 2019 at 7:56 pm
Catherine, not a pro wrestling fans since teen years decades ago. But all sports, movies, entertainment benefit from the good vs bad component. Tennis will too. Tennis is too imbalanced with good guys and girls, need a few more villains to spice it up. Diversity is good they tell us.
Bergie · August 31, 2019 at 10:17 pm
Scoop, I had an opportunity to watch Tommy in Toronto at the Rogers cup… He was first class tennis player on and off the court… And his work ethic was phenomenal… wait to see someone like him take a leadership role in the tournament aspect now… keep those good Tennis stories coming we love the inside information you provide… Enjoy the rest of the tournament
Scoop Malinowski · September 1, 2019 at 9:49 am
Thanks Bergie! Agree on Haas, a super intense but controlled competitor and a champion. Trying to get the inside stories, so many, the media only gets the tip of the ice Bergies though, pun intended 🙂