The Daily Forehand Talks to Tommy Haas About Anger, Loneliness, and German Tennis

Germany's Tommy Haas is known in tennis circles as somewhat of a forlorn, star-crossed miser.  His career has been peppered with freak injuries (tripping over a stray ball during warm ups) and suspicious illnesses (sickness at a Davis Cup semifinal in Moscow led Haas to suspect he had been poisoned).  Of course his career hasn't been all bad, reaching a career high ranking of #2 and winning a silver medal in the 2000 Olympics.

But balls seem to be bouncing his way this week in Washington, where he has made the quarterfinals on the back of two three set wins.  He toughed out a second round win over the always dangerous Frank Dancevic 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, then defeated the hot-playing Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

I asked him about both these matches and some of the issues that have followed him over his career.  He doesn't hold a lot in (pun intended).

TDF: In the third set against Dancevic, at 1-2 when he was about to have a break point, you smashed your racquet and really took your time walking to get another racquet.   Did you do that intentionally to try to slow his momentum d, because he was playing really well at that point?

Tommy Haas: Not really.  I would never do anything to slow down a match, or to interrupt my opponent. I was just really, really frustrated at that point. I would have liked to have broken every single one of my racquets and walk off the court in disgust.  I really wasn’t happy with the situation.

It just needed to come out.  You know, it’s hard.  You’re out there by yourself, most of the time.  It’s not like you can just talk to somebody or have somebody cheer you up when you are not feeling that great.  In many other sports, you can have a little timeout or you can talk to your coach, or talk to a buddy of yours, and get your frustration out, or whatever.

And then any time you do say something that has, maybe, a little bit of bad language, or you want to throw something, you get a warning, and you have to worry about getting huge fines.

It’s annoying in this game.  It’s a great sport, but sometimes it just drives you insane.

TDF: You did not play for Germany in Davis Cup, and they wound up losing to Spain with Ferrero winning the deciding match over Andreas Beck, who is ranked a ways below you.  What made you decide not to play Davis Cup, and do you think there will be any talk saying that you could’ve beaten Ferrero, and could have won the tie for Germany if you had played?

Tommy Haas: I’d played Davis Cup now for a long time, nine or ten years.  I was very successful, I had a good Davis Cup record.  I just felt like, since we lost the semifinals against Russia that year, it’s time for me to take a break for a while.

The Germans really didn’t want me there.   A couple of phone calls from my team colleagues maybe would have changed my mind, but those phone calls never came.  When those phone calls come I might feel like they need me, I’ll feel like I’m ready to play, I didn’t totally black it out yet.

TDF: So you just didn’t play because they didn’t invite you?

Tommy Haas: Yeah, I just feel like it’s a team effort, and lot of guys don’t understand that in Germany.  Until they understand that, and until they’re ready to go far again—with me, with my help, I’ll be there.

At the same time, my clock is ticking, so I feel like I’ve done everything I could

TDF: And your last tie was the one in Russia where you thought you were poisoned?

Tommy Haas: Yeah, that was frustrating, having a chance to go out there and maybe taking the team to the final, but being very sick, and not sleeping the whole night.  Just sitting on the toilet throwing up and…you know…doing the other thing. 

It wasn’t the right opportunity for me to go out there and play tennis, so I gave the opportunity to somebody else.

TDF: You mentioned your "clock ticking"—you’ve had a lot of injuries in your career, and therefore a lot of time off.  Do you think that could have helped you last longer in terms of your age?

Tommy Haas: In tennis years, maybe I’ve had a year and a half off.  But at the same time, doing rehab, having surgery probably makes you older.  That’s not the way you want to go if you don’t have to, that’s for sure.

But at the same time, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, so…

TDF: With all that, would you say generally you’ve had good luck or bad luck in your career?

Tommy Haas: Good luck, for sure.  I’ve been out doing the sport that I love for quite some time now, and I’m still continuing, so it’s nice.