NEW YORK—Tommy Haas wants to go out of tennis on his own terms, not be forced out by injury. The German-born, naturalized American player would like his daughter, Valentina, just over nine months old, to see him play. But will he do what it’ll likely take to make that happen? He’s not sure.
At 33, Haas—who won his first-round match against French qualifier Jonathan Dasnieres de Veigy on the “new” Court 17 today, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1—is the second-oldest man in this year’s U.S. Open draw. After missing more than a year due to hip and elbow surgeries, Haas endured months of patient healing, followed by rehab and training, then had to become re-acclimated to match play after more than a year away.
“It’s one thing to be away from the game when you can still practice or work in the gym. But when you’re away from the game and you’re on crutches for six weeks and your whole body changes because of injury, and some surgery, and you don’t trust your hip for so long—then you have to get the strength back, the pounding back. It’s still part of me. There are days when I feel my hip more than others.”
Maybe that’s why Haas, who had been almost stoically focused on the task at hand in sets one and two, locking them up in just an hour and 18 minutes, lost his temper over a call in the third-set tiebreaker, when serving at 0-1, a seemingly clear ace was called a let by the umpire.
“Jesus Christ!” he snapped before double faulting and flipping his racquet to the ground. He went on to lose the tiebreaker, and a 65 minute set along with it, slapping the net with his racquet and slumping down in his chair. Who can blame him? Any extra time on the court these days comes at a high price, and he could very well have been staring into the abyss of his tennis mortality, or at least his mortality at the U.S. Open, which he calls “maybe my favorite tournament.” This is his 14th Open, more than any other active player.
Haas tightened up his game after that, letting it flow, and locked up the fourth set in just 27 minutes. But in an interview conducted about two hours later, he admitted that, “I still feel [my hip] a little bit right now.”
Dasnieres de Veigy, a 24-year old lefty ranked No. 250, was making his Grand Slam debut. Next up for Haas is Columbian Alejandro Falla, a veteran ranked No. 119.
It’s been a long slog for Haas this spring and summer. He’s played in eight tournaments since Roland Garros and logged just two wins prior to the U.S. Open, over Amer Delic in Cincinnati and Michael Berrer in Newport. His doubles efforts have been a bit more fruitful; he and Radek Stepanek reached the semifinals in Washington, D.C.
But he says the atmosphere, and the wins, make it all worthwhile. Mere seconds after his victory over Dasnieres de Veigy this afternoon, Haas walked past the umpire’s chair and was embraced by the fans in the front rows, signing more than two dozen autographs. The whole scene embodies why he’s put himself through so much to get back on the court.
“Moments like today, being on that court with a few hundred fans, or a few thousand fans, cheering you on and congratulating you when you win a match. I know that at some point it’s going to be over, so I’d like to enjoy that for as long as I can.”
It won’t be easy. It never has been for Haas, whose career has been famously plagued by injury: A right shoulder injury took him out of commission for all of 2003 and the start of 2004; his shoulder also yanked him off the court for parts of 2007 and 2008. Then there was the time, in 2005, when he rolled his ankle on a ball warming up for a Wimbledon match and watched helplessly as it swelled up like a baseball.
In that context, it’s almost miraculous that Haas has accomplished what he has, reaching a ranking of world No. 2 and winning 12 titles. His often exquisite, all-court game helped him become the rare active player who has notched championships on grass, clay, and hard courts. He’s contested four Grand Slam semifinals, most recently in 2009 at Wimbledon, and has been to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open three times.
The ATP’s protected ranking system allows Haas to operate on his time-of-injury ranking (No. 20) for nine tournaments or nine months, and the clock is ticking. One morning in the near future, he’ll wake up to find himself ranked well outside a range that would allow him direct entry into any main-tour events. His current ranking is No. 477.
When that day comes, “I’ll have to play qualifying or play Challengers [to get my ranking up] and I don’t know if I want to do that too much,” he admits.
For the moment, Haas is searching for a physiotherapist who can travel with him and help him keep his body aligned, and not just for tennis: “I just want to make sure I can chase my kids around when I’m 40 or 45,” he says.
“Nothing is set in stone. I don’t know if I’ll be playing next March or next June. I’m going day by day, month by month, tournament by tournament.”
Andrew Friedman is covering the U.S. Open for TENNIS.com.