Tommy Haas has compared his lengthy injury record and recovery times to the relatively few suffered by his close friend Roger Federer.
Haas, now the Tournament Director in Indian Wells, said: “I went through nine surgeries (shoulder, hip, foot, elbow, ankle). I lost four years of competition! I asked myself often which spirit I had to have to comeback, Frankly I don’t know how you [Federer] made it! Last year he had a minor surgery and already 10 or 12 days after he was on the court. I never had such recovery times, minimum five-six months every time!”
When you have to start to walk or use the arm again, you need to be patient and careful. You need to start from stretch physically, but you can do that if you have passion. Now I am getting closer to 40, it’s even tougher to be at a good level. Luckily I already work as Indian Wells tournament director and so the transition will be easier.
Haas is one of the oldest players who still mainly plays singles, and has ambitions of playing later in the year, having provisionally agreed to work with former World No.1 Marcelo Rios.
