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Haas the next German Star

© Joel Hunt

Tommy Haas looks to be the next German star of men's tennis. The past month he has shown brilliant form, winning the indoor tournament in Vienna and the Masters event in Stuttgart. On the way he defeated US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt, preventing the Australian from gaining the number 1 ranking. Now he's looking for a spot in the ATP World Championship event in Sydney, which Frenchman Sebastian Grojean is fighting him for.

Haas's 3 set victory over Lleyton Hewitt in Stuttgart must have been most satisfying for him. The Australian had beaten him in the fourth round of the US Open and the second round of the Australian Open. In the latter match he blew a 5-0 lead in the first 2 sets, losing in straight sets 5-7, 6-7 (5), 4-6. It showed good mental strength for Haas to come back after that loss, particularly with a home crowd in Germany.

Haas is building on a good year from 2000, when he reached the final of the Olympics and only narrowly lost over 5 sets to Yevgeny Kafelnikov. He hasn't been able to repeat his career best 1999 Australian Open semi final in a grand slam since. This year his best result was the fourth round at the US Open. But the 4 ATP titles he has won this year, particuarly last month when he won 2 of them including 1 Masters title, show he is in hot form. If Haas should make the 8th position in the Sydney World Championship event, he will be a serious threat to the top players.

Over his past 26 matches Haas has only lost 3. Overall for the year his record is 54-20 (as at November 3). With a grand slam semi-final and Olympic final to his name, Haas looks ready to take the next step up into the big time of men's tennis.