Tommy is back 100%

[Vlad]

With a win today against Agassi, I think that Tommy is back close to be 100%. All he needs is more wins like this for his confidence to soar. It is great for tennis that the player of Haas caliber is playing well again. He has a smooth and beatiful game and reminds me of Federer. I hope he can build on his win today.

[Max G.]

Originally Posted by Vlad

With a win today against Agassi, I think that Tommy is back close to be 100%. All he needs is more wins like this for his confidence to soar. It is great for tennis that the player of Haas caliber is playing well again. He has a smooth and beatiful game and reminds me of Federer. I hope he can build on his win today.

Don't be too sure.

What defines "being back 100%" isn't the occasional week of great play; it's being to play at that level CONSISTENTLY. He had a great week back in Houston, at the very beginning of the claycourt season, beating Andy Roddick - and then disappeared off of the radar again. It's possible that the same will happen here - he'll have a good tournament, and then go back to losing in the early rounds. It's also possible that he IS back, and he'll keep winning matches in the TMSs and the USOpen; but it's too early to say that.

[Ballmachine]

I think that right now, the most encouraging thing for Tommy Hass, and his fans, is that he appears to be playing pain free. Tommy appears to be serving well again, and he seems to be able to go for the flat bomb and the kicker. If he can continue to play without pain, and he is able to go for his shots, especially his serve, it is only a matter of time before he cracks back into the top 10.

Before his injury in 2002, I believe that Tommy was on the brink of grandslam greatness. Personally, I am very happy to see Tommy back on the tour. He is a part of a select group of players that can compete with Roger at the top of the game. Tommy can hit every shot in the game, and his backhand is a work of art. I think Tommy will take out Kiefer today and earn is second title of the season.

[Drizzt]

What racquet does he use? I know TW says its a Dunlop 200g but this doesn't look like a 200g?

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/photo?sl...18&prov=ap

[gmlasam]

Originally Posted by Drizzt

What racquet does he use? I know TW says its a Dunlop 200g but this doesn't look like a 200g?

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/photo?sl...18&prov=ap

He uses the old discontinued 200G MW.

[Aonex]

If and when Tommy gets back to full strength, does he have the ability to challenge Fed and Andy for the top spot? Haven't seen much of him play. Got to see him beat Andy in Houston and he looked pretty good. Then, started losing early again... although I think that's partly due to the tough draws he's been getting.

[16]

His game looks close to being back but his serve and consistancy aren't quite there yet imo. (hope he can get back in the top 10)

[Matt H.]

Originally Posted by Aonex

If and when Tommy gets back to full strength, does he have the ability to challenge Fed and Andy for the top spot? Haven't seen much of him play. Got to see him beat Andy in Houston and he looked pretty good. Then, started losing early again... although I think that's partly due to the tough draws he's been getting.

His record against Roddick is 4-0. His record against Federer is 2-2.....with the last loss to Fed coming as his last match of '02 before shoulder surgery.

He matches up very well against both of them. He's almost like Federer....a little less "artistic" but a bit more powerful than Fed.

[VamosRafa]

But he withdrew from Indy because of the hip injury he sustained in the Agassi match.

So whether he's back 100% remains to be seen.

[Matt H.]

i didn't think Hass was playing the RCA to begin with?


Also, i just thought this was interesting...Haas was serving in the mid/upper 120's again on his serve. He's using that old MW 200g with gut strung around 75 lbs. I wonder how fast Roddick would be able to serve with that racquet, seeing as how the MW is one of the more underpowered racquets?

[VamosRafa]

Maybe this article is wrong, but I kind of doubt it. From the Indy Star:

Another ailing hip struck the RCA Championships field again today.

Unseeded Tommy Haas, who beat fellow German Nicolas Kiefer in the Los Angeles tournament on Sunday, became the third prominent player to withdraw with a hip problem. Gustavo Kuerten, the 2000 RCA champion, withdrew before Friday's draw. Andre Agassi, who lost to Haas in a three-setter on Friday, pulled out on Sunday.

Haas said he suffered a slight hamstring pull, which began to affect his hip.

"I first felt it against Andre because it was a 2 1/2-hour match and Andre makes you run for a lot of balls," said Haas, from his home in Florida. "I did want to risk having it become worse and affecting the rest of the summer."

Haas said he would begin to rehab it later this afternoon. He said he is hopeful of returning to action in the Tennis Masters Series at Toronto next week.

"It's sad for me to miss Indianapolis," he said. "It's always been a great tourney for me. I got to the quarterfinals there as a wild card when I was 18. That jump-started my career. So I wanted to be there. I'll be there next year for sure."

Haas missed all of last year with a shoulder injury.

Haas was scheduled to play Wayne Arthurs Tuesday.

Ascione wins

In the first main draw match today, Thierry Ascione topped Jeff Salzenstein 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).

"I was a little stiff because it was a long time on hardcourts," Ascione said. "But I served it very well, that's I why I win this match."

Lapentti out

Also withdrawing today was 1999 RCA champion Nicolas Lapentti, who got a viral infection while playing in a Davis Cup match in his native Ecuador.

Jan Hernych and Julien Jeanpierre, two of the higher ranked qualifiers who lost, replaced Lapentti and Haas in the field.

Final 3 qualify

Noam Okun, Rik De Voest and Todd Reid grabbed the final three qualifying spots with victories today.

Okun topped Alex Kuznetsov, a 17-year-old from Richboro, Pa., 7-6 (7-4/, 6-3. Kuznetsov, a wild card who was playing in his first ATP Tour qualifying tourney, had won his opening match on Saturday. Write your story here.

[larrhall]

Is there not a WTA player called Kuznetzova?

It would be interesting to see how fast Haas and some other players could serve with the Pure Drive. Then again, a true comparison would be to figure out how fast Wayne Arthurs served pre and post-PD. I doubt he added more than about 4-5 mph.

[VamosRafa]

I have to say that if the thread below had been titled best lefty server, past or present, I'd be inclined to say Wayne Arthurs. He does have an unbelievable serve. It is so effortless, yet effective.

I'm just asking this question: Do players who serve left-handed watch videos of his serve and try to emulate it?

Susan

[larrhall]

Susan, the mysteries of the lefty serve are part-mystery, part physics. For reasons not readily explained, lefty pros seem to serve with looser wrists than some powerful right-handed servers. To put it another way, they (Wayne, Goran, Greg) seem slightly more fluid than the right-handers, with the exception of the serving geniuses such as Gonzales, Sampras, etc. (Stan Smith, John Newcombe).

You can see this same thing in baseball. Lefthanded pitchers are generally more fluid. Maybe they are a bit thinner than righthanders.

More likely, the confidence gained by fooling the returner (or batter) just relaxes the arm.

Another key point is that the lefty slice, delivered with even average speed, is pretty devastating to right-handers. Why? It runs away from their backhands, both in the Deuce and Ad courts. Nothing makes a tennis player tense more than shots that pressure the backhand, especially those that require the player to MOVE and hit a backhand. Combine that with 125, 130, 135 mph and more, and it's pure hell for the returner.

As for Wayne specifically, he's very good at tossing low and out in front. He has a fairly modest knee bend, as I recall, and an incredibly loose arm. So he, like Goran (Rusedski less so) benefits from past success, the slice advantage, and the 'quick serve' effect - little time for the opponent to react.

Rusedski's serve is different than the other two in that he's got more knee bend and torso-back bend, and maybe a slightly higher toss. But again he snaps his wrist very very well.