Haas Jumps Into Rehab
Vail, Colorado
by ATP Staff
| 03.03.2010
Tommy Haas has wasted little time jumping into rehab following right hip surgery last week. The German former World No. 2 spoke to ATPWorldTour.com Wednesday, just minutes before climbing onto a stationary bike for gentle exercise in a rehab clinic at Vail, Colorado, where he was operated on Friday by leading surgeon Dr. Marc J. Philippon. During the three-hour surgery the doctor found that Haas had a two inch labrum tear and cartilage damage, and removed a 2cm piece of floating bone, which the German has carried with him since birth.
Accompanied by his fiancée, Sara Foster, Haas will remain in Vail for four or five days before deciding to return to either Los Angles or Florida. He will be on crutches for three weeks and has set no date for his return to the ATP World Tour.
“I like it here with the snow, the blue sky, good restaurants and nice people,” Haas said. “I have a passion for skiing so it’s a little tough to be here watching everyone else. It’s not the way I wanted to check out the place. In the future it might be nice to come out here and hit the slopes.”
A veteran of three shoulder surgeries and two ankle surgeries, Haas is no stranger to rehab. Just one month shy of his 32nd birthday, Haas is determined to do what it takes to return as quickly as possible to the ATP World Tour, but admits that this time feels a little different.
“Any time you have surgery you worry a bit. The second time I had shoulder surgery and was out for 15 months I was only 25 years old, so I knew I was coming back for sure. This time it’s a different circumstance. I’m about to turn 32 and have never really experienced much with the hip in my career. I’ve had some weird sensations in my right hip that were going down to my knee and lower back. I lost strength in my right leg. I knew something was not right so I am happy to have found the best doctor in the field and get it fixed. It’s not the best time in my career to have the surgery but I had to get it done. When you’re injured and not playing at 100 percent, there is only so much you can achieve.”
Haas began 2009 at No. 84 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings but ended at No. 18 after an outstanding season. He reached the fourth round at
Roland Garros (where he led eventual champion
Roger Federer two sets to love), won his first grass court title on home soil in Halle and achieved a career-best semi-final showing at
Wimbledon. But all the while he silently wrestled with the hip injury, which he had battled since the Australian Open. Haas underwent MRIs in the middle of last year and again after the
US Open in search of answers.
“Anyone who saw me play wouldn’t have suspected there was anything wrong, but there was a lot wrong and it needed to be fixed. It started to bother me back at the beginning of last year, but when you have a good physio and you can put up with a little bit of pain you can play through it. I had some great results in 2009 at the French Open, Halle and
Wimbledon and got back into the Top 20, but it kept getting worse and worse.
“I just knew there was something in my hip that was not allowing strength to come back to my leg. I struggled with it long enough. I just needed to find the right place and the right doctor. When I return all depends on how the rehab goes. I’m not putting myself under any pressure by picking a return date.”
Haas, who boasts a 462-255 win-loss record since turning pro in 1996, won just three matches in four tournament appearances in the first two months of 2010. He played last week in Delray Beach, where he suffered a first-round loss to Russian
Teimuraz Gabashvili.
Haas promised to keep fans updated on his progress on his official web site,
tommy-haas.net
http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2010/03/9/Haas-Begins-Rehab.aspx
