ATP Tennis - Haas Wins the Gerry Weber Open after Beating Djokovic

The 31-year-old German, Tommy Haas, ranked 41, won his first ATP title in more than two years, since his last title was in Memphis on February, 2007. The local player beat the Serbian Novak Djokovic in the final of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany this past Sunday, with a score of 6-3, 6-7(4-7), 6-1.

Haas played consistently in the game and was able to get this victory, putting his shoulder injuries in the past. The German struggled for several years with shoulder injuries which led to his decline in the ATP rankings, after being world No.2 in 2002. Now with this title – his first in grass – and with Wimbledon just around the corner, the German is hoping to do well in the upcoming Grand Slam.

During this final at Halle, Haas started consistently winning the first set in 30 minutes, although the Serbian held his serve throughout the second to take the set into a tie-break and later took advantage of the three double-faults of Haas to equalize the match to one set apiece.

In the third set, the German broke again and took an early lead of 2-0. However, Djokovic battled back to embrace three break points in the third game, but then again the German managed to hold his serve. Nole managed to win his next service game, but Haas was merciless during the following three games,   closing the set with a convincing 6-1 and achieving his first title of the season.

Before getting into the final, in the semifinals Haas had to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber, trailing after losing the first set, whereas Djokovic defeated Olivier Rochus in straight sets. For the final the story changed for the German who, learning from his mistakes, was able take the lead since the beginning and win the first set comfortably. On the other hand, Djokovic, who also struggled with his game in the semifinals despite not dropping a set, continued having problems in the final, mostly with his serve and giving too many opportunities to Haas.

At the end of the game, Haas expressed his satisfaction for his performance and was really happy of putting his injuries aside. "It's a great accomplishment for me. It's such a great feeling to hold a trophy again. It makes all the setbacks go away. It's incredible, I can hardly believe it myself when I think of the highs and lows I've been through in the last year and a half. It's been a dream week," said the World No. 41, who after this win, also improved six positions in the ATP rankings, moving to No. 35 after Monday June 15th.

On the other hand, Djokovic stated he didn’t play well at all and he was lucky to win the second set since he was struggling with his serve and his returning wasn’t good either, but expressed it was great for him to get to the final and we will try to learn from his mistakes to prepare for Wimbledon.

With this title, the veteran Tommy Haas is adding his 12th title of his career and has accomplished as well winning in all surfaces. We hope this renewed confidence will help him to have a good performance at Wimbledon, which starts next week.