SEPPI BEATS TOMMY HAAS IN HALLE GRASS TENNIS EVENT IN GERMANY AT THE GERRY WEBER OPEN

Written by: Staff on 16th June 2015

SEPPI BEATS TOMMY HAAS IN HALLE GRASS TENNIS EVENT IN GERMANY AT THE GERRY WEBER OPEN

Andreas Seppi of Italy in action against Tommy Haas of Germany duirng their first round match at the ATP tennis tournament in Halle, Germany, 16 June 2015. EPA/Maja Hitij |

Summoning Magic

By Cheryl Jones

Tennis tournaments seem to schedule a variety of matches that are not to be missed for one reason or another. As always, everyone has favorites. Sometimes the reasons are hard to pinpoint and sometimes they are obvious. In days gone by, I enjoyed checking out Frenchman, Fabrice Santoro. He may or not be a tennis name that many others are familiar with, but he had a way of handling the ball that was pure magic. (In fact Pete Sampras gave him the nickname – “The Magician”.)

Santoro retired in 2009, and he returned for a match at the 2010 Australian Open to obtain a record for a match played in four different decades. He’s 42 now, and is coaching Ukrainian, Sergiy Stakhovsky. Up until John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010 in a three-day (eleven hours and five minute) marathon, he held the record for the longest singles match in the Open Era when he defeated compatriot, Arnaud Clement in a 6 hour 33 minute match at Roland Garros in 2004. He had a vast array of trick shots that were more than a between the legs shot to thrill the audience. He was a clown without a circus – merely a tennis court. He played with two hands on both sides and often broke that practice by reaching out with left hand forehand to snag a ball that was unreachable with both hands wrapped around the handle of the racquet. Another huge claim to fame was his record against Russian, Marat Safin.

Safin, was a big guy – 6’4” tall in a slouch. He towered over Santoro who says he was 5’ 10”, but that only seemed right if he was standing on his tippy toes. For some reason or other, the magic that the French wizard possessed worked well when he faced the Russian, and the 7-2 final tally proved that often there can be magic in the air. Safin once said that being told he would play Santoro, it was as if he knew “I was to die”.

At the Gerry Weber Open, a crowd favorite (and mine, too actually) has been Hamburg born Tommy Haas. He has been a fixture on the tour since 1996. He soon showed his prowess on the courts by becoming Number One in the world in 2002. Unfortunately an injury kept him off the courts during the entirety of 2003. He didn’t return to the top ten until 2007. Then in 2010 another injury kept him in the tennis doldrums for over a year. Haas seems to have the antithesis of magic following him through his lengthy career.

He is thirty-seven now and was the oldest man in contention at the GWO. He was defeated by Italian, Andreas Seppi, 7-5, 6-2 in an hour and twenty-six minutes. After the match, Haas spoke about his game after the latest injury had sidelined him following shoulder surgery. He said, “It is a great feeling to be back on the centre court again. The first set was quite important.” (Well, it would seem so, as it took a bit of time to actually come up with a remedy to Seppi’s superior play. His serve was broken, but he managed to turn the tables. It just wasn’t enough to overcome his erratic second serve that managed to allow winners less than half the time.) He said what a few other players in Halle this year have said. The ball is staying low. The ball’s bounce has been affected by the moisture that clings to the grass when the day remains overcast as it has all day today. “I made a few too many errors.”

Yes, that is the truth, but one has to give him credit for getting back on the courts after literally years of pulling his rankings out of the doldrums. Now his ranking is 849 and he has a lot of work to do. Perhaps he should give “The Magician” a call and see if some of that magic can rub off on him.

Andreas Seppi of Italy in action against Tommy Haas of Germany duirng their first round match at the ATP tennis tournament in Halle, Germany, 16 June 2015. EPA/Maja Hitij

Topics: Andreas Seppi, Atp World Tour, Gerry Weber Open, Grass tennis, Halle, Sports, Tennis News, Tommy Haas

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10sBalls_com says:

June 16, 2015 at 2:03 pm

-@AndreasSeppi BEATS @TommyHaas13 IN #HALLE GRASS #TENNIS EVENT IN #GERMANY AT THE #GerryWeberOpen- http://t.co/Tz0QkvTB6a #ATPHalle