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As you all probably know, Tommy Haas is attempting another comeback at the ripe age of 39 years old. He is one of only a few players born in the 70s still on tour, with a pro career stretching back to first Bill Clinton administration (1996)!
To put that in context, some of the top Hollywood movies from 1996 are Jerry Maguire, Independence Day (the first one), Twister, the English Patient, Fargo, Scream, Mission Impossible I, and Sling Blade. "Macarena" was the top pop song of the year. In news, Netanyahu became president of Israel, and Boris Yeltsin of Russia, and the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was arrested.
In sports, the New York Yankees won the World Series for the first time in almost 20 years, Pete Sampras was still in his prime, and Steff Graf was having her last truly dominant year. The Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl behind Troy Aikman, and the Chicago Bulls won the NBA championships behind Michael Jordan's comeback.
OK, all that aside, I wanted to look at Haas and his remaining peers - that is, players born in the late 70s. Here are the highest ranked players born in the 70s:
22. Ivo Karlovic (1979)
102. Radek Stepanek (1978)
150. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (1978)
455. Tommy Haas (1978)
There are a few others, but none in the top 500. Of interest, I was surprised to see that Younes El Aynaoui (born 1971!) has a single ATP point, due to the fact he played in a Futures in March - he actually won his first match, but then lost his second. He played in a Future last year, but before that his last match was 2010, when he played in Doha.
Now obviously Haas played all the guys of his generation, players born in the mid-to-late 70s like Corretja, Enqvist, Rios, Kuerten, Henman, etc. And of course he faced Sampras and Agassi. But I also wanted to offer a list of older players that he faced back in the 90s, to give a sense of just how long he's been around. Tommy Haas played Michael Stich, Petr Korda, Tomas Muster, Guy Forget, Magnus Gustafsson, and get this: Christian Ruud, Casper Ruud's father.
(That would be an interesting trivia question: how many players have faced both a father and son in a pro match? Haas hasn't faced Casper, as far as I know, but it might happen).
Actually, if you wanted to connect players back to older eras like "Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon," but instead maybe some number of degrees to Bill Tilden, which might be a fun topic in its own right, you could do worse than starting with Haas, then going to Forget (who went pro in 1982), and go from there....maybe another thread.
Anyhow, just fun to appreciate these last few holdouts. It is amazing how well Karlovic is still playing, considering he's 38. With his serve, I wouldn't be surprised if he hangs around into his 40s. And of course Radek Stepanek won't go away...but the difference between Karlovic/Stepanek and Haas is that whereas Ivo and Radek didn't reach the top 100 until 2002-03ish, Haas was in by 1997 and even reached the top 10 and won a title in the 1990s, at the end of 1999 (he finished that year at #11).
Anyhow, best of luck to Tommy this year. He's 2-5 so far, so the going is slow, but hopefully he can start picking up wins.
To put that in context, some of the top Hollywood movies from 1996 are Jerry Maguire, Independence Day (the first one), Twister, the English Patient, Fargo, Scream, Mission Impossible I, and Sling Blade. "Macarena" was the top pop song of the year. In news, Netanyahu became president of Israel, and Boris Yeltsin of Russia, and the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was arrested.
In sports, the New York Yankees won the World Series for the first time in almost 20 years, Pete Sampras was still in his prime, and Steff Graf was having her last truly dominant year. The Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl behind Troy Aikman, and the Chicago Bulls won the NBA championships behind Michael Jordan's comeback.
OK, all that aside, I wanted to look at Haas and his remaining peers - that is, players born in the late 70s. Here are the highest ranked players born in the 70s:
22. Ivo Karlovic (1979)
102. Radek Stepanek (1978)
150. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (1978)
455. Tommy Haas (1978)
There are a few others, but none in the top 500. Of interest, I was surprised to see that Younes El Aynaoui (born 1971!) has a single ATP point, due to the fact he played in a Futures in March - he actually won his first match, but then lost his second. He played in a Future last year, but before that his last match was 2010, when he played in Doha.
Now obviously Haas played all the guys of his generation, players born in the mid-to-late 70s like Corretja, Enqvist, Rios, Kuerten, Henman, etc. And of course he faced Sampras and Agassi. But I also wanted to offer a list of older players that he faced back in the 90s, to give a sense of just how long he's been around. Tommy Haas played Michael Stich, Petr Korda, Tomas Muster, Guy Forget, Magnus Gustafsson, and get this: Christian Ruud, Casper Ruud's father.
(That would be an interesting trivia question: how many players have faced both a father and son in a pro match? Haas hasn't faced Casper, as far as I know, but it might happen).
Actually, if you wanted to connect players back to older eras like "Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon," but instead maybe some number of degrees to Bill Tilden, which might be a fun topic in its own right, you could do worse than starting with Haas, then going to Forget (who went pro in 1982), and go from there....maybe another thread.
Anyhow, just fun to appreciate these last few holdouts. It is amazing how well Karlovic is still playing, considering he's 38. With his serve, I wouldn't be surprised if he hangs around into his 40s. And of course Radek Stepanek won't go away...but the difference between Karlovic/Stepanek and Haas is that whereas Ivo and Radek didn't reach the top 100 until 2002-03ish, Haas was in by 1997 and even reached the top 10 and won a title in the 1990s, at the end of 1999 (he finished that year at #11).
Anyhow, best of luck to Tommy this year. He's 2-5 so far, so the going is slow, but hopefully he can start picking up wins.
