Injury-cursed Haas happy to be back despite loss
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Former world No 2 Tommy Haas played his first match in 15 months on Monday and admitted that even having passed his 33rd birthday, he is not ready to quit.
The German, whose career has been plagued by a host of shoulder, hip and ankle injuries, was defeated by Turkey's Marsel Ilhan 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the French Open first round.
"All I try to do is to get it back to a place where I feel really comfortable for a few hours playing a match," said Haas, who recently became an American citizen.
Haas came agonizingly close to defeating Roger Federer here two years ago when he stormed to a two-set lead, and was four points from victory before the Swiss won in five.
A month later, he made the semifinals at Wimbledon.
"I felt like two years ago I still had a pretty good run, and just shortly after that I started having these problems with my hip and with my knee. So if I feel like I'm sort of fit, I can still play the game quite well," said Haas.
"At the end of the day, though, if your body doesn't allow you to, then you have to make a decision. And I'm just kind of right there where I'm not sure where the body will be."
Hip surgery in February last year followed by yet another shoulder operation in March forced Haas into his 15-month lay-off.
