Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May 2002, his career was interrupted by injuries: Haas twice dropped out of the world rankings due to being unable to play for twelve months. His first period of injury saw him miss the whole of the 2003 season, and he did not return to the world's top 10 until 2007. He also missed over a year's tennis between February 2010 and June 2011, but afterwards returned to play on the tour. He returned to world No. 11 in 2013, after reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open for the first time in his career. Haas reached the semifinals of the Australian Open three times, and in Wimbledon once. He reached the quarterfinal stage of each of the Grand Slam events. He won 15 career titles in singles, including one Masters tournament (Stuttgart) in 2001, and has a silver medal from the 2000 Summer Olympics. Early life Born in Hamburg, Germany to Brigitte and Peter Haas, Tommy started playing his own version of tennis when he was four years old, using a wooden plank to hit balls against the wall or into his father's hands. When his father observed his talents, he started bringing Haas to work, as he was a tennis coach. At five, Haas won his first youth tournament, in Hamburg. At eight, he won his second, in Munich. Between 11 and 13, Haas twice won the Austrian Championship, the German Championship, and the European Championship. Haas's talents were noted by tennis guru Nick Bollettieri. He was so impressed by the young German's talent that he offered Haas the chance to stay and train at his Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Florida, for free, and Haas began attending at age 11. At 13, speaking little English, Haas moved full-time to Florida to train at the academy. Tennis career Juniors As a junior Haas reached as high as No. 11 in the junior world singles rankings in 1995 (and No. 5 in doubles). 1996–2000: World Team Cup champion, first title, Grand Slam Cup final, Olympic Silver In 1996, Haas became a professional tennis player. He played his first Grand Slam tournament at the US Open,