[情報] Return Match: Haas, Gilbert, Chang To Make Comebacks At

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Return Match: Haas, Gilbert, Chang To Make Comebacks At Seibel Open


Photo By Art Seitz  By Richard Pagliaro
02/03/2004

Tommy Haas spent some of his time away from tennis getting his feet wet and now
 the former No. 2 is poised to plunge back into the competitive waters of tourn
ament tennis at next week's Siebel Open. The gifted German isn't the only forme
r top 10 player preparing for a comeback in San Jose, former Siebel champions M
ichael Chang and Bay Area ambassador Brad Gilbert are both committed to competi
ng in the event — against each other.

"We're very excited to have Tommy here," Siebel tournament director Bill Rapp t
old Tennis Week.com in an interview conducted from his cell phone this morning.
 "He's already made hotel reservations for himself and his coach, Red Ayme, and
 his plan is to kick off his ATP season right here in the Silicon Valley."

Defending tournament champion Andre Agassi, reigning U.S. Open champion Andy Ro
ddick, talented Thai Paradorn Srichaphan, Xavier Malisse and a cast of top Amer
ican competitors including James Blake, Taylor Dent, Mardy Fish, Robby Ginepri,
 Todd Martin, Jan-Michael Gambill, Vince Spadea and Brian Vahaly have all enter
ed the event staged at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.

A year ago, Agassi annihilated Italy's Davide Sanguinetti, 6-3, 6-1 to capture
his fifth career Bay Area championship. The 33-year-old Agassi is scheduled to
play his opening round match next Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Immediately after Aga
ssi's match, Haas makes his long-awaited return to tournament tennis.

The last time most fans saw Haas hit his trademark one-handed backhand it was a
gainst Mark Philippoussis in an soggy showdown that made a bigger splash than a
 water polo final as the pair played in a pool for a Pacific Life commercial.

Since then, Haas had hoped to return to tennis in Doha last month as preparatio
n for the Australian Open, but his surgically-repaired right shoulder was not y
et up to strength. Now, he's set his sights on making his season debut in San J
ose. It will be his first match since he fell to Roger Federer in a third-round
 match at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Halloween of 2002.

A two-time Australian Open semifinalist, the 25-year-old Haas played his last G
rand Slam match against 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras in the fourth
round of the 2002 Open. In what was one Sampras' toughest tests in his Open tit
le run, the former No. 1 prevailed with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 victory over Haas.


Haas played the rest of the indoor season in 2002 before undergoing surgery to
repair a torn right rotator cuff in December of 2002. Doctors initially told hi
m he faced six months of rehab, but Haas was sidelined for the entire 2003 seas
on and was forced to cancel his planned comeback in Qatar.

It has been a trying time for Haas, whose parents were injured in a serious mot
orcycle accident in Sarasota, Florida in June of 2002. Haas' father, Peter, is
a former schoolmate and lifelong friend of action star and current California g
overnor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The tournament extended an invitation to the Ter
minator to watch Haas' comeback, but a previous commitment will prevent him fro
m attending.

After witnessing the job noted Oakland Raiders fan and San Rafael resident Gilb
ert has done in helping Roddick rise to the top of tennis, it wouldn't be surpr
ising if many members of the Raider Nation nominated Gilbert as a write-in cand
idate for special teams coach for their floundering franchise, but the noted Me
tallica fan will be busy making the strings sing when he takes to the court to
take on Chang in a clash of former tournament champions scheduled for 7 p.m. Mo
nday night.

It is the marquee match of the tournament's USTA Member Monday Night, "Celebrat
ion of USA Davis Cup" and the pair will be playing for more than pride in the $
10,000 winner-take-all one-set match with the winner donating all proceeds to h
is favorite charity.

"It's going to be a fun night with two of the most popular players we've had he
re," Rapp said. "I think both Brad and Michael may be a little nervous because
neither one has played in a match like this for a while, but they're both looki
ng forward to it."

The evening will also feature a special ceremony to honor current U.S. Davis Cu
p team members Roddick, Fish and Ginepri, who will take the trip cross country
after completing the United States' opening-round tie against Austria at the Mo
hegan Sun on Sunday and arrive in San Jose for the Monday night celebration.

For Siebel Open ticket information, please phone (408) ACE-2121 or visit the Si
ebel Open web site. If you can't make the trip to the Bay Area, you can probabl
y catch the tournament on television as the Siebel Open offers its most compreh
ensive television coverage in tournament history this year.

"This is by far the best television coverage we've had," Rapp said. "The intern
ational coverage is really impressive. I've been told everything stops in Thail
and when Paradorn plays so we're glad fans in his country can watch him play he
re."

The Tennis Channel will begin its coverage on Wednesday, February 11 at 3:30 p.
m. Pacific time during the day session and will continue through the entire eve
ning session live. On Thursday, The Tennis Channel will begin broadcasting at 2
 p.m. during the day session and continue through the entire evening session. O
n Friday, February 13th, The Tennis Channel will broadcast all day and evening
session matches live. On Saturday, February 14th, Fox Sports Net (FSN) will bro
adcast the 2 p.m. singles semifinal live and FSN will televise the 7 p.m. singl
es semifinal at 9 p.m. on two-hour tape-delay. The Tennis Channel will broadcas
t the 2 p.m. doubles semifinal live on Saturday. Sunday's singles final will be
 broadcast live at 1 p.m. by FSN and immediately following it, The Tennis Chann
el will televise the doubles final live


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