“I am pain-free and fully motivated,” says Austria’s number 1 in women’s tennis, Barbara Haas, who has to walk a similarly rocky road back as Dominic Thiem. At the latest at the French Open in Paris (May 16 to June 5, 2022), the police student from Weyer wants to reappear on the big stage. To do this, she torments herself up to seven hours a day.
At the end of September, the 25-year-old had to undergo an arthroscopy on her right flapping arm in the Döbling private clinic. Haas has been standing for around three weeks, who on August 25th in the qualification of the US Open against compatriot Julia Grabher had her last match at the WTA Tour has denied (2: 6, 5: 7), back on the tennis court.
First, Haas felt her way with soft balls, and since December 14th she has been hitting the hard “felt balls” again – with great vigor and an old friend at her side. Long-term coach Jürgen Waber, who celebrated his fifties this year, and Haas form a team again after around ten months of radio silence.
After the frustrating appearance at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz in November 2020 (with a 6-0, 6-0 defeat against Veronika Kudermetova / Rus), the two parted ways after more than seven years. Haas was looking for a new challenge and found it in the current ÖTV sports director and former world number one Jürgen Melzer. In the interim.
The second chance
The interaction did not work as desired, Haas contacted Waber via SMS in September, and the “revival” was sealed at a meeting.
“A few days before she got in touch, I said to a friend that I was so sorry that I couldn’t make up for what I should have done differently at Babsi,” says Waber: “Now I know me, the story is not over yet. “
Haas was 20 in the main competition of the US Open and was number 140 in the world. “It was then measured by other standards and compared with others. It put itself under pressure, and so did I. Today I know that you need a certain calm in this tough business,” reports Waber. The approach is accordingly – step by step, without exorbitant expectations, but with a dash of ease.
Haas has obtained a so-called “Protected Ranking”, an official injured status that freezes her world ranking position – she is currently number 182. This means that she can compete in eight WTA tournaments and two Grand Slam events with a “protection bonus”. After that, the closed season is over.
Source: Nachrichten
