Haas savaged by German press, Kiefer praised

Ossian Shine

Tommy Haas was savaged by the German press on Thursday after squandering nine match points in his second-round defeat by Hicham Arazi at the Hamburg Masters.

The often erratic Nicolas Kiefer, in contrast, was praised like a prodigal son after beating Todd Martin to reach the last 16.

"Tommy the tennis idiot," was how Bild reacted to Haas's 2-6 7-6 7-5 loss. "It was an incredible debacle, to lose nine match points NINE!" it continued.

The paper's incredulity was matched by Guenther Bosch, the former coach of Boris Becker.

"That is real art, a real skill to miss nine match points," Bosch said. "He made some major tactical errors."

Haas was jeered off Hamburg's Centre Court by a disappointed crowd, and the 23-year-old Olympic silver medallist was at a loss to explain what went wrong.

"I think I played good tennis all the match," the 23-year-old said. "I just didn't win the big points."

The capitulation revived memories of Michael Stich's defeat by Andrei Chesnokov in the 1995 Davis Cup semifinal against Russia, when the German missed nine match points.

"Stich was watching, perhaps that had something to do with it," Haas said, hoping to lighten the atmosphere. "These things happen in life."

The crowd reaction was particularly poignant given Haas's affection for the event in his home city.

"I like this tournament a lot and would have liked to be in the third round but now it is over," the world number 21 said.

"I think I wanted to win this match too much. I have won matches in the past in which I played much worse than today," he added.

Haas admitted he had made tactical errors.

"I was hoping that he would make a mistake on one of my match points. Perhaps it would have been better to concentrate on getting my first serve in," he said.

It was not all bad news for German tennis, though, as Kiefer kept the nation's flag flying in the tournament.

"Bad boy undergoes a change of image," trumpeted Die Welt after Kiefer's 6-3 7-5 victory over Martin. "He used to make ridiculous mistakes but now he is becoming more focused, he concentrates more and it seems to drive him on."