What a great way to start an exciting next couple months of tennis - seeing two much deserving men win build-up clay tournaments just as one of the big ones, Madrid, is getting started.
Last year at this time Tommy Haas was ranked over 100 points below his current ranking. Creeping into his mid 30s, who would have blamed anyone at that point in wondering if it was worth the effort to try to climb his way back to the top of the game. What an amazing run Tommy has put together this year. Previously with 13 titles, in the year 2013 he has now reached #13 in the rankings. But hopefully he's not too attached to that #13 (which is even in his twitter name, @TommyHaas13) because he now has 14 titles after a tremendous week in Munich, beating fellow German Philip Kohlschreiber. Now 35, he continues to amaze. I don't think anyone in their right mind has any right to ask any tennis player in their 30s when they plan to retire!
And what about Stan Wawrinka? After some incredible play already this year, taking Novak Djokovic to the brink in Australia, he finally has his hands on a trophy again, after not having won one since 2011. This will be confidence boosting for the often overlooked Swiss player, beating #4 ranked David Ferrer who is a great clay court player. Maybe this will be enough to help him get some of those really big wins that often seem to elude him.
The first round has already begun in Madrid with some of the big name women already being knocked out (Caroline Wozniacki and Li Na). What does the rest of the week hold, and more importantly, who will be holding the trophies come Sunday?
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