Haase opens up on his defeat which made Federer world No 1
dubai — Robin Haase, a semifinalist here in Dubai last year, was the only player to have won a set against Roger Federer in the Rotterdam indoor event last week.
Federer, of course, went on to win the tournament last week and become the oldest world number one in history.
The Swiss maestro only needed to reach the semifinals in Rotterdam to dethrone old rival Rafael Nadal from the top spot in ATP rankings.
And Haase gave Federer a huge scare in the quarterfinal, winning the first set 6-4. But Federer won the next two sets (6-1 6-1) in emphatic style to set another record in his glorious career.
Now Haase will forever remain in the record books as the man whose defeat propelled Federer to the top of the rankings.
“If you just look at the match,
considering all the things, i think i can be proud of the fact that i won the first set, giving my best.
Robin Haase
of course, I am disappointed that I lost. I was kind of little bit injured coming into that match and I had to play Roger Federer. You know, even if I was 100 per cent, I was probably not going to win,” Haase told us on Saturday.
“Considering all the things, I think I can be proud of the fact that I won the first set, giving my best. In the second and third sets, I was empty. I wasn’t good enough. That was a little bit disappointing. Not because I lost, but I couldn’t keep the same level in my game.
“But later when he had the ceremony after becoming the world number one, of course, I felt happy for him. He is a really great guy, we practice a lot with each other. We get along really well, so yeah I am very happy for him.”
However, the Dutch player said it would not be easy for Federer to remain number one for long.
“He is the number one, so he is the best. But yes he is getting older. So we have to see how many tournaments he can play, how the other guys are going to play and if Nadal is going to play as much tournaments as he can and if he stays fit, then it would be tough for Roger to keep winning all these tournaments,” Haase said.
“If Roger plays only a few tournaments then he has to win them to stay number one. But he showed everyone that he can do that and yeah he just played amazing tennis in Rotterdam.”
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com