As Haas exits, future steps in
Tiafoe, Opelka among promising young players on tap at River Oaks
Tommy Haas’ official farewell tour creates an interesting dynamic for the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, which starts Monday at River Oaks Country Club.
The man who won this tournament by upsetting the now-retired Andy Roddick 13 years ago in the final, when it was played at Westside Tennis Club, celebrated his 39th birthday last Monday. That makes him almost 20 years older than two other players in the 28-man draw — Frances Tiafoe and Reilly Opelka.
In fact, neither Tiafoe nor Opelka, the youngest players entered, have yet to turn 20. And, thanks to the luck of the draw, Haas will face Opelka, the 2015 Wimbledon junior champion, in the first round Monday or Tuesday. A historical footnote: Haas was preparing for his third-round match in the 1997 U.S. Open the day Opelka was born in St. Joseph, Minn.
Although Haas is technically ranked only 825th, he holds an injury-protected ranking sufficient to get him into main draws without qualifying. He reached No. 2 in the ATP rankings in 2002 before being derailed by an elbow injury. He is 0-3 this year, having lost first-round matches in the Australian Open, Delray Beach Open and Miami Open, but four of his eight sets have gone to tiebreakers. He played a different role at Indian Wells, serving as the tournament director.
At 6-2, Haas is nine inches shorter than the towering Opelka. Their age difference — 19.4 years — will be the greatest in an ATP match since Jimmy Connors played Michael Chang in the third round of the French Open in 1991.
Tiafoe, who lost in the first round here last spring as a wild-card entry, got in this year on the merits of his top-100 ATP World Tour ranking — he has climbed to 89th — while Opelka (169) received one of the three wild cards. Sock, Isner return
Based on their form as teenagers, both have bright futures and likely will be U.S. Davis Cup teammates at some point in the future. Speaking of same, four members of the U.S. Davis Cup squad playing against Australia this weekend also happen to be the first four singles seeds, which is fortuitous. In order, they are the Clay Court’s 2015 champion Jack Sock — twice a winner of the Tour this season, getting him to a careerhigh 15th ranking — 2013 champion John Isner, twotime runner-up Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson, who won two NCAA championships before turning pro.
They receive first-round byes, meaning their first matches can conveniently be pushed back to Thursday. It’s a long trip to Houston from Brisbane, Australia, with lots of jet lag involved, so the more rest they get, the better it figures to be for them and the city’s tennis fans, who already have helped sell out Monday’s single “Super Session.” The first of three matches starts at 3 p.m.
Tuesday through Friday the first matches will be at noon with a second ticketed session at 6 p.m. The singles semifinals will be played back to back starting at 1 p.m. Saturday with the doubles final following at 6 p.m. The single final is set for 2 p.m. Easter Sunday.
The fifth through eighth seeds, who don’t receive first-round byes, are 2014 champion Fernando Verdasco, fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, American Donald Young and Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci. Bellucci is one of seven players new to the tournament, which is being held at River Oaks for the 10th time.
Tournament tennis, of course, has been a tradition at the club since 1931, when Ellsworth Vines, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, claimed the inaugural title. Tough draw for champ
Isner (with nine appearances) and Querrey (seven) have made the most Clay Courts starts since the event moved from Orlando, Fla., to Houston. Defending champion Juan Monaco, who also won the 2012 title, is back for a seventh time, too, but is unseeded, having fallen to 72nd in the rankings because of a chronic wrist problem that may be close to ending his career. He got a difficult first-round pairing against the mercurial German, Dustin Brown.
Monaco, 33, and Isner, 31, are among the nine players over 30 in the draw. Hyeon Chung of South Korea and Americans Jared Donaldson and Ernesto Escobedo are all just 20 themselves. Chung faces the 36-year-old Dominican, Victor Estrella Burgos, in the first round.
There are 10 Americans in the singles draw. Five Americans have combined to win half of the 16 tournaments held in Houston.
Bob and Mike Bryan, the most successful doubles team in history, return as the top seeds and defending champions, having won the Clay Courts six times. They have 112 career titles but are seeking their first in 2017.
New to the River Oaks venue this spring are sitewide Wi-fi and an official “Autograph Alley” through which the players will pass when leaving the court for the locker room or postmatch interviews.