BERLIN: Germany’s Tommy Haas, a Wimbledon semi-finalist this year, is recovering from the H1N1 flu virus that forced him to pull out of last month’s Stockholm event.
“I did the test because I suspected I had swine flu. The test came out positive and naturally I was shocked,” the world number 17 told Bild newspaper yesterday.
Haas said the illness forced him to stay in his hotel room for three days with fever and chills.
“These were three very bad days. I did a test again today and I hope that by now the symptoms are out of my body so I can slowly start training again.”
Federer resurfaces by beating qualifier Rochus
BASEL: World number one Roger Federer, playing his first match for six weeks, beat qualifier Olivier Rochus in straight sets on Monday to open his defence of his Swiss Indoors ATP title.
Federer, who has not played since the Davis Cup world group play-off against Italy in September, won 6-3 6-4 against the world number 61 from Belgium.
One service break in each set was enough for Federer, who was playing in front of his home crowd at a tournament where he was once a ball boy and which he has won for the last three years running.
The Swiss, who suffered a stunning defeat to Juan Martin del Potro in the US Open final, has opted to rest since then, pulling out of two ATP tournaments.
Federer, who maintained a 100 percent record in seven meetings with Rochus, looked fresh although the Belgian held his own until he was broken in the sixth game.
“I was eager to come out and play again and it was a good match for me,” Federer told reporters. “It was nice to come back at a home tournament where I have so many memories. It was a nice start. I thought I served well at the key moments. He got the better of me off the baseline, but I tried to stay aggressive. The conditions here were quick, with the heat of the crowd, and I’ll have to get used to that.
“I always try to have an off-season within the season,” he added. “It’s not so easy to do because I like to play as much as possible but the joy is even greater when you come back off a break.”
Federer will face Italy’s Andreas Seppi in the next round due to be played tomorrow.
French Open could leave Roland Garros: Official
PARIS: The French tennis federation (FFT) is considering to move the French Open out from Roland Garros if its extension project does not get the green light within a year.
The project was agreed on earlier this year and an architect was appointed but the Paris City Council is now getting cold feet, FFT director general Gilbert Ysern said yesterday.
“It seems that the mayor’s entourage has become more hostile to our project -- which was not the case when we launched it,” Ysern told reporters. “Add to that the residents’ opposition and we are now forced to look for other options, including that of leaving the premises.”
Last May, tennis officials said a new centre court equipped with a retractable roof would be used at Roland Garros for the French Open by 2013 or 2014.
Of the four Grand Slam events, the Australian Open has two courts with a roof, while Wimbledon’s Centre Court unveiled its new translucent retractable roof this year. Paris City Council and the French government were set to invest 20m euros ($29.26m) each in the project which is estimated to cost 120m euros.
