Last Time...Tommy Haas

Life is good for Tommy Haas. A genuine sporting celebrity - he is friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger and is dating actress Sara Foster - the German former World No. 2 lives on a big stage both on and off the court. But things don't always go his way. Below, Tommy discusses the last time...

I hired a tennis court?
Before Wimbledon I was at a rehab center in Donaustauf, Germany, where the German Davis Cup therapist Klaus Eder has his clinic. Alexander Waske and I were both injured and we decided to hit indoors. We had to buy balls, which in itself is unusual for the players, and then after hitting for 30 minutes we had to pay 18 Euros for the court. The folks took a lot of pictures with us so we were both kind of surprised, but we were happy to pay.

I had a really unusual fan request?
A guy asked me to sign a 500 Euro note. I didn't know they even existed. I was shocked and asked him it it was a fake. But apparently there are 500 Euro notes.

I didn't get my Starbucks coffee when I wanted it badly?
Two nights ago. We'd come back to the hotel [in Paris] from dinner and we'd just missed the 9.30 closing time. I was pretty upset!

I attended a Hollywood party with my girlfriend [actress] Sara Foster?
We don't like the party life too much. I think the last party we went to was thrown by Kate Hudson in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. Kate is one of Sara's best friends and in July the three of us went to a night match at the Los Angeles tournament. I was injured at the time so I was out visiting Sara in LA. We wanted to introduce Kate to tennis, so we took her along.

I met up with Arnold Schwarzenegger?
I spend more time with his nephew, Patrick, who is a lawyer in Los Angeles. He keeps me up to date with what Arnold is doing.

I refused to sign something?
It happened recently in Stockholm. Every time I came out of the hotel the same person was there and she had the same pictures to sign. She had about four or five a day and after a few days I knew she was doing something else with the pictures. It was an awkward moment but enough was enough.

I was told I looked like Tommy Haas?
Sometimes people don't recognize you right away but if you're at a gas station and you use your credit card to pay, the cashier might say, "I thought it may be you but I wasn't sure."

I do have a funny story. I was at Nikki Beach in Miami with two friends. The waitress came over and said she was a tennis fan. She asked if Tommy Haas was playing in the tournament.
"He plays tomorrow," I said.
She said: "If he wins he plays one of my friends, Mardy Fish."
"Yeah, I have seen the draw," I said.
My friends kept asking her what she thought of Tommy Haas. "He's nice but he gets mad on the court," she said. After 10 minutes I told her that I was Tommy. She said: "I know who Tommy is and he's not you." In the end I had to take out my driver's licence.

I played a competitive sport other than tennis?
I play some basketball with friends back in Florida. It's not always three on three as that can be a little dangerous, but we'll do some shootouts to 21. I play with Xavier Malisse, Alex Bose and Taylor Dent before he had his surgery.

I visited a country for the first time for a holiday?
I can't remember the last time I went for a holiday. But I do plan to go to the Caribbean later this year.

I had a bad hotel experience?
In Montreal this year James Blake and I checked into the hotel around 2.30 in the morning after a plane delay. As normal we had lots of bags but at that time there was no-one to help us. So we grabbed our own trolley and headed to the elevator - but that wasn't working! So we stumbled our way up the stairwell - luckily I was on the first floor. But it was still a disaster. I checked out the next day.

I broke a string in a match?
I rarely break strings in a match because I switch racquets a lot. It would be more than a year since it's happened. Normally if a string breaks it's at 3 in the morning and it scares the hell out of me. I string my racquets tight so they can break by themselves in my racquet bag. It's loud enough to wake me up, which is annoying, so I usually try to put the bag in a corner of the room.

I polished my Olympic silver medal?
The medal is in a safe place in Munich with my parents in their safe. They take it out every once in a while and give it a polish.