Dubai: Losing in your home event is never easy — but when your loss inadvertently allows a friend to become the world’s oldest ever No. 1, it’s slightly easier to take.
That’s the feeling of 30-year-old Dutchman Robin Haase, who saw the bright side of his 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 defeat to Roger Federer in the quarter-finals at Rotterdam last week.
The victory allowed the Swiss, who recently won his record-extending 20th Grand Slam in Melbourne last month, to take another record as the world’s oldest No. 1 at the age of 36.
Federer went on to win the final in Rotterdam against Grigor Dimitrov, but it was the very act of just reaching the semis that enabled him to overtake Rafael Nadal in the rankings. It also lessened the need for Federer to play in the UAE this week, where the record seven-time Dubai winner is a key absentee.
“For sure you can look at the two things separately,” said Haase, ahead of this week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. “Obviously I was disappointed that I lost, but how disappointed can you be?
“I had been sick the whole week, was kind of a little injured, and you play Roger Federer.
“Somehow I managed to win the first set but then he showed once again why he’s the best and became No. 1 again, he was just too good. It was exciting that it was in my home country, so I had a lot of fans also cheering for me, not only for him, so it was a very good experience.
“If I had been 100 per cent I was probably not going to win, so considering all these things I think I can be proud to win the first set, giving it all my best, even though in the second and third set I was empty and just not good enough anymore.
“That was a little disappointing, not that I lost, but that I couldn’t keep up my game, but afterwards when he had the ceremony, of course I felt happy for him, he’s a really great guy, we practise a lot with each other and get along really well, so I yeah, I can be very happy for him.”
Asked how long Federer could stay at the top, Haase, who reached the semis in Dubai last year and has drawn Paolo Lorenzi in this year’s first round, replied: “He’s getting older, how many tournaments can he play and how are the other guys going to play?
“If Nadal is going to play as many tournaments as he can and stays fit, it’s going to be difficult for Roger to keep winning all the tournaments, because he just plays a few and kind of has to win them all to stay No. 1.
“But in the end he can and showed everyone he can, so why not continue with it? He just plays amazing tennis.”
Another man who’s enjoying a late bloom is Japan’s Yuichi Sugita, whose first ever victory in Antalya last year, saw him reach a career highest ranking of 36th at the age of 29.
“Tennis takes time and last year everything came together mentally and physically,” said the Dubai debutant, who will play Ilya Ivashka in the first round.
“I had 12 years on the Futures and Challengers Tour and last year was my first on the ATP so now everything’s new, including this tournament. Now I have to stay in the ATP, it will be difficult to stay at this level but I need to stay here.”
