Former world No. 2 Tommy Haas was one of the stars of the tour during the 2000s, being one of the most consistent players on tour. Since 2016, the German-American has been working as an Indian Wells Tournament Director and in an interview from 2024, Haas weighed in on the ‘greatest of all time’ debate.
“You can look at all of those top players, the top three recently, the top players from different eras. If you’re strictly going by statistics or records, then it’s hard to argue that [Novak Djokovic] is not,” he told Stadium Astro English.
“I don’t know how we are supposed to argue about that, if I like his game less than somebody else’s game, you know what I mean? The records speak for themselves. So if we are strictly saying you are the GOAT if you win the most Grand Slams, then, right now, he is the GOAT, yes,” he added.
Djokovic not only has the record of most Grand Slam titles with 24, the most of any player in the Open Era, but he also leads in other stats. He has the most Masters 1000 titles (40), and in ATP Finals (7). He also won an Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games, completing the career Golden Slam.
And, if that wasn’t enough, the Serbian star also has the better head-to-head record against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He beat Federer 27 times, while the Swiss beat him 23 times. Meanwhile, he defeated Nadal 31 times, while the Spaniard beat him in 29 matches.
Tommy Haas’ remarkable career
Haas had an accomplished career, winning 15 ATP Titles and Olympic silver medal during his 20-year career. However, he never reached Grand Slam glory. Actually, he never reached a major final, losing three Australian Open semi-finals (1999, 2002, and 2007) and a Wimbledon semi-final in 2009.
But he was a formidable opponent for some of the biggest names in the past 20 years, managing to beat Djokovic (3-6) and Federer (4-13). However, he could never win over Rafael Nadal in his five encounters against the Spaniard.