© Mike Baz
I knew I was going to see Andy Roddick across the other side of the net in the final today, but I didn't realize we'd run into each other so early in the day. When I got to the Blue Plate Cafe for breakfast there was a wait of about 20-25 minutes and Andy was already two places ahead of me in the line. I would have been ahead of him had it not been for my girlfriend. Just kidding :)

It was really busy in there today as people were having breakfast either on their way to church or on their way back from church. So that made us both rush a little bit. We just said 'good morning.' That was pretty much it. He was waiting in a different corner to me. If I had been alone we may have chatted more but I was there with my girlfriend.

Obviously I was very happy to win the title today and with the way I played. It's the first time I've defended a title and the first time I've won a title without facing a break point. It's been a phenomenal week and I've played some great tennis.

You want to enjoy it and not be in a rush but I have a 5.30 flight to JFK (the only way I could make it on time was to go by private plane) and then I have a 13-hour flight to Dubai. It would be nice to stay here the night and celebrate but unfortunately I don't have that luxury. I was glad to see my girlfriend Sara here over the weekend. She's going to drive up to Nashville later today to see her other sister.

In Dubai I look forward to meeting up with my sister and her nine-month-old daughter I don't get to see very often, and seeing my coach Thomas Hogstedt. Rushing to a tournament like this isn't the ideal preparation but what can you do? The time change will be pretty brutal. But I've never been to Dubai before so I'm looking forward to that. I've heard a lot of good things about it.

Thanks for reading the blog this week. I'm glad I could keep up the good winning record of bloggers!

Tommy

Official Memphis Web Site

© ATP
It was an early wake-up call this morning to prepare for an 11 a.m. semifinal against Mardy Fish. Tom and I arrived at Blue Plate a little before eight and there wasn't a lot of conversation over breakfast - it was all we could do just to keep our eyes open. I actually had a chat to the tournament director to discuss the early start and he said that next year the semis would start a bit later.

I was very pleased to get another win today and reach the final here in Memphis for the third time. My girlfriend and her younger sister flew in from Los Angeles today. It's just a quick visit because straight after the final tomorrow I've got to get on a private jet to make it to JFK in time to catch an 11 p.m. Emirates flight direct to Dubai. When I get to Dubai I'll hook up again with my coach Thomas Hogstedt, who is already there spending time with his family. He's been text messaging me every day giving me a few pointers and thoughts on my opponents.

I want you to meet one of the many volunteers who may the tournament tick. This is Jerry (pictured above), a phenomenally nice guy who is always in good spirits and someone you can always rely on. He always looks out for me and my friends when we're in town and he's got up at 4 or 5 o'clock many times to take me back to the airport. One year I remember giving Jerry a call saying my parents were coming into town along with my dad's parents and asked him if he'd pick them up and show them around. He took such good care of them over a couple of days, taking them to Graceland and driving them around Memphis.

I didn't give him much notice. Jerry tells the story that I called him up at work at 10.30 a.m. and asked him to pick up my parents from the airport around 4 the same day. It was a last-minute decision of my parents to go, and then it clicked that I had a friend there who could maybe show them around. Jerry dropped everything he had on and showed them a great couple of days. They went to Graceland, to Blue Plate Cafe, so they got a little feel of what it's like during the tournament week.

Right now My dad is in Florida and I thought about bringing him here this week but he's more interested in getting a suntan and enjoying the beach.

I want to say hi to Glenn Weiner through the blog and wish him all the best for what may be the start of a promising coaching career. He hasn't decided to stop playing but he's had some injury problems with his left wrist since the US Open and the last two or three weeks he's started teaching a bit at the Bollettieri Academy and he has the chance to travel with one of the young rising players, Philip Bester, of Canada. He left a message on my phone Friday saying that he's arrived in Texas - there is a Future there somewhere - and all the players were asking him how he was doing and if he was playing.

Wish me good luck for the final,

Tommy

Official Memphis Web Site

© ATP
I finally managed to get a photo away from the site to show you. Here I am enjoying a latte at Starbucks, which is just up the road from the club and also the tournament hotel. On an earlier visit to Starbucks today (I've lost count how many times I've been there this week!) Tom and I got into an interesting conversation with a group of girls, who were probably around 17 or 18.

One of the girls pulls out this love letter and starts reading to her friends and we overheard some of the lines. We asked them kindly to pass the note over to us and it was a phenomenal letter written by a young guy obviously trying to win the heart of this girl. I remember some of the lines:

I will protect you like a wolf
I will ward off your enemies
God shall be on my side

He was telling her everything he liked to do, his favorite movies, music. It was cute in a way. He is trying to win her but it looks like a tough task, even though deep down inside I think the girl liked the attention. In front of her friends she probably felt like the 'it' girl.

I'm not sure if they recognized me. They asked us what we were doing and we said that we were just spectators at the tennis. Whenever Tom and I sit down we seem to strike up a conversation with people. Tom's not shy! He'll always open the door... it's just a matter of how it shuts on us.

There is a railway crossing just a few steps outside Starbucks. Tom likes to get right down by the boom gate and feel the ground shake as the train roars past. He had me waiting outside in the cold for this train. I was imagining the headlines in the newspaper: "Haas withdraws from semifinals after catching cold waiting for train." In the lead-up Tom get's so excited. "The light has turned from green to red, that means the train is on it's way," he said. Then he's down there touching the track, putting his hear to it. In this day and age that sort of stuff will get you arrested.

So the train finally roars past but he was a little disappointed because the cars were empty and the ground didn't shake like it did the other day when they were full with coal. He takes trains seriously. I think Polar Express is one of his favorite movies.

Anyway, down to business. I promised to answer some of your emails, so here we go...

Tommy, you have been in the U.S. a long time and seem to like it here. Have you ever considered becoming a U.S. citizen?
SPW-Raleigh
I have thought about it but while I am still playing I want to play Davis Cup for Germany. I've been here a long time and probably will spend most of my time in the States when I'm done with tennis. It also depends on who I settle down with.

Wow! You lead a pretty exciting life. Almost ran out of gas! Had to slide into the passenger side to get in the Mercedes! Actually though it made me feel better that I'm not missing anything glamorous. Sounds just like one of my days. Also I wanted to mention that diet of yours. Have you had your cholesterol checked lately? Steak? Pancakes and eggs?
Another Tommy
I haven't had a check lately but to my knowledge I'm doing fine. I have a blood test in Germany every once in a while to make sure everything is in line, and so far so good.

Who's the biggest ladies man of the ATP tour? Dmitry Tursunov and Vince Spadea claim they are but you've done quite well
David
Marat Safin would definitely be on top of the list. Feliciano Lopez would be up there. A guy like Mark Philippoussis, although he's not playing that much anymore. Those guys seem to be having quite a lot of fun.

What do you think you would be doing if you had never played tennis?
Michael Jonckheere
Tough to answer as all along I've always wanted to be a tennis professional. When I was young I thought being a pilot would be cool. My dad always wanted me to be good at judo because that was a sport he did for a long time, but I never saw myself doing that. Right now I'm living my dream. Maybe after tennis I will find something that interests me.

Where is your favorite place to plays, besides Germany. Like what is your favorite tournament? Might it be the Australian Open since you've made the semis three times?
Justin
The Australian Open is one of my favorites and I like the tournaments in the States because everything around is familiar to me. There are so many good ones. There aren't really any that I don't like.

I play my semifinal tomorrow against Mardy Fish at 11 a.m. Hopefully I'll have some good news to report in my next post.

Tommy

Official Memphis Web Site

© ATP
I hear there was some talk in the press room today about the first serve streak I had going. After winning all 20 points on my first serve in the first match against Vince Spadea I won the first 17 points on my first serve today against Amer Delic. While I was aware I went 20 for 20 against Spadea it really wasn't on my mind today in the first set. I was conscious that I seemed to be winning the point when the first serve went in but it wasn't till after the match that I was told the streak got up to 37 that I was fully aware of it. I'm sure that's not going to happen again anytime soon.

Today's match against Delic was unusual for another reason: neither of us faced a break point during the match. I can't remember the last time that happened. I remember losing to Wayne Arthurs in three tie-breaks at Wimbledon in '99, but he saved one break point and I saved a few.

Tom today was keeping track of how many times I changed the radio between the hotel, Blue Plate Cafe and Starbucks, which at most is 1000 yards away. He told me it was 38 times. He gets quite annoyed we don't listen to his choice but I'm in the driver's seat so he has to sit there and take it. I keep changing until I find something that smoothes my mind.

I was thinking earlier in the day that some items were missing from my laundry bag when it came back. It seemed like I'd only gotten about half of it back and Tom didn't think he'd got his all back either. There's some Calvin Klein underwear I can't find and also some match shirts may not have made it back. I've been on the road a long time and I've probably only got five or six shirts left. I normally like to throw a shirt or wristband into the crowd at the end of a match to give something back to the fans for supporting me but I may have to start rationing that. Laundry Update: It looks like I have all my clothes (and underwear!) back :)

Benjamin Becker told me he saw my comments about his clothes in the blog and that he'll have a talk with Boris. But he said that he didn't remember me telling him I thought the clothes were ugly. "Well I'm telling you now that they're ugly," I said.

Tonight I'm going to watch some of Benny's match against Roddick. Apart from that it will be a quiet night ahead of tomorrow's match against Sam Querrey.

I'd like to hear from you. Please send me a question and I'll answer the most interesting ones here in my blog. (Editor's Note: Send emails with "Tommy Blog" in the subject field.)

Tommy

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