HALLE (Germany), June 8: Germany’s former world No 2 Tommy Haas is hoping the grass surface of Halle’s ATP tournament, which starts here on Monday, will help his return to form having sat out the clay-court season.

The 30-year-old took three months off earlier this year and missed last week’s Roland Garros to help him recover from a persistent shoulder injury.

Now he is hoping to launch his season at Halle, western Germany, where he has twice reached the semi-finals.Both world No 1 Roger Federer and defending champion Tomas Berdych are amongst the names scheduled to appear here.

“Before anybody asks: my shoulder is fine at the moment, but it is very unpredictable how things will develop,” Haas, who is currently ranked 37th in the world, told a press conference here.

“The clay-court season is usually harder to play for me because the balls bounce very high and I have to hit them back higher than my shoulder.—AFP