Tommy Haas gets real: Picks the greatest server ever and shares what it was like facing tennis' biggest legends

Tommy Haas, the former world no. 2 and 15-time ATP Tour title winner, recently reflected on his illustrious tennis career and revealed some candid insights, such as who's the greatest server of all time and how hard was to step on court against Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.

Speaking on the Tennis Channel, the former German player and today's Indian Wells Tournament Director shared his thoughts in a fun and relaxed tennis talk:

"The greatest server of all time"

"I remember playing Pete [Sampras] when he was at his best. It was virtually impossible to break his serve, " Haas recalled. He emphasized Sampras' exceptional serving skills stating, "To me, he still goes down as the greatest server of all time, first and second serve."

Haas admired Sampras' unique style: "I absolutely loved his service motion, his placement, his speed. It was different because he also played serve and volley, so you could never really get much of a rhythm against him." According to Haas, Sampras had a knack for holding serve effortlessly and turning matches around with clutch shots: "You'd hold your serve pretty easily throughout the match, then it'd be like 4-4, 5-5, a couple of tight points and all of the sudden he'd keep that ball in play and hit that running forehand when he needed to."

Over the course of their careers, Haas and Sampras faced off eight times, with Haas winning three of those encounters. Their battles included memorable matches at the US Open, Canadian Open and Long Island.

"Andre just wanted to give me a beating"

Haas also reminisced about his early career rivalry with Andre Agassi. "I remember playing [Andre] Agassi, early on in my career in Scottsdale, maybe the first year I was on tour. He came out firing, he was in a good place at the time, he came out and just wanted to give me a beating."

Haas acknowledged Agassi's dominance from the baseline: "When Andre came out and played the way he did, focused from the baseline, there wasn't much you could do, I wasn't nearly enough of a good mover at the time to turn the defense into offense."

The Big Three era

Reflecting on the "Big Three", Haas shared his views on Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic:

"I never played Rafa on clay, which, looking back, I'm really happy about that, because I think it would've just been about survival, trying to win games," he said. Haas prasied Nadal's unparalleled success at Roland Garros by stating: "What Rafa did at RG, we'll never see that again. I pretty much can guarantee you that, 14 French Open titles is just absurd, and what he's done on clay is crazy impressive."

About Federer, Haas said, "When he was playing his best, I feel like he would just kind of let you know how much real estate you actually have to cover on a tennis court because you'd guess a lot, is it a slice, is it a drop shot, is it an angle, is it fast, is he serve and volleying. You just never knew what was coming at you, you always had to be ready to play him."

Regardin Djokovic, Haas was equally impressed: "Novak, at his best, I don't know how you were supposed to put the ball by him. It was just incredible what he could do."

Throughout his career, Haas competed against many great players, including Juan Martin Del Potro, Stan Wawrinka, David Nalbandian, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick, and Marat Safin. “Lots of great memories, great matchups,” he concluded.