(Reuters) - Tennis's great survivor Tommy Haas begun yet another injury comeback this week after a year out following shoulder surgery.
When the patched-up German had his latest brush with the surgeon's scalpel in June last year, it looked as though the former world number two would be hanging up his racket.
But, at the age of 37, Haas is back in action on the grasscourts at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart -- 12 months after his right shoulder broke down.
He showed that his game is still intact too, beating Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4 7-5 to set up a second-round meeting with Australian Bernard Tomic.