Mardy Fish

Update on Fish's condition:

Weeks after waking up in the middle of the night feeling ill, Mardy Fish is not certain when he'll return to the tennis tour and says he could miss the French Open.

The highest-ranked American is also still trying to figure out exactly why he felt the way he did.

"I'm doing OK. We're doing lots of tests to try to figure out what's going on and what went wrong,'' Fish said Tuesday in a telephone interview from California with The Associated Press. "It's sort of unclear as to how or why it happened yet, but we're trying to figure it out. It's not something I'm super comfortable talking about. It certainly was a scare.''

Hours after losing a match at Key Biscayne, Fla., on March 29, the No. 9-ranked Fish went to be checked by a doctor, then saw another doctor the next day. The diagnosis was fatigue, and he was ordered to take some time off. He pulled out of the U.S. Davis Cup team's quarterfinal against France the following week.

"That was really devastating and disappointing to not be able to go there,'' Fish said. "If you know me, you know that it had to be something pretty significant.''

Fish then returned briefly, losing his opening match at a tournament in Houston on April 12.

As for his upcoming schedule, Fish said he'd like to take part in the European clay-court circuit by entering the events at Madrid, starting May 6, and at Rome, starting May 13.

But he doesn't know whether he'll be able to participate there—or if he'll make it to the year's second Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, which begins May 27.

"I'm not 100 percent sure whether I'll be back for that,'' Fish acknowledged, "but that's the goal.''

The 30-year-old Fish has a 7-6 record in 2012.

Last season, he reached a career-best ranking of No. 7 and took part in the season-ending tour championships for the first time. That meant his season was longer than usual, which might have worn him out.

"It was a good problem to have, but I kind of ran into not having a break of more than four weeks in a row for 12 months. ... So I needed a break—and I'm taking it now,'' Fish said.

"I'm taking some time now to kind of relax,'' he added, "and try to keep my mind off tennis a little bit.''

AP.

Beware Fish for the foreseeable future.

Fish after losing heavily to Russell in Houston: "What happened a couple of weeks ago scared me. I'm not over it. Anyone could see I wasn't myself."
"I'll get with family and try to sort some things out."

Confirmed. Mardy Fish is now out of the Davis Cup team vs France.
Replaced by Ryan Harrison.

Even more reason to take great care with Mardy Fish for the foreseeable future.
Apparently in the off-season he saw some coaches dealing with the mental side of the game.

Fish: “Bottom line, I don’t think it worked. I’m just in a sort of lull and I’m going to try to get out of it as fast as I can.”

Fish didn't suffer muscle tear, still in London hunt

Mardy Fish did not suffer a muscle tear in his hamstring during his first-round match against James Blake in Basel, TENNIS.com has learned. Fish, who retired in the second game of the match, is in eighth in the points race to reach the ATP World Tour Finals in London. The Top 8 qualify for the season-ending tournament. He is currently rehabbing the injury and hoping to play in the tour’s final regular-season event next week, the Paris/Bercy Masters 1000.

Fortunately for Fish, the two players who are chasing him for the final spot, Nicolas Almagro and Janko Tipsarevic, both lost their first-round matches this week. Fish will still be in eighth place entering Paris, where he will receive a bye and automatically gain 10 points. In order to catch Fish, Almagro and Tipsarevic must at least reach the Paris final.

Juan Martin del Potro, Gael Monfils and Andy Roddick, who also have a chance of catching Fish, are in action this week, but all will need huge results in the next two weeks to pass the American, who is hoping to reach the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time is his career. Del Potro will have to win Valencia and reach the Paris semis—or depending on what he does this week, may need to win Paris. Monfils needs to win Valencia and reach the Paris final, but may possibly have to win Paris. Roddick has to win Basel and Paris and hope Fish doesn’t win two matches there.

Ticker - Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Mardy Fish pulls out of Queens, abdominal injury.

With Verdasco flopping out, and Almagro making a mess of his match today, Fish moves up to top10!

Fish lost to Nishikori 6-3 6-2.

Fish, who won his lone ATP World Tour clay court title in Houston in 2006, hit just one ace and did not earn a break point on Nishikori's serve. At No. 11 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, Fish would have broken into the Top 10 for the first time in his career had he won a second Houston title. Nishikori was appearing in his first ATP World Tour quarter-final on clay.

"He didn't give me too much and seemed pretty comfortable with his backhand," Fish said. "I struggle at night; sometimes I feel I can't necessarily do some of the things I want to do because I don't have that split second to pick the ball up earlier than I normally do. I love to stay more agressive; standing 15-20 feet behind the baseline trying to stay in the points is not my game. [But tonight] that was strategic as I thought that was the best way to have a good clean hit on the ball... he seemd to enjoy that.

On missing the chance to break into the Top 10, Fish said, "It's disappointing, especially at a place like Houston where I have great memories. It would have been a nice place to do it, especially in the States. And being the No. 1 American is a responsibility each time you step on the court."

ATP Houston 2011: In his debut as the American No. 1, Mardy Fish survived a late comeback attempt by Spaniard Albert Ramos on Thursday evening in Houston to reach the quarter-finals at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship.

Fish looked on his way to a comfortable victory after building a 4-0 lead in the second set, but was unable to serve out the match in the eighth game despite getting to deuce from triple break point down. Ramos held two more break point chances in Fish’s next service game, but was unable to convert as the American succeeded in closing out the 6-3, 6-4 win.

Fish has a 10-7 record at this ATP World Tour 250 tournament and won the title in 2006. The 29 year old came to Houston at a career-high No. 11 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings after reaching the semi-finals at the Sony Ericsson Open.

“Certainly if you throw Andy’s career, coming up with him and playing with James most of my career, it’s tough to feel like the No. 1 American,” said the recent Miami semi-finalist and past Houston champion. “You can put Andy’s career on top of mine probably 10 times. He’s done a lot more than I have, but I’ve been playing well recently. I come here to Houston as healthy as I’ve been in this part of the year and that feels good.”