The American Underdog – Mardy Fish

Written by: Staff on 29th June 2011

The American Underdog – Mardy Fish

Mardy Fish of the USA celebrates winning his fourth round match against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 27 June 2011. EPA/NEIL MUNNS |

American Mardy Fish has sneaked in to the quarter finals at Wimbledon. Fish took out the No. 6 seed Tomas Berdych in three straight sets 7-6 (5) 6-4 6-4. Berdych, last year’s finalist, couldn’t do much to hurt Mighty Mardy.

It must feel strange for the Americans only having one player in the last eight. Fish has only been broken once in this year’s tournament. His next opponent Rafael Nadal has broken serve 16 times so Mardy’s serve has to work on the day.

The injury news from the Rafa camp is, “All is well in Rafa World.” The Spaniard injured his heel in the match against Juan Martin Del Potro. An MRI has shown no serious damage.

When asked in the press conference about John McEnroe’s comments about Andy Roddick’s marriage, whether it might be a distraction or detrimental, Mardy defended his close friends, “It’s one of the reasons why Andy is still playing. I think it’s completely unwarranted. It’s not a great comment to talk about wives. You should probably stay away from the wives. I love Brooklyn. I love them to death, so I’ll stick up for them especially when it comes from a place, you know that might not know the ins and outs of their relationships.”

Nadal said of Fish, “He’s playing fantastic. I saw him a little bit against Robin Hasse. He’s playing at a very, very high level. He’s a very dangerous player, so I will try my best to be very competitive on Wednesday. I need to be at my hundred percent. If not, it’s gonna be impossible against him.”

Mardy remains positive before today’s match. “You can’t go out there thinking you can’t win. But I’ve never been past the spot in a Grand Slam. Past this spot is where I want to be, where you set your goal for. A lot of it is mental. Half the battle is walking out there believing you can win, and I’ll definitely do that.”

The Mardy Fish vs. Rafael Nadal match is scheduled second match on Court One after 13.00 today.