Mardy Fish Has a Program to Prepare for the US Open

Written by: Staff on 18th July 2012

Mardy Fish Has a Program to Prepare for the US Open

epa03289855 Mardy Fish of the US returns to David Goffin of Belgium during their third round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 30 June 2012. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

Mardy Fish is slowly regaining his confidence in his body after his heartbeat health scare of earlier this year. The American who reached a top 10 ranking but now stands 13th has revealed how he’s trying to overcome his fear.

The 29-year-old who returned to play a few rounds at Wimbledon months after undergoing a medical procedure to stabilise his runaway heartbeat, will test himself further as he plays Team Tennis this month.

Fish says he has only recently been able to sleep without his heartbeat monitor close at hand. “It’s going to take some time, to be honest,” he said. “Physically, I’m fine. The doctors have given me a 100 percent I’m OK. The issue is now just mentally trusting everything.

“It’s been very hard to sort of trust everything is working correctly, that when I don’t necessarily feel well, it’s got nothing to do with your heart. You’d be surprised how much that can mess you up, when it does involve the heart.”

Fish is penciled in a full hardcourt schedule over the next month and a half leading to the US Open. He announced long ago that he would not participate in the London Olympics and will be one of the few players of note at several of his summer tournaments in the US .

After getting through Wimbledon and losing in the fourth round to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the American said he’s slowly coming back to normal. Still, to prevent any chance of the attacks returning, he has cut down on coffee and eliminated alcohol.

However, he will still face stress: “It’s impossible to get that out of my life. But if I can put myself in situations where I’m comfortable, have my wife travel with me, travel to comfortable places, be comfortable with the people around me, that helps. It sounds silly, it sounds stupid, but it helps.”

Topics: American tennis news, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, London Olympics, Mardy Fish, Team Tennis, US Open 2012