Mardy Fish Leads The Field in Washington

Written by: Staff on 31st July 2012

Mardy Fish Leads The Field in Washington

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 heads a field of Olympic exiles and wannabes as the 13th-ranked American plays under the radar as top seed at the new combined ATP-WTA event in Washington, with the veteran happy enough not to be involved in the London Games.

The humid week in the American capital could serve as solid practice time for the 30-year-old who has gone through a health scare which required doctors to stabilize an accelerated heartbeat which gave him frights during the first months of 2012.

Fish is playing Washington for the seventh time, his first event since dropping out in Atlanta this month with an ankle injury. He reached the Wimbledon fourth round, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at his comeback event after missing nearly three months of play.

Fish is glad to be back in the frame and is especially pleased to be playing in what promises to be the usual heat and steamy humidity. “It’s the kind of weather I enjoy playing in. It’s not just about being fit,” he said in the run-up. It’s about convincing yourself you like it more than the other guy.”

Fish will open his campaign at the tournament where his best showings have been quarter-finals in 2003 and 2006. He begins in the first round against German Bjorn Phau.

On the WTA side, three Americans – Sloane Stephens, Vania King and Coco Vandeweghe – are seeded in a draw headed by No. 28 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

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