Fish Is Attempting A Comeback

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 5th March 2013

Citi Open tennis tournament in Washington, DC

Fish Is Attempting A Comeback

epa03341458 Mardy Fish of the USA returns a ball from Tommy Haas of Germany during their semifinal match at the Citi Open tennis tournament in Washington, DC, USA, 04 August 2012. EPA/SHAWN THEW |

Mardy Fish has admitted that his enforced six months absence from top-flight tennis, as a result of a heart condition, has left the 31 year-old with deep but understandable psychological scars.

The former world no.7, competitively inactive since last year’s US Open, is set to make his comeback at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. But he is taking small steps and admits day-to-day life, and not just tennis, remains a tough challenge.

“It took me months and months to get back to normalcy — to have a glass of wine at dinner, to go out to a movie with my wife,” Fish told USA Today at a charity exhibition in Los Angeles. “Just those normal things that you take for granted I wasn’t able to do for a long time.”

Fish has just passed the first anniversary of his heart issues. He was initially affected by an accelerated heartbeat during the USA’s Davis Cup match against Switzerland in Fribourg. Then at the Sony Open in Miami he awoke in the middle of the night with his heart racing following a quarterfinal defeat against Argentina’s Juan Monaco.

His immediate fear was a heart attack although doctors told him otherwise, but he suffered another bout of the problems at the US Open and since then Fish has thought long and hard about his future.

Fish admitted: “I’ve retired 15 times in my head, I mean literally. For the first three or four months, following the U.S. Open, I was done for sure.

“I’ve gone back and forth quite a bit about whether to spill it all, keep it in, keep it with people close to me. The bottom line is that what I went through was the toughest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life.”

Now ranked 32 in the world, Fish will benefit from a place amongst the seeds and a first round bye in Indian Wells. After playing an eight-game pro set against world no. 1 Novak Djokovic at UCLA’s On Monday, he feels far happier.

“It certainly felt like a lot of pressure,” said Fish. “To come through was really good.”