Liguori: You Have To Admire Mardy Fish For The Way He Went Out
By Ann Liguori
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Mardy Fish said that this US Open would be his very last professional tournament, and so his career came to a halt on Wednesday with his five-set loss to 18th seed Feliciano Lopez.
Fish looked sharp in the beginning to grab the first set 6-2. He dropped the second 3-6 and regained his footing to take the third set decisively, 6-1. In the fourth he was serving at 5-4, but lost seven straight points as Lopez was able to take it 7-5 and force a fifth set. Fish started to cramp in the fifth and Lopez was able to close out the match, 6-3.
It was a tough way to go out for good, to lose to a guy he had beaten five of eight previous times -- all before 2012, before his life changed drastically.
I remember when Fish made his very first appearance at the US Open in 2000. I always enjoyed saying his name on the air -- it's certainly catchy and easy to pronounce!
He seemed to always wear his heart on his sleeve on the court. The Minnesota native had a big serve and a double-handed backhand. He played his guts out.
I also remember a whole new Mardy Fish in 2010, when he shed lots of pounds, recommitted himself to his career and realized he could do a lot more with his talent. So he changed his diet and trained harder. He seemed to have made a huge improvement. He was stronger, had more stamina and seemed on the cusp of greater success.
He won three more tournaments. He qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals in 2011, amongst the greats of the game -- Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, etc. In 2012 his ranking climbed to No. 7 in the world, making him the top American male player. He was ahead of his buddy and former training partner, Andy Roddick.
And then suddenly, a heart condition popped up which required surgery. And for the past three years, he's been suffering with severe anxiety that medication and therapy has stabilized.
He hardly played the last several years as he was getting the mental disorder under control.
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You have to admire Fish for coming back out -- despite his physical and anxiety issues -- to make one last stand "on his terms," as he described it. You have to admire his courage to go public with his mental health issues, hoping to shed light on what millions of others suffer with. Fish says he plans to work with junior players and with, perhaps, other people struggling with the same kinds of issues.
High praise for Mardy Fish. It took a lot of guts and strength to get back into the game after all he's been through. It took even more guts to announce that this would be his last tournament and to talk about his struggles.
The way he's handled the many challenges that have come his way, to me, speak louder than the six ATP tour titles and Olympic silver medal he earned along the way.
