Mardy Fish

Mardy Fish (born December 9, 1981 in Edina, Minnesota) is an American professional tennis player. He is one of several young American tennis players who rose to prominence at the beginning of the 21st century. He is currnetly ranked #25 in the world and #17 in the race. Fish has won two tournaments on the main ATP Tour, and has reached the final of two elite Masters Series events; Cincinnati in 2003, and Indian Wells in 2008. His best result at a Grand Slam tournament came at the 2007 Australian Open, where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to compatriot Andy Roddick and the 2008 US Open where he also reached the quarters before losing to current World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. His biggest win in singles came when he defeated the then World No. 1 Roger Federer at the Pacific Life Open in 2008.

Early life

Fish is the son of a tennis teaching professional and a housewife, Tom and Sally Fish. He was born in Edina MN. Mardy earned his first taste of fame in 1984 when, at the age of two, a Minneapolis, Minnesota TV station ran a profile of the young athlete hitting tennis balls from the baseline over the net. In 1985, Fish's family moved to Vero Beach, Florida, where Mardy attended Vero Beach High School for three years. Fish then moved to Boca Prep in Boca Raton, Florida for his senior year of high school. During that year, he lived with the family of Andy Roddick, where the two young promising players raced their cars to school. Fish returned to Vero Beach in 2000, where he spent part of the year training at Saddlebrook Academy in Tampa, Florida.

Tennis career

Fish turned professional in 2000 at the age of 18. He spent his first few years as a pro playing in the Challenger and Futures circuits, the minor leagues of tennis. He earned his first title on the ATP Tour, tennis' premier professional circuit, in 2002 playing doubles in the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas, with Andy Roddick.

Fish's career improved significantly in 2003, when he won his first ATP singles title and reached the biggest final of his career, Cincinnati. His singles victory came near the end of the season, where he defeated Swedish player Robin Söderling to win the Stockholm Open in Stockholm, Sweden. In addition, he defeated 5th-seeded and former World No. 1 Carlos Moyà at the 2003 Australian Open in the second round, 3–6, 7–6 (8), 6–4, 4–6, 6–2. He finished the year ranked No. 20 in the world.

Fish played well in 2004, reaching the finals at the SAP Open in San José, California and in the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany. Later that year, in August, Fish obtained a silver medal for the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics, when he lost in five sets to Chilean Nicolás Massú. Fish defeated players such as Juan Carlos Ferrero and Fernando González to reach the final.

In 2005, Fish injured his left wrist. It eventually required two surgeries, and as a result he only played 17 matches in the year.

2006

Reclimbing the Ranks: ATP and Challenger Circuit

City	Tournament Circuit	Final Placing
Atlanta	Challenger	Quarterfinalist
Bermuda	Challenger	Quarterfinalist
Houston	ATP	Winner
Memphis	ATP	Winner (Doubles)
Surbiton	Challenger	Winner
Tallahassee	Challenger	Winner
Tunica	Challenger	Finalist

US Men's Claycourt Championships

Fish was awarded a wildcard in April into the US Men's Claycourt Championships. He won the tournament, defeating eighth seed Juan Mónaco, Rainer Schüttler, Vince Spadea, Tommy Haas, and Jürgen Melzer in the final 3–6 6–4 6–3.

Wimbledon

At the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, Fish signaled his return to professional status as he reached the third round, defeating fellow American Robby Ginepri, and Dutch player Melle van Gemerden. The night prior to his third round match, he suffered from food poisoning. He could only play one set before retiring against Georgian Irakli Labadze.

2007

Fish began 2007 by achieving what was his best finish at a Grand Slam. Fish reached the fourth round of the Australian Open eventually losing to his old roommate and doubles partner, Andy Roddick, in the quarterfinals. Fish made waves on Day 1 of the tournament by knocking off Ivan Ljubičić, the fourth seed, and had an easy win in the third round when his opponent Wayne Arthurs retired in the opening set. Fish had few problems in his first four matches, but lost in straight sets to Roddick in the quarterfinals. However, he moved by 17 places up the ATP ranking, due to the quarterfinal. .

2008

Fish started off 2008 quite well at the Hopman Cup, an exhibition event in Perth, Australia. Partnering Serena Williams, Fish, won the title. Williams was ill and arrived after the start of the event, but Meghann Shaughnessy filled in for the first match against the Indian team. Fish won against Indian, Rohan Bopanna and Australian, Peter Luczak, and received a walkover from Czech Tomáš Berdych. Although Fish lost the first doubles match to the Indians with Shaughnessy, he and Williams were undefeated in 2 mixed doubles matches. They qualified undefeated for the final where they faced the top-seeded Serbians, Novak Djokovic and Jelena Janković. Although Fish lost in singles against Djokovic, the Americans again won the mixed doubles match to win the title.

Fish fell to Jarkko Nieminen in the third round of the Australian Open after a code violation caused him to lose his composure. Chair umpire Damian Steiner of Argentina believed Fish attempted to hit a linesman with a ball early in the third set. While Fish attempted to downplay the incident afterwards, he reacted to the violation by berating the chair umpire and was clearly frustrated while only winning three more games during the rest of the match.

Fish then went on to make a quarterfinal showing at the 2008 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships before losing to long time friend and wild-card entry Robby Ginepri.

At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Fish defeated Florian Mayer in the first round, 31st-seeded Igor Andreev in the second round 6–3, 6–4, fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko in the third round 6–3, 6–2, former World No. 1 and 24th-seeded Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round 7–5, 4–6, 7–6(4), and seventh-seeded David Nalbandian in the quarterfinals 6–3, 6–7(5), 7–6(4). Fish then defeated World No. 1 Roger Federer in the semifinals 6–3, 6–2 in what Fish described as "a great win after failing to beat the Swiss player in five previous matches. However, Fish lost in the final to Djokovic, the third seed, 6–2, 5–7, 6–3.

Fish then lost his next match at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida to Arnaud Clément 6–3, 6–3.

At the French Open, Fish lost in the second round to 25th-seeded Hewitt 6–4, 6–3, 6–2, with Fish committing 58 unforced errors compared to Hewitt's 12.

At Wimbledon, Fish lost in the first round to eighth-seeded Richard Gasquet of France 6–3, 6–4, 6–2. Fish hit 33 winners and 18 unforced errors while Gasquet hit 45 winners and 14 unforced errors. Fish failed to convert his one opportunity to break Gasquet's serve while Gasquet converted four of his six break chances.

At the US Open Fish triumphed in straight sets over one of his best friends on tour James Blake 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Fish hit 16 aces and had 28 unforced errors. Fish would reach the quarter finals where he lost to Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 2-6.

Equipment

Fish currently plays with a Wilson [K] Six.One 95 racquet with Luxilon BB strings. The strung weight of the racquet is 12.3 oz and the string pattern is 16 by 18. His grip of choice is "Tourna Grip."

Playing Style

Fish uses his strong serve and powerful backhand to win points from the baseline. He would often move around the court and find his way to the net to put away a ball by volleying. In short, he is an all-court player.

Personal life

In November 2007, Mardy became engaged to Stacey Gardner, a California attorney and a "Briefcase Model" on NBC's Deal or No Deal.

Singles titles (7)

Legend (Singles)

Grand Slam (0)

Tennis Masters Cup (0)

ATP Masters Series (0)

ATP Tour (2)

Challengers (4)

Futures (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	June 26, 2000	Lachine, Canada	Hard	Nicolas Todero	4–0, ret.
2.	August 12, 2002	Bronx, United States	Hard	Denis Golovanov	1–6, 6–1, 7–5
3.	October 21, 2002	San Antonio, United States	Hard	Jack Brasington	6–3, 7–5
4.	October 20, 2003	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Robin Soderling	7–5, 3–6, 7–6
5.	April 3, 2006	Tallahassee, United States	Hard	Zack Fleishman	7–5, 7–6
6.	April 10, 2006	Houston, United States	Clay	Jurgen Melzer	3–6, 6–4, 6–3
7.	June 5, 2006	Surbiton, United Kingdom	Grass	Wesley Moodie	6–2, 7–6

Singles runners-up (14)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	January 8, 2001	Pembroke Pines, United States	Hard	Thomas Dupre	4–6, 6–3, 7–6
2.	October 8, 2001	Kerrville, United States	Hard	Alex Kim	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
3.	October 28, 2002	Tyler, United States	Hard	Paul Goldstein	6–7, 6–4, 6–3
4.	November 11, 2002	Knoxville, United States	Hard (i)	Martin Verkerk	6–3, 6–4
5.	March 10, 2003	Delray Beach, United States	Hard	Jan-Michael Gambill	6–0, 7–6
6.	June 23, 2003	Nottingham, United Kingdom	Grass	Greg Rusedski	6–3, 6–2
7.	August 18, 2003	Cincinnati, United States	Hard	Andy Roddick	4–6, 7–6, 7–6
8.	February 16, 2004	San José, United States	Hard	Andy Roddick	7–6, 6–4
9.	June 14, 2004	Halle, Germany	Grass	Roger Federer	6–0, 6–3
10.	August 22, 2004	Olympic Games, Athens, Greece	Hard	Nicolas Massu	6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4
11.	May 8, 2006	Tunica Resorts, United States	Clay	Diego Hartfield	6–4, 6–4
12.	August 27, 2007	New Haven, United States	Hard	James Blake	7–5, 6–4
13.	March 23, 2008	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Novak Djokovic	6–2, 5–7, 6–3
14.	August 23, 2008	New Haven, United States	Hard	Marin Cilic	6–4, 4–6, 6–2

Doubles

Doubles wins (10)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	November 27, 2000	Urbana, United States	Hard (i)	Taylor Dent	Noam Behr Michael Russell	W/O
2.	January 8, 2001	Pembroke Pines, United States	Hard	Jeff Morrison	Thomas Blake Eric Drew	W/O
3.	October 1, 2001	Tulsa, United States	Hard	Jeff Morrison	Jeff Coetzee Shaun Rudman	6–2, 6–3
4.	November 12, 2001	Knoxville, United States	Hard (i)	Jeff Morrison	Brandon Coupe Kelly Gullett	6–3, 6–0
5.	November 26, 2001	Urbana, United States	Hard (i)	Jeff Morrison	Paul Rosner Gabriel Trifu	6–3, 5–7, 6–4
6.	April 29, 2002	Houston, United States	Clay	Andy Roddick	Neville Godwin Jan-Michael Gambill	6–4, 6–4
7.	May 6, 2002	Birmingham, United States	Clay	Jeff Morrison	Paul Rosner Glenn Weiner	6–4, 7–6
8.	February 16, 2004	San José, United States	Hard	James Blake	Rick Leach Brian MacPhie	6–2, 7–5
9.	April 19, 2004	Houston, United States	Clay	James Blake	Rick Leach Brian MacPhie	6–3, 6–4
10.	July 7, 2008	Newport, United States	Clay	John Isner	Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi	6–4, 7–6

Doubles runner-ups (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	June 19, 2000	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Bo Hodge	Jaime Fillol Michael Jessup	6–3, 6–0
2.	October 30, 2000	Las Vegas, United States	Hard	Andy Roddick	Jeff Coetzee Marcos Ondruska	6–7, 7–6, 6–1
3.	October 8, 2001	Kerrville, United States	Hard	Jeff Morrison	Brandon Hawk Robert Kendrick	6–3, 6–7, 6–3
4.	November 5, 2001	Tyler, United States	Hard	Jeff Morrison	Stephen Huss Paul Rosner	6–4, 6–2
5.	February 27, 2006	Memphis, United States	Hard	James Blake	Chris Haggard Ivo Karlović	0–6, 7–5, [10–5]

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2008 U.S. Open.

Tournament	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000
Australian Open	3R	QF	A	2R	1R	3R	2R	A	A
French Open	2R	A	A	1R	A	1R	A	A	A
Wimbledon	1R	1R	3R	A	2R	3R	A	1R	A
US Open	QF	2R	2R	1R	2R	2R	2R	1R	1R

References

• Retrieved Sep. 1, 2006.

External links

• Mardy Fish | The Official Website
• Fish Recent Match Results
• Fish World Ranking History