Yesterday, after the defeat in the match with Feliciano Lopez at the U.S. Open, Mardy Fish (photo ©Michele Sandberg) retired from his professional tennis activity.
Mardy Fish Simpson was born on December 9, 1981 in Edina, Minnesota, USA. The son of a tennis teacher, he started playing when he was very little. Playing at junior level, he met Andy Roddick, who became his close friend. For some time, he lived with the Roddick family.
Mardy Fish became a professional tennis player in 2000 and spent the first years playing especially in Futures and Challenger tournaments. At that time he also played doubles and his first ATP title came in 2002 at the Houston tournament played with his friend Andy Roddick.
In 2003, Mardy Fish started obtaining good results at single level winning the Stockholm tournament and reaching the final of the important Cincinnati tournament. In 2004 he managed to get some good results and winning the silver medal at the Athens Olympics but no won tournaments and in 2005 a left wrist injury forced him to miss most of the season.
In 2006, Mardy Fish came back to play and won the Houston tournament. For a few years he achieved good results and good placings in the ATP ranking, also reaching the final at Indian Wells in 2008, but no victory, also because of some injuries, until 2009, when he won the Delray Beach tournament. On the other hand, in 2008 he married Stacey Gardner.
The turning point came when Mardy Fish lost about 13 kg (almost 30 lbs) and his talent was supported by an adequate physical condition. In 2010 he won the Newport and Atlanta tournaments. In 2011 he reached the no. 7 in the ATP ranking, his best result. In the same year he won again the Atlanta tournament and played the ATP World Tour Finals.
In 2012, when Mardy Fish’s career seemed to have stabilized at very high levels, his biggest problems started instead. Anxiety attacks prevented him from giving his best and in the same year he was diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia that forced him to undergo surgery.
For a few years Mardy Fish has played very little. Physically, he was fine but his pathological anxiety heavily affected him. This year he decided to retire after getting convinced that he couldn’t return to be the same as before and in July announced that the U.S. Open would be his last tournament.
Yesterday, against Feliciano Lopez, he showed he’s still a great player but also his fragility and lack of habit to play to the best of 5 sets. He served for the match in the fourth set but he completely threw the game away and from there, also being left with little physical energy, his opponent won easily.
The story of Mardy Fish moved the fans around the world. I can only wish him to find a new balance to be able to live fully as he has a whole life ahead of him.
