The current top-ranked American professional tennis player is not even distantly related to a Williams sister.
In fact, this standard bearer comes from the men’s side. But he is not poor Andy Roddick, who has only millions of dollars and supermodel wife Brooklyn Decker to comfort him.
Strike up a Sousa march for the new American point man — and the headliner at this week’s Atlanta Tennis Championships:
Mardy Fish.
Who could have imagined a year ago, as Fish was winning the ATC, outlasting former Bulldog John Isner over three sets in iron-smelting heat, that he would return the next summer as the best America’s got? And keep that name in your back pocket. It could win you a beer in nearly any barroom trivia contest.
Fish’s new status is the result of a couple of overlapping factors: He decided to make himself a physically and mentally stronger player. And the rest of America went into a slump.
It seems we’re falling behind in all the country club sports, major titles in both golf and tennis migrating abroad at an alarming rate. The tennis has been particularly vexing — it has been eight years since an American man won a Grand Slam event (Roddick, U.S. Open).
No. 9 in the world, one spot ahead of Roddick, Fish does not take his position blithely. Someone has to be out front; it might as well be him.
“It’s certainly a great title to have — the top American on the men’s and women’s side. It’s a responsibility, no doubt about it. People are always watching now, so you always want to show what you’ve got,” he said.
The top-ranked American is five months shy of his 30th birthday, a point in many tennis players’ lives where sizable chunks of their game start falling off. Fish has five ATP titles to his name, none of them a Grand Slam. In fact, he has never advanced past the quarterfinals of a major (the last American standing, he lost in the quarters at this year’s Wimbledon to Rafael Nadal).
Being the lead American meant stepping up two weeks ago to play a pivotal role in a Davis Cup match versus Spain. Fish suffered two excruciating losses.
The perks of his position are plentiful, though. He got to throw out a first pitch at a Dodgers game this season. “I toed the rubber and threw it right down the middle, probably 80 to 90 miles per hour,” he said with a laugh.
In the middle of a phone interview for this story last week, Fish, decompressing on the West Coast, was pulled over for being on his cellphone while driving. Apparently it helps to be able to describe oneself as a top tennis player fulfilling his media responsibilities. Fish called back — hands free this time — and reported he had escaped with a warning.
The Atlanta Tennis Championships are hardly regarded as a springboard to American tennis supremacy, but last year’s event did strongly hint at Fish’s ascendancy.
Having shed nearly 30 pounds following 2009 knee surgery, the former journeyman pro began winning those matches that used to reduce him to a puddle of sweat on the baseline.
Ranked 35th in the world at the time, Fish met Isner on a typically scorching Atlanta summer afternoon, the heat index at 103. Nearly three hours later, he had won a third-set tiebreaker. The match left him drained for weeks afterward, he said, but it served to reinforce his decision to get serious with his fitness before the small window of his playing career closed.
Having gone from Fish belly to abs of steel, he proudly said, “Those are the matches you can point to, matches I never would have won 18 months prior.”
The tournament has been relocated from the Atlanta Athletic Club to the Racquet Club of the South in Norcross, not exactly a move to cooler climes. Fish, who grew up in the heat of Florida, says bring on the sweat box this week. “I know that a lot of people don’t like [the heat], so I try to convince myself that I like it a little bit more than I actually do,” he said.
He’s now one of those annoying born-again fitness freaks who can make you feel guilty even daydreaming about a bacon cheeseburger. When he broke down and had a slice of pizza this year in Rome, he said, he first scraped off the cheese. He has traded in a deep, abiding appreciation for beer for the very occasional glass of wine. “[Beer’s] not very good for you, you know,” he said.
The nutritional strictness comes with a correspondingly somber mindset. A guy gets serious about what goes into him, he seems to take the same approach about the effort that comes out of him.
“Mentally and physically, I want to be ready to play every single match instead of most every match,” Fish said. “I play 20 to 24 tournaments a year, and I want to show up for every single match and that’s not easy to do. That’s something I’ve gotten a ton better at.”
The sands in the tennis hourglass are running out for Fish, but with his new commitment, he figures he can squeeze a little more out of his game. He can get in even better shape, he said. He can spackle the flaws in his forehand and advance further along a Grand Slam bracket.
That’s the best option American tennis has right now. It’s not pretty out there for the home team. Beset by injuries, Serena and Venus Williams have tumbled from their position of dominance. On the men’s side, the Atlanta tournament puts on display a good sampling of the top 100 or so American men. But who among the likes of Fish, Isner (No. 36), Alex Bogomolov (63), Ryan Sweeting (66), James Blake (former No. 4, now 89), Michael Russell (97) or Donald Young (105) might challenge a world where the Federers, Djokovics and Nadals still live?
Mark Miles, the former chief executive officer of the men’s pro tour, recently told ESPN that the American male presence is “at an all-time low.”
“And the question is whether this is just a point in time or a continuing trend. To some extent, I think it is a continuing trend.”
Fish grew up watching Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi at their best. He said having an American star would do much to jumpstart interest in the game with kids here today. Coming up with such a pied piper will not be simple.
“It’s such a global sport,” he said. “Tennis is so popular outside the United States; it’s the most popular game in some of these countries outside of soccer. They’re getting all their best athletes. Here, kids are going more into the more ‘mainstream’ sports. It definitely would help to have a big-time American player on TV, all the time playing, someone kids can root for and relate to and try to emulate.”
Hey, kids, right here is an American with a cool catch-of-the-day surname and a game that has never been more potent.
Importantly, he also remains hopeful in the face of foreign dominance.
“It’s only a matter of time before we get an American champion,” Fish said. “Before Andy [Roddick] or myself or James [Blake] leave, we’d like to be one of those guys.”
