Mardy Fish lost 6-4, 6-4 to Dudi Sela in the first round of the BB&T Atlanta Open. This was his final professional singles tournament in Atlanta, where he’s claimed two of his six ATP tour wins.
“It was a success,” Fish said. “It was just to get out there and play for me and spend one more time here.”
Fish announced last week via Twitter that he would retire after playing in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Washington and the U.S. Open this summer.
An anxiety disorder derailed his career in 2013 and forced him away from the game for 18 months, which he filled with family time and a greenhorn golf career. Now, he’s leaving pro tennis the way he wants.
“It’s nice to finish on my own terms,” Fish said. “This sport, my job, was taken from me so abruptly that it took me a long time to sort of get my life back. I have different goals now than I did a couple years ago coming here, or in 2011 when I won a couple times. Obviously I’d like to play better than (tonight), but just to play again and just to compete out here again in this tournament is a blast.”
Before playing at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells this March, Fish hadn’t competed in a pro tournament since he withdrew from the Winston-Salem Open in August 2013.
“I’d love to win some matches, but that’s not in the forefront of my mind,” Fish said. “The last time I was on the court besides Indian Wells … I had to walk off the court in the middle of the match. I was right in the thick of the worst part of my troubles.
I’m in a good place, a really good place. I’ve learned a ton from everything and just trying to get through it and beat it and help as much people as I can while I do it.”
Not long before getting “blind-sighted” by his anxiety disorder, Fish partially filled the gap between Roddick and John Isner as America’s top-ranked man. He spent 46 consecutive weeks in the top 10 in 2011-12, jumping as high as No. 7 for two weeks.
Fish started getting episodes of rapid heart rate in February 2012, when he was ranked eighth. That May, when ranked at No. 10, he got surgery to fix the problem, but his anxiety then spiked and started to control his life. It forced him to withdraw from his round-of-16 match against Roger Federer at the 2012 U.S. Open and miss a chance at his fourth career Grand Slam quarterfinal.
That all seems far from Fish’s mind now, Andy Roddick said.
“He can still play. I mean just seeing him in practice this week, he can still play,” said Roddick, a longtime friend of Fish. “It seems like since he made his announcement and he can kind of see the finish line that almost a weight’s been lifted off his shoulders a little bit.”
Fish and Roddick will compete together in the doubles draw, and they start Wednesday afternoon. They’re 19-6 as a team, with tournament titles at Houston in 2002 and Indian Wells in 2009.
“If I can be a small part of helping him this week then I’m happy to do it,” Roddick said. “We have a very, very long history, and it’s something I wanted to do.”
No matter how well he and Roddick perform Wednesday, Fish is just thrilled to be back on the court.
“It gets your juices flowing again, for sure. And then I hit two double-faults and I lose the game and reality sets in again,” Fish said with a laugh. “But no, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a privilege to play this game for a living and for 15 years, so I’m blessed for sure.”
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