Players to bid for the 2012 Australian Open; Part Three: Mardy Fish - Tennis Special
Australian Open is going to start in few days and here is one of the players to rise and shine at this Grand Slam event. The qualifiers of this $26 million tournament are on their way and lowered ranked players are striving hard
to get through to the main draws of this mega event in Melbourne.
Mardy Fish to reach the top of the tennis world
American number one, Fish made a drastic start of 2012, as he lost to Czech competitor, Tomas Berdych and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov at the Hopman Cup ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Exhibition event but found his momentum
at the Kooyong ATP Exhibition event. He crushed the rising star Milos Raonic, who came off winning a title at the Chennai ATP World Tour 250 series event and Jurgen Melzer from Austria with breadsticks.
The 30-year-old is in his best form ever, as he earned the spotlight in 2011 after reaching his career best rank at number seven in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings in August. Standing at the 16th rank
at present, the American made a nervy start of the season after exiting from the second rounds at the Brisbane ATP and the Australian Open 2011. However, Fish got back in his winning momentum in his later voyages and made it to the semi-final berths at Memphis
ATP, Delray Beach ATP and Miami Masters 1000 event.
The veteran’s form dipped afterwards but he raised the bar of his game again in the Major grass-court event, Wimbledon Championships. Fish made a quarter-final berth there before losing to the top seed, Rafael Nadal.
Regardless of losing his next two matches at the David Cup, Fish stepped up his game and reached three finals in a row. He triumphed at the Atlanta ATP (downed the third seed John Isner) but lost at the Los Angeles ATP (fell to
Latvian Ernests Gulbis) and Montreal Masters 1000 event (crashed by the world number one, Novak Djokovic). His impressive run of form didn’t end there as the American reached the final four at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 event, Tokyo ATP and made a fourth
round showing at the US Open.
Injuries ruled the high flying American out from many tournaments towards the end of the ATP season and he closed the circuit with a four-match losing streak, including three loses at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. However,
Fish ended the season standing at the world number eight.
After looking at his season’s success, David Nainkin – Mardy’s coach said, “Mardy is a true professional...A lot of good years in him.”
“Mardy leads by example,” Fish’s Davis Cup teammate Ryan Harrison said about his dedication and commitment to tennis. “You see the way he goes about preparing. Every day same routines, he gets out before everyone else. First one
at breakfast, etcetera. I have learned a lot from him.”
American number one, Fish is geared up for the year’s first Grand Slam event which will take place in third week of January. His recent two victories alarmed rest of the tennis world that he is still in contention for the Australian
Open title.
“Mardy has great variety in his game,” McEnroe, a tennis legend, said about the American. “He can adapt to the situation as needed.”
His adaptation skills will become handy in the tournament along with his hard hitting style. Fish doesn’t care about his style of game but focuses on how to bag the match.
His father, Tom Fish, agrees with this and said, “He used to try to beat players with just his sheer athletic talents and ball striking ability.”
Fish favoured surface is the hard court and the American can easily cruise past anyone and reach far at this Melbourne Grand Slam.
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