Mardy Fish

US Open

August 26, 2008



Q. How was your summer?

MARDY FISH: Terrific. How was yours?


Q. Long.

MARDY FISH: Mine was long, too. Mine was long. Started out bad, but then got it going in L.A., you know, and got a little bit of a break after losing first round in Washington.

Then played well in New Haven, you know.


Q. So coming in here, you wanted to get some matches in the summer and didn't go to Beijing. Feel like you accomplished what you wanted?

MARDY FISH: I think any time you make the finals, win four matches on this level, got to be hitting the ball pretty good. I think a semi and a final, you know, that was obviously the first time I'd ever lost first round in Toronto, first round in Cincinnati, back to back Masters Series.

I wasn't expecting that. I had Kiefer Kiefer in the first round and then Robredo who gives anybody fits.

Those tournaments are always tough. But, yeah, I mean, I won quite a few more matches than I lost, and certainly I think it was a pretty good summer overall.


Q. Are you flying coachless right now?

MARDY FISH: No, I got Craig Boynton. Works at Saddlebrook and travels with me and traveled with me to Wimbledon and through the summer.


Q. What are your expectations coming in here?

MARDY FISH: I'd like to make third round. I'd like to win...


Q. You have Mathieu?

MARDY FISH: Yeah. I think I've lost second round '02 through '08.


Q. You're consistent.

MARDY FISH: Yeah, consistently bad. Yeah, I've had some good opportunities and some tough draws.


Q. Is it just it's just the home slam and you've come in here really riding high?

MARDY FISH: I mean, it's the last tournament of the ‑‑ this is the last tournament of a really long summer for me, a jam‑packed summer: Newport, training week in Austin, Toronto, Cincinnati, L.A., D.C. and New Haven, and US Open. It's a pretty long summer.

I'd like to ‑‑ you know, I'm going to leave everything I got out on the court for sure, because I've got quite a significant amount of time off after this. Only going to play three in the fall, starting with Madrid, because of the marriage thing.


Q. September 25th?

MARDY FISH: September 28th. So I'm going to obviously, you know, take some time off, away from tennis for sure, which will be nice. So that's why I played so much this summer.


Q. Let me ask you a question, do you think that some players are early‑season players and other players are late‑season players? Like some come out of the gate strong and...

MARDY FISH: Sure, absolutely. Yeah. I think I tend to play well early.


Q. Early?

MARDY FISH: Yeah.


Q. Is it because your fresh?

MARDY FISH: Yeah, obviously everybody is fresh. But I like going down to Australia and I love the heat and the courts are high‑bouncing. I think that helps me.

Yeah, I've always played well down there, and played well in the indoor stuff in the States. So the past couple years I've got off to a real good start.

I think that the clay court season is tough for me because I just stall there. Just kind of sputter around not even moving or doing anything.


Q. Are guys known for being, This is a guy you can knock off earlier in the year or this is a guy that comes out at the end of the year and he's fried?

MARDY FISH: Yes. You got to be pretty into it to remember who does really well in Australia and who doesn't.

Yeah, I think I certainly ‑‑ I gather so much confidence in the beginning of the year, and then I go to the clay and then I just ‑‑ takes me until New Haven to get to back again.


Q. Right. Guys like Nadal, obviously clay has something to do with it, but I think only six or seven of his 31 titles are after July.

MARDY FISH: Yeah. He probably ‑‑ the season is long. A lot of wear and tear on the body. Someone like him, every single match and every single point he doesn't take off.

So, yeah, I mean, he's got ‑‑ that's got to be tough for him for sure. He's only 22 years old.

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