Mardy Fish Knocked Out of BNP Paribas Open

Walking into the interview room, Mardy Fish looked like a defeated man. Yes, he was in fact a defeated man, having lost 3-6, 4-6 to Matthew Ebden earlier Monday afternoon. That being said, Fish didn’t look like a man who had just lost a tennis match, he looked like a man who had lost much more. His cap pulled down low over his eyes, it looked like he hoped he would fade into the background. It’s safe to assume that Fish will bounce back a little in the coming days. The wound was still fresh when he walked into press just an hour or so after his matched ended, obviously confused by his loss.
When asked what he had done differently last year to have such a great season, he launched into a mini monologue. It became obvious this was a question he had asked himself many time. The major difference, he claimed, was his drive to compete, saying, “I could always – since my knee surgery and since my weight loss, I could always fall back on the fact that I tried as hard as I could. I wanted to win every single time I stepped out on the court.” According to Fish, he’s lost a bit of that fight and can’t seem to get it back.

He obviously knows it’s an issue, and went as far as to work with mental coaches in the off-season. On court, he seemed to have some fight in him. In the last game of the second set, the chair umpire awarded Ebden the point after docking Fish for a hindrance violation, very similar to the point Serena Williams lost to Samantha Stosur in the 2011 US Open final. Fish began to argue with the umpire, something that he admits sometimes gets him fired up.  When asked about the incident in press, Fish didn’t seem fired up at all. He admitted, “first off, it was totally my fault,” and praising Matt Ebden for even getting to the ball, saying, “I thought it was going to bounce four times. For him to get that on one bounce was an amazing get.”
At 30, it’s tough to believe that Mardy Fish will be able to best his 2011 season. He has a ton of points to defend this summer and fall. It would be difficult to match last year’s results regardless of motivation level, and nearly impossible if Fish can’t find his drive and confidence again.
On the flip side, this was an excellent win for the Australian, Matt Ebden. It’s never easy to take out the top seeded American on home soil when the crowd is against you and Ebden handled the pressure well, particularly in the last game when the crowd booed the hindrance call. It would have been easy to cave in that situation. He had nothing but positive things to say about Mardy Fish in his post match press conference, citing numerous times what a great player he is.

Ebden will be in a similar situation in his next match, where he faces American, John Isner. The big difference is that Isner isn’t in a slump, in fact, he’s on the rise. Ebden believes he’s up to the challenge, saying, “I’m just loving what I’m doing out here. I really love competing hard and tackling the opportunity. So I’ll you know, do that again. I look forward to the next one.”