By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, March 12, 2015
Playing his first ATP match in 18 months, Mardy Fish was charging toward net with his eyes riveted on the ball when he nearly flipped out.
Unable to stop his forward surge, Fish found himself tangled over the top of the net in the second game of the final set when he got a helping hand.
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Ryan Harrison dropped his racquet, wrapped his arms around his friend and sometime practice partner and helped Fish to his feet.
Fish overcame a major obstacle and showed plenty of positive signs in his comeback match, but couldn’t clear the final hurdle to close it.
A stubborn Harrison spoiled his friend’s return, fighting off two match points at 4-5 in the decider to earn a wild and emotional 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3) Indian Wells' victory.
It was Fish’s first ATP main-draw match since he retired in the final set against Jarkko Nieminen in the Winston-Salem second round in August, 2013. He has battled cardiac arrhythmia, panic attacks and sleepless nights during a sometime dark period in and out of the game. That Fish, who was eventually diagnosed with severe anxiety disorder, could compete, nearly win and spend time talking about the nuts and bolts of a match rather than his health was a victory of sorts in itself.
“It felt great to be out there,” Fish said in his post-match press conference. “Those are the situations you work hard to put yourself into. I have great memories from here and on that court and it felt fantastic to be out there.”
Anxiety is natural before stepping on any big stadium court. The 2008 Indian Wells finalist said his familiarity with his surroundings — and the fact his friend and fantasy baseball rival was across the net — made this major step forward feel more like a natural stride.
That did not soften the sting of a match he let slip from his grip.
“It’s hard. It’s never easy,” Fish said. “It’s nice to play Ryan, a good friend and someone you’re familiar with, that part was nice to not have to play someone you don’t really know. But it still stings a little bit. It still stings a little bit.”
It was a topsy-turvy match played on a toasty afternoon amid a tricky wind. Sam Querrey, Madison Keys and Hall of Famer and Kei Nishikori coach Michael Chang were among those watching the all-American clash.
Making a statement on his first swing, Fish opened with a 124 mph ace down the middle and closed the opening game with another ace. The pair traded three straight breaks until Harrison held for 5-3. Hitting his forehand with conviction, Harrison fired a passing shot and serve winner to take the first set.
Fish moved forward with greater assurance in the second set.
Showing tension at 4-5, Harrison spun a rally forehand deep to face double set point. Harrison fought off the first with a strong serve, but scattered a second serve long on the second, handing Fish the second set in the process.
Fish tripled Harrison’s winner output, 15 to 5, and was more decisive with his footwork. He won eight of 10 trips to net in the 45-minute second set.
The 33-year-old Fish put himself in position to win —playing attacking tennis at times and racking up 15 break points in the match — but couldn’t subdue a skittish Harrison or spikes in his own nerves.
The fact that both men took turns tightening up in a tense final set showed just how meaningful the match was to both.
“It was definitely one of those tough matches,” Harrison told Tennis Channel’s Mary Carillo and Jon Wertheim afterward. “Mardy is a great player, a great ball striker. Even though he’s been away from the game for a while, you don’t really know what to expect. I feel like there were times nerves kicked in from both sides. I was definitely feeling the nerves as well.”
Playing in survival mode at times in the decider, Harrison fought off eight of nine break points he faced in the final set.
When you talk tennis with Harrison his understanding of the game is so clear — and his ability to reconstruct points so sharp — it presents a paradox watching him play. How can a guy who seems to understand the game so deeply, look so flighty at times on pivotal points?
Though he’s ranked No. 110, Harrison scored his first Top 10 win in Acapulco recently drubbing defending champion Grigor Dimitrov, 6-0, in the decider. But there were times today when if Harrison didn’t win the point out right or at least command the advantage in rallies with his first serve, he resorted to scrambler mode, losing the depth on his groundstrokes and dropping back behind the baseline to defend.
Facing triple break point at 0-1 in the final set, Harrison hung tough. A surprise serve and drop volley winner drew him to deuce. When Fish flipped over the net and was briefly suspended like a sheet flapping on a laundry line, Harrison dropped his racquet hurried over and helped his buddy to his feet.
That friendly and humane exchange seemed to relax Harrison, who wound up a few times as if ready to plaster his racquet to the court. He dug out of the triple break point hole to hold for 1-all.
At break point in the next game, Harrison caught a break when his pass ricocheted off the top of the tape. Fish managed to reflex a high backhand volley, but Harrison finished it with a forehand winner, winning 10 of the last 14 points for the break and a 2-1 lead. Another let cord helped Harrison hold for 3-1.
Serving at 4-3, Harrison pushed a backhand into net giving Fish a seventh break point of the third set. At that point, you had to figure Fish might smack himself if he missed another return on break point. Instead, the veteran played patient and deep testing Harrison’s nerve. Harrison sailed a forehand then belted his wrist band into the crowd. Fish was back on serve, 4-all.
Two games later, Harrison double faulted to stare down double match point. He pulled off a shrewd serve-and-volley to save the first with a forehand volley winner and challenged Fish's backhand return on the second match point with a second serve kicker that Fish could not handle.
"I had an idea I want to come forward and put pressure on him [on the first match point]," Harrison told Tennis Channel afterward. "And [on the second] I was honestly just aiming middle of box with good action because lot of time, the kick serve is more about the action than where it lands because you’re trying to make it move."
In the tiebreaker, Fish's nudged his ninth double fault into net to hand Harrison match point. He painted the sideline with an ace before sharing an embrace at net with Fish.
“I would have liked to have played better,” Fish said. “Obviously, I would have liked to have won. But it is what it is.”
Harrison moves on to face fifth-ranked Kei Nishikori next. The U.S. Open finalist beat the 22-year-old American, 6-4 in the third set in Memphis last month.