Mardy Fish Was Retired, Just Didn't Tell Anyone

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Mardy Fish Was Retired, Just Didn't Tell Anyone

By Chris Oddo

(May 1, 2013) -- After withdrawing from this week's Tallahassee challenger, it was reported that Mardy Fish had forgone the rest of the clay-court season in order to rest up and continue dealing with the his health issues before attacking the tour again.

He spoke with ESPN's Prim Siripipat on Tuesday to discuss his current health outlook among other things.

"I'm feeling better and better," Fish said. "It's been a long process. It's been very hard. I'm a lot further along than I was about 8 months ago, that's for sure."

Fish discussed the ongoing challenge of acclimating himself--both physically and mentally-- to his heart condition over the course of the last year. He spoke of the anxiety that he's gone through, highlighting his withdrawal from the fourth round of last year's U.S. open as the low point.

"From there you develop some struggles with anxiety and panic and all that kind of fun stuff," Fish Said. "We really saw what rock bottom feels like, and that was at the US Open last year."

But despite pulling out of Tallahassee Fish hinted that things are going in the right direction for him. "We're getting it back, getting under control," he said, "just getting my normal life back first and foremost and then we can worry about the tennis from there."

Was he considering, or had he considered retirement? Sriripipat, like the rest of us, wanted to know. The answer: Yes, and no.

"It's not part of the discussion anymore," Fish said. "It certainly entered my mind quite a few times in the past 8 months. Since the US Open in the first three or four months since the US Open, it was certainly right there in the forefront of my mind. It was something that I thought about and I actually did. For the first month or two after the US Open I was done playing, I just didn't really tell anyone at the time."

According to this Tweet from USA Today's Doug Robson, Fish will not play again until the grass court season, but he did not discuss this with ESPN.

The conversation then turned to yesterday's news that NBA player Jason Collins had become the first player of an American major sport to come out as openly gay. Fish, who along with Andy Roddick announced his support for Athlete Ally on Tuesday, had lots of positive things to say about Collins.

"It's something that has to be done," said Fish. "With Jason coming out and being a friend of his and trying to support him, it's something that hopefully we can get to the stage where an athlete coming out in a major team sport is not huge news anymore."

He added: "Jason is the first one, he's a friend. We're all supportive of him. We're proud to be a part of something like that."

Fish said he'd be curious to meet an openly gay ATP player, and added that he'd welcome the news, if and when it ever happens.

"I can only speak for myself personally," he said. "I would be totally be fine with it. It would not be an issue at all for me. I would maybe even be more curious than anything else, just bringing that person closer and letting him know that I personally support him coming out and him trying to be who he is. Personally I wouldn't have any issue with it whatsoever."

(Photo Credit: AP)