LONDON — Mardy Fish, who reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals and is now ranked No. 9, reflected on his surge with reporters at the All England Club.
QUESTION: What do you take away from reaching the Wimbledon quarters?
MARDY FISH: Knowing that I haven't broken through and haven't had that huge win at a major. I know that I'm playing well enough to make the quarterfinals of Slams and to beat top-10 players. I'm lacking that one huge result where it opens everyone's eyes and says, Wow, I can't believe he beat him. I'm sure tomorrow will come around and I'll be pretty satisfied with the way that I played here. Beating [Thomas] Berdych is a great win. That's my only top-10 win in a major.
Q: You went home to L.A. after the French Open. How does that help?
MF: Just sleeping in your own bed for 10 days says a lot. You regroup mentally, because it's such a long year. Nights before matches, I don't sleep that well. You get very nervous. You don't eat well in the morning. To be away from all that, even for a few days, is big…We have a dog. We kind of feel like we have a family a little bit. She's kind of like a child for us. She's a Dachshund, a wiener dog, a hot dog. It's hopefully the start of our family. She's pretty spoiled. She has a person living at our house now taking care of her. It was nice to win today so we can pay for that.
Q: You're going to get some pretty decent prize money. What are you going to get your dog to celebrate?
MF: A couple bones, I guess. She's pretty spoiled. She's got a lot of stuff already. She's very L.A…She's got a pretty good life, this dog.
Q: When you and your wife, Stacey Gardner, are out in L.A., which one of you gets recognized more?
MF: We don't get recognized much at all anyways. Probably me, I guess.
Q: A number of Americans have had their best success earlier in their careers, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Andy Roddick. You're coming on late. Are you saying to yourself, “Well done?” Is there a certain satisfaction?
MF: I can appreciate it better. We played the Davis Cup final in '04 [in Spain,] and I was 22. I didn't understand the place that I was at. I was lucky to be on the team. I was No. 35 ..So I don't think I really could step back away from everything and say, 'Wow, I'm playing in the finals of Davis Cup in front of 27,500 people, setting the record there against [Carlos] Moya in the first match.' I don't think I could really get a grasp. I feel I can now. It's much more satisfying, because I can appreciate all the ups and downs I've gone through. This is certainly an up for me. I have no idea how long it will last. Hope it lasts for a while.
Q: Was it a matter of not really understanding the full picture? Was it a matter of your youth. You were so talented and it came easily?
MF: A little bit of all that. Immaturity. I was probably like one of those rookies that wins the Super Bowl, he thinks it's that easy, and he never goes back again the rest of his career.
Q: The whole American philosophy is, “We're No. 1.” The advertisers jump on that. Is that why we look at people who aren't at the top and say, “What's the matter?”
MF: We come from a country that's used to winning at a high level at almost every sport. Sometimes we wonder why we haven't competed at a high level yet in soccer. It takes time. These countries are getting their best athletes. Our most important or popular sports are getting our best athletes.
Q: Why do you think individual sports appeal to your generation and now all the kids seem to want to be on a team?
MF: I think it's preference. I love being on a team. I love the Davis Cup aspect. But there's nothing like answering for yourself. There's a sense of pride that tennis players and golfers have. We don't have to rely on anyone.
Q: All of us have regrets. If the Mardy Fish of today could look back to Mardy a few years back who was enjoying the pepperoni pizza, what would he say?
MF: It's how you started the question. We can all sit here and say we wish we would have done things differently. But I'm just excited to be playing my best of my life. I was who I was when I was 21. There's just not one ounce in my body that goes back to the past. I had some really good results. I won an Olympic silver medal. There's not very many people that have done that. I did a lot of cool things. You can't be as mature at 21 as you are now.
