Fish Fired Up for Nadal

While No. 1-seed Rafael Nadal won his round-of-16 match with American Sam Querrey, he didn't look anything like the near-invincible player that has dominated men's tennis in 2008, winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics in Beijing and winning 41 of his last 42 matches heading into the match. He was back on his heels in rallies. He had to survive a tie-break in the third set after splitting the first two. At times Querrey semed so successful in attacking the Spaniard that it was hard to tell which player was the one the tennis world is currently fearing more than any other.

That Nadal looked beatable took some by surprise, particularly since Querrey, 20 years old, ranked No. 55 in the world, was playing on Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time. He admitted to being nervous at the start of the match, and played like it, letting Nadal get a one-set to love jump before he settled into the match.

Enter 26-year-old American veteran Mardy Fish, scraggly-bearded and currently as intense in demeanor as Querrey is loose. While Querrey has the persona of an easy-going, well-adjusted kid, saying things like, “It’s not so bad, losing to the No. 1 player in the world,’’ Fish gives off a decidely edgy veteran vibe, and uses words like "desperate" to describe his level of desire here at the Open.

Certainly Nadal will be the favorite going into the match on Wednesday night under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium. But in Fish, Nadal faces a major challenge to what before the tournament felt like a near predestined showdown with Roger Federer in a third-straight Grand Slam final. Fish is another American with a big serve and forehand, yet one who is more experienced, hungrier and who brings an edge to a match with Nadal that the young Querrey didn't.

“I mean, I desperately want to play well and desperately wanted to do well here,” Fish admitted after his last match, laying all his intensity and desire out on the table.

Fish was once ranked as high as No. 17 in 2004, back when, like Querrey, he was still considered a young and up-and-coming American. But he fell all the way down to No. 341 in 2006, plagued by a left wrist injury. He climbed his way back at the end of that year, making it into the Top 50 in late 2006, and has stayed in the top 50 ever since. But the experience of spending a few years out of the pro tennis spotlight has filled him with a certain hunger, and added depth to his perspective.

Fish, good enough friends with Andy Roddick and James Blake to get text messages from both after most matches, had to watch for two years while those two Amereicans, not him, grabbed the headlines. “It was extremely tough, you know, we all push each other, and that was the toughest thing, watching them do so well and then not having a shot to kind of stay with them.”

But those days are behind him. Fish is currently on a roll that might be his most impressive as a pro. He reached the final of New Haven the week before the Open, his second final of the year after taking out Roger Federer to reach the final at Indian Wells in March. The American is playing in the quarters here after taking out No. 24-seed Paul-Henri Mathieu, No. 9 James Blake and No. 32 Gael Monfils.

Fish’s game rests on his ability to constantly attack his opponent. Even on the changeovers he’s reminding himself, over and over, to stay aggressive and attack. This was on display in his fourth-round win over Monfils, when he hit 49 winners and attacked the net 69 times, winning 45 of the points he came in on.

"I'm never going to beat someone like that from the baseline, I know that better than anyone,'' Fish said of playing Monfils, but he could have just as easily been speaking of his match-up with Nadal. "I'm going to try and keep the points as short as possible, and come to net.''

In looking forward to his match with Nadal, there’s an aggressive, almost confrontational approach from Fish that will be part of the change for the Spaniard after facing the younger Querrey. “[Nadal] wants to keep the points as long as possible and run the guys down, kind of body blow after body blow, but if he’s on the other side of the net I don’t intend to let him do that,’’ Fish said. “You know, I'm going to come in, not necessarily Kamikaze‑type tennis, but I'm going to try to keep the points as short as possible.”

Fish says confidence and maturity are the keys to his current success. But there seems something even more driving him to new heights here. Fish is getting married at the end of September, and perhaps a life change, and the fact that he’s 26, not old but no longer one of the young guns, that is making him realize that he needs to capitalize on his opportunities now.

“I always talk to Andy [Roddick], and he obviously just, I mean, by far loves this tournament more than anything else, and I said, ‘What is it?’” Fish reflected after the Monfils match. “And he said, It's the night matches. It's walking out there, and it's just electric. You can feel it. I said, ‘I've never played a night match, so I guess I wouldn't know.’ You know, playing the other night with James [Fish beat Blake in a night match in the third round], and you can feel it. Boy, you can really feel it. You walk out there, and it's ‑‑ it almost jumps up to your favorite tournament once you just play one of those matches.’’

Fish will have a lot of people rooting for him when he steps out on court against Nadal, who not only struggled with his game in the roundof-16 encounter with Querrey but afterward complained about the amount of hard-court tennis on tour. Fish is four inches shorter than Querrey, so the high bouncing topspin that still remained in Querrey's strike zone will be more difficult for Fish to handle. But Querrey did show Fish, and everyone else, just how vulnerable Nadal is here at the Open, where despite his success at the French and Wimbledon, Nadal has never gone farther than the quarterfinals.

In fact, Querrey even had some advice for his older countryman.

“[Fish] has got to be aggressive and take chances, he can’t go baseline to baseline with Rafa,’’ Querrey said, emphasizing that Fish will have to also serve well and attack the net. “I think you’ve got to really just emphasize going backhand, backhand, backhand. Once you get a short ball you can step up and let it rip.”

For Fish’s part, he feels Nadal doesn’t like playing against players who attack, and he says the courts at the Open are playing fast enough to help his serve and allow him to be effective with his approach shots and volleys. Certainly from Fish on Wednesday, there will be no lack of intensity in his quest to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal.

Perhaps he put his quest best, and most honestly, after the Monfils match.

“I've always wanted to do well here. I think obviously I'm not unbelievably ‑‑ well, maybe I am desperate. Yes. I was desperate to do well.''