FISH FALLS TO MASSU IN GOLD MEDAL EPIC

ATHENS, Greece, August 22 – Mardy Fish’s event of his lifetime came to a crushing end Sunday night, losing an epic four-hour gold medal men’s singles match to Chile’s Nicolas Massu 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 Sunday the Athens Olympic Tennis Center. Fish, unseeded in the 64-player event, was attempting to become the first American man to win the Olympic gold in men’s singles since Andre Agassi in 1996.

Massu, who won the doubles gold medal with teammate Fernando Gonzalez in a four-hour and 43-minute final-round match that concluded at 2:51 am early Sunday morning, becomes the first player to win both Olympic gold medals in men’s singles and doubles since Vincent Richards at the 1924 Olympic Games.

Playing in front of predominantly pro-Chilean crowd, featuring flag-waving, song-singing, chanting and cheering, Fish fought valiantly after losing the first five games of the match to take a two-sets-to-one lead before Massu rallied for the five-set victory. As Fish’s backhand return sailed wide on Massu’s first match point, the Chilean collapsed in ecstasy before falling into an embrace with Fish. As Massu paraded around the court with the Chilean flag, Fish sat dejected in his chair with his face buried in his towel. As the Chilean national anthem played with Fish standing on the medal platform with Massu and Chile’s bronze medal winner Gonzalez, the 22-year-old Floridian was unable to hide his disappointment as tears streamed down his face with the silver medal dangling on his chest.

“I felt like I had the match in my hands,” said Fish. “Two-sets-to-one is a pretty commanding lead when someone seems to be feeling a little tired. You feel like you pretty much have the match under control if you take care of the things you need to take care of.”

Massu showed his weariness after spending 20 hours and 43 minutes on the court during the tournament, more than double the amount of court time as Fish entering the gold medal match. After a bathroom break in between the third and fourth sets, Massu regained his energy and continued to put the pressure on Fish. Massu broke Fish’s serve to take a 3-1 lead in the fourth set, but Fish immediately broke back, before Massu broke again to take a 4-2 lead. Massu then for a 5-2 lead, before serving out the fourth set 6-3.

Massu broke Fish in the opening game of the fifth set, as Fish netted two backhand volleys, a backhand half-volley and sailing a backhand long on break point. Fish rebounded and broke Massu immediately back connecting on four backhand winners. Fish and Massu each exchanged service holds, before Massu took advantage of an unforced backhand error and a missed backhand volley to break Fish in the fifth game of the fifth-set, sealing the service break with a running down-the-line forehand passing shot. Fish was able to get to 15-30 on Massu’s serve with the Chilean leading 4-3 in the final set, but an ace from Massu and three Fish ground stroke errors helped Massu jump to a 5-3 fifth-set lead. After Fish held serve with an authoritative ace down the “T,” Massu served out the match, taking advantage of two unforced errors and two missed returns from Fish.

“It really seems like he was really tired in the second set and the whole third set,” said Fish. “Usually, when I get tired, I usually get tired and keep getting tired. After he came back from the bathroom break (at the end of the third set), it was just all of a sudden, he’s fresh again.”

Said U.S. Coach Patrick McEnroe, “I’ve seen a lot of tennis matches, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like I’ve seen in the gold medal match in singles. Massu looked completely exhausted in the first couple of sets and then the last two sets was moving as well as anyone can on a tennis court. It was an incredible effort on his part. Maybe at the beginning, he was rope-a-doping a little bit with Mardy and maybe that was part of his tactics. Certainly to see anyone who looked so tired and then be able to play the kind of tennis he played in the last two sets. I don’t how to say it other than I was just shocked.”

Despite the disappointing end to the Games, Fish said he recognized the enormous strides made in his career during the event on the world’s largest sports platform.

“It’s definitely a week that I’ll never forget,” said Fish. “How many people can say that they’ve played in the Olympics and then won a medal? I’m glad that I can add to the tally of medals that the U.S. has won. …I got a medal. That’s the coolest thing about it.”