[Jennay]

Tangy, it was over a bad call. He got boo'd at. He had an argument with the chair and kept it up with him for a while, and talked to himself in between points. Wasn't fun to see

[Jennay]

Thanks for the transcript Carole

[lfty]

Originally Posted by Jennay

Tangy, it was over a bad call. He got boo'd at. He had an argument with the chair and kept it up with him for a while, and talked to himself in between points. Wasn't fun to see

Yeah but I wouldn't call that a 'foul-mouthed tirade.' He didn't use any obscenities when addressing the umpire after that particular point. He did say something a few points later, along the lines of 'you suck…f*** you' but it wasn't even audible. But there's no telling what all he said to himself after that. I can't read lips.

[Jennay]

Yeah, Lfty, he didn't say anything obscene right at the umpire, he definitley said something to himself though.

And OMFG Your avatar rocks!

[Golfnduck]

Originally Posted by tangerine_dream

Mardy Fish loses five-set heartbreak to Chile's Nicolas Massu

But when it was over, the Chileans didn't care how it looked as Massu was pulled into the stands by his coach, and the fans chanted, "Chi-chi-chi, le-le-le, Vi-va Chi-le!" as they had all night.

"I'm sick of (that song), and I never want to hear it again," Fish said.

Oh, Mardy, I don't blame you. But he needn't worry. Nobody will be hearing the Chile anthem again for a long while.

I'm would have been so sick of that song. But he did get an olympic medal and that is a great accomplishment. ONTO THE USO!!

[Aleksa's Laydee]

Originally Posted by leighterry

I'm would have been so sick of that song. But he did get an olympic medal and that is a great accomplishment. ONTO THE USO!!

hell yeah...bring on flushing meadows

[-sOfia-]

silver is great too, mardy, so lighten up

[tangerine_dream]

Fish ultimately proud of silver

By Karen Crouse
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 23, 2004

ATHENS, Greece — The Olympic silver medal belonged to U.S. gymnast Blaine Wilson, and Mardy Fish was fired up when Wilson brought it down to a lounge in the Athletes' Village and let other U.S. athletes wear it.

The medal felt heavy around Fish's neck. It struck him as a very precious metal, indeed. He allowed himself to think how cool it would be if he somehow were to end up with a silver medal of his own.

That was a few days before Fish, a former Boca Prep standout, advanced to the men's singles gold-medal match. A funny thing happened once Sunday's final got under way. The closer Fish got to the gold medal, the less precious a silver medal looked.

When he took a 2-1 lead in sets over Chile's Nicolas Massu in the best-of-five contest, Fish allowed himself to think of Old Glory being sent up the middle flagpole. So the tears Fish shed some four hours after the match began, when he received his own silver medal, were not droplets of joy.

Fish could bury his tear-stained face in his hands but he couldn't hide his disappointment at losing to Massu 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

"I felt like I had the match in my hands," Fish said. "Two sets to one is a pretty commanding lead when someone seems to be as tired as (Massu) looked in the third set. 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 had every reason to be weary. He had taken the doubles title with partner Fernando Gonzalez in a match that started Saturday, finished Sunday and covered 3 hours, 43 minutes. Roughly 16 hours after completing the doubles match, Massu was back on the court for the singles final.

He took a bathroom break between the third and fourth sets and that seemed to revive him. Fish fought for a break point in the seventh game of the fourth set but couldn't convert it. The resulting swing of momentum carried Massu to a fifth set.

"I just don't understand how someone gets less and less tired after, you know, going hour after hour after hour," Fish said. "I feel like I'm in pretty good shape and I was getting tired there at the end. Maybe he was playing a little cat-and-mouse in the beginning. Maybe he was trying to show me that he was really tired. That's the only thing that I can think of."

As Fish became more fatigued, his backhand suffered. It usually saves him but it betrayed him down the stretch against Massu. On the first match point, on Massu's serve, Fish hit a forehand out for the last of his 105 unforced errors (against 42 winners, 16 more than Massu).

Massu dropped to the court and lay spread-eagle at the baseline after earning his second gold medal in two days and the first two gold medals in his country's history.

Fish plodded to the net and stood there awkwardly, waiting to shake hands with his vanquisher. When seconds passed and Massu didn't get up, Fish, his head hanging, walked to his sideline chair and started gathering the half dozen shirts and handful of rackets he had gone through.

Eventually Massu rose, Fish met him halfway and the Chilean and the American embraced.

Addressing reporters a few minutes later — around midnight local time — Fish admitted the obvious: He was a little bummed out.

"I really wanted to hear the national anthem being played after the match," he said. "I think that was the most emotional thing about it."

Fish did have the time of his life at the Opening Ceremony and during his stay at the Athletes' Village.

"It's definitely a week that I'll never forget," he said. "You know, how many people can say, first of all, that they've played in the Olympics and then won a medal?"

In the locker room after the match, Fish met up with Wilson, the gymnast, who had come with Andy Roddick to watch the match.

"I got one, too," Fish told him.

By the time he returned to the Athletes' Village and ran into athletes curious to see and hold and wear his medal, Fish was pretty sure it would feel, once and forever, like the coolest thing.

Find this article at:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/...nnis_0823.html
*

[lfty]

I'm so happy to hear that! A silver medal is cool.

[tangerine_dream]

Aww, look at that sad pout. Mardy, YOU WON THE SILVER. Don't fret! You will eventually learn to play better under pressure.



August 26, 2004
McEnroe: Dent, Fish Must Learn From Olympic Losses

TennisWeek
By Richard Pagliaro

United States Davis Cup captain and Olympic coach Patrick McEnroe stood on the stage of the United Nations' Dag Hammarskjold Library yesterday and responded to the issue of stage fright.

Asked if Mardy Fish and Taylor Dent — the two members of the American squad who played well enough to reach the Olympic final four, before both stalling amid nerves on pivotal points during medal matches — are mentally strong enough to win major matches, McEnroe said both will learn from their Olympic experience.

"I think it (the Olympic experience) will help. I think obviously the jury is out," McEnroe said. "Fish won a big match in the semis (over Fernando Gonzales) and the Ferrero match at the Olympics (when Ferrero served for the match before Fish rallied to win) as well so he is capable of doing it. So it certainly has to help. Does it mean, you're never gonna win a big match? Well, Mardy won a huge match for us in Davis Cup last year, so I think yes, he is capable of doing it."

As the sons of tennis pros — Dent's father, Phil Dent, was a top 20 player and reached the 1974 Australian Open and Fish's father, Tom Fish, is a respected Florida teaching pro — both young Americans possess an abundance of talent and the technique to match. Yet both sometimes seem to cruise on their gifts and both have struggled to produce their best tennis in majors where the best-of-five set format puts a premium on fitness.

Though both players are capable of beating the best players in the world, neither man has played their best tennis in majors as lack of conditioning can sometimes create concentration lapses apparent in shot selection.

In 15 Grand Slam appearances, the 23-year-old Dent has advanced as far as the fourth round only once — retiring from his fourth-round match with Andre Agassi at Flushing Meadows with a strained hamstring. The 22-year-old Fish has yet to reach the fourth round of a major, exiting in the first or second round in nine of his 11 Slam appearances.

Olympic silver Medallist Fish and fourth-place Olympic finisher Dent will both try to build on their Athens efforts at Flushing Meadows this month.

"Mardy's record so far in five set matches is not great," McEnroe said. "I think that's something he will look to turn around. That comes from confidence and from continuing to work hard and just be a little bit stronger and a little bit fitter."

Asked if Fish feels his loss to Nicolas Massu in the gold-medal match was a case of him letting a golden opportunity — and a two sets to one lead — slip away amid nervous shot selection and an inability to put balls back in the court on pivotal points or was more a matter of a Massu's sheer refusal to lose as the deciding factor, McEnroe said both factors played a part in Fish's losing the lead and ultimately the match.

"I think he views it as a little bit of booth — to be honest with you," McEnroe said. "I think Mardy is obviously devastated to lose it. I think he realizes he had a great tournament overall so that perspective isn't lost on him. Certainly, right after the match, he was devastated. I mean, he knew he had the match and that he was in control of the match."

In McEnroe's mind, Fish lost a bit of the single-minded focus that enabled him to gain the lead in the decisive set. Paying too much attention to Massu's physical — combined with the Chilean's unerring consistency and driven desire — ultimately cost Fish the match.

"I think something he can learn from is he spent a lot of time, I felt in the fifth set, worrying about the fact the other guy was all of a sudden running like a gazelle when he was dead for three sets," McEnroe said. "I think the thing you have to learn is you have to take care of your own business and do your own thing and not worry about how your opponent looks. You have to focus on what you need to do. You know, the energy he spent worrying about the fact that 'How all of a sudden is this guy running now?' was energy misspent."

In off court conversation, both Fish and Dent are intelligent people, yet both showed a lack of court sense and match awareness at times in Athens. Dent was seemingly oblivous to Massu's meanderings around the court after points that slowed the pace of play, while Fish, seemed to get so caught up with Massu's state he lost sight of a fundamental tennis lesson: put returns in the court and make a weary opponent play.

"Players need to be aware of everything that is going on," McEnroe said. "Sometimes you can get caught up in what you're doing too much. There's a fine line between what I'm saying with Mardy, recognizing taking care of your business and recognizing what's going on in the match, and finding that balance between the two so that you don't go overboard in either direction."