Mardy Fish beat John Isner on Sunday, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4), to win the inaugural title at the new Atlanta Tennis Championships. Mardy took out Andy Roddick in the semifinals last night – his first win over his good buddy in ten tries. Yep, it’s all going swimmingly for Fish. He’s on a ten match winning streak, having won his last event in Newport, and is getting all sorts of props and attention (not to mention results) for the svelte physique he’s been working on since rehabbing from knee surgery in September.
Mardy talked about the recognition after beating Roddick on Saturday:
“It’s one of the best wins I’ve had… It’s tough to beat a great friend… He (Roddick) said to me at the net: ‘I know how hard you’ve worked, so enjoy it.’… I’ve put away a lot of things I enjoy.“
The friendly moment:
Lean Fish was quoted on his weight-loss regimen after beating Andy Murray at the Sony Ericsson Open last spring: “It (losing weight) was almost impossible,” Fish told the Miami Herald. “I felt like I was starving myself for a month and a half. It was really hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it.”
To paraphrase supermodels everywhere: “Nothing tastes as good as victory feels.” I look forward to reading the Vogue feature story on Mardy’s new look.
We have a new ATP Champ! Andrey Golubev won the first ATP tour title for himself and the country of Kazakhstan today with his 6-3, 7-5 victory over Jurgen Melzer at the German Open. The twenty-three-year-old world #82 beat Nikolay Davydenko and didn’t drop a set on his way to the title this week. Talk about a momentum shift: since making his first final in the 2008 Saint Petersburg tournament, Golubev’s failed to win more than two matches in a row at any ATP level event, and had only eight match wins this season going into the tournament. “I just hope that this tournament is not the last like this and that the other tournaments also become good for me,” Golubev said in an interview with the ATP.
Also in the winner’s circle for the first time is German Julia Goerges, who beat Swiss Timea Bacsinszky in Bad Gastein, Austria to win her maiden WTA tour title.
I just love the first-timer bliss:
Feels like the first time: Former top five star and US Open semifinalist, Anna Chakevetadze, won her first title in over two and a half years this weekend, beating first-time finalist Johanna Larsson, 6-1, 6-2 in the final of the Slovenia Open. This win vaults Anna from No. 103 in the world to No. 75.
AP Photo via Daylife
Via ESPN: “I haven’t expected such a success,” Chakvetadze said, but the final “is a nice reward for my efforts to get back among the best players of the world.”
I’m really happy for Anna, who has battled with injury, flagging confidence, and perhaps some lingering stress after being victim to a violent home invasion in Moscow at the end of 2007. The WTA joins me: “Chakvetadze’s Back!” is the headline on its website.
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