Dubai: He is currently the best American player on the men's circuit and Mardy Fish is making his Dubai debut with the sole intention of holding the winner's trophy aloft at the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open on Saturday.
"I have come here with the hope of winning. I don't enter a tournament any more not thinking that I can win. This field is amazing and it is one of the toughest among the mandatory events that I have ever been to. I am excited and my whole team is excited as well to be here," Fish told Gulf News after the official draw of the men's tournament at the Majlis at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on Saturday.
"It was my intention to come at least one time to Dubai. I wanted to see what it's like over here in this part of the world. We were in Marseille, so we decided to come and see what it is like here. We flew over Iraq and Kuwait. We've never done that before. This is kind of interesting," Fish said.
Potential clash
Seeded sixth here, Fish lost to Frenchman Albano Olivetti in three sets in the second round of the Marseille Open last week, and is up against Germany's Andreas Beck for a potential quarter-final match-up against four-time Dubai champion Roger Federer.
At 30, Fish has been seen as a late bloomer — though much of it has been attributed to a spate of injuries — while breaking into the top-100 in August 2002 and then proceeding as his best ranking of No 7 in mid-August last year.
"Yeah, I am not getting any younger. I had some success in the past, but I did not have this success when I was younger. Everyone matures at a different rate and I took my time. I work hard now. I am motivated now and that's the more important thing," Fish said.
He praised Andy Roddick for his contribution to American tennis, though he doubts there will ever be a generation as good as Roddick, or for that matter, Pete Sampras.
"Being No 1 in the US was never a goal of mine. I have always been in the generation with Andy [Roddick] and he has always been the No 1 American for me and our generation…and he will always be, at least for me [it is] irrelevant who is ranked ahead of him," Fish said.
He talked about how he and others have great respect for Roddick for what he did on the tennis court.
"There are some great players. Some are in the top 50. Guys like Donald Young and Ryan Harrison are all ready to jump up and they show so much of promise. Sampras is hard to do. The generation that came before us in American tennis is a generation that we will probably never see again," he added.
