Debutant Fish excited for O2 appearance

 

Originally published on: 16/11/11 10:10

Mardy Fish has told the ATP he feels under no pressure to perform at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and is excited by his opportunity to feature at the year-end event, which begins on Sunday.

While there is never an easy draw in the season finale at the O2 Arena, the American has been given the ultimate test in Group B, with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Jo Wilfried Tsonga also bidding for a place in the semi-finals.

Even so, Fish is certainly not daunted to be featuring in the event off the back of his career best year.

“I’m sort of taking the approach of being excited to be a part of this thing,” said the American. “Obviously, there are no ‘gimmes’. Roger’s won the tournament five times; he’s won more times than I can even imagine getting in. So there’s zero pressure playing anyone.

“There are good match-ups around the board for some guys,” he continued. “Some of these top guys you play better than others. I’ve had good results against Top 10 players so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities to get to the semis and beyond for me. I feel like that and I’m sure everybody will feel like that going in. These guys are all the best of the best; anyone can beat anyone at this event.”

Fish begins his campaign against Rafael Nadal on Sunday night, and though the Minnesota-born right-hander has lost seven of eight career meetings with the world No.2, he did defeat Nadal in straight sets on the hard courts of Cincinnati this summer.

“I feel like I match up better against Rafa than I do against Novak,” said Fish. “I beat Rafa in Cincinnati for the first time and actually played him pretty good in Tokyo as well.”

Now get the WORLD’S BEST TENNIS MAGAZINE here