'The helper of the players': Former tennis player teams with US Open to take on mental health

NEW YORK — Mardy Fish can still pinpoint the moment, just about nine years ago, when his anxiety crossed through the thick white lines. It was the type of scenario that most tennis players dream of — primetime at the U.S. Open, headlining a match at Arthur Ashe Stadium — but by the end of it, Fish didn’t feel relief or joy. He defeated his opponent, Gilles Simon, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3, earning a date with Roger Federer in the fourth round, and he felt agony.

It started in the fourth set. Fish was up two sets to one, and he saw it was after midnight. The set was at 3-2, and instead of thinking about how to close it out, he was thinking about what was to come: the press conference, the massage, the meal, the ice bath. He added all of that time up, and realized he might not go to sleep until 4 a.m. And then he thought about the next day, and how it would feel, probably like a hangover, even though he hadn’t had a drop of alcohol. And then he thought about his mind, and how it would run then, just as it was running now.