"Can you translate?" - Mardy Fish teases Roger Federer on his famous Indian Wells win
Former American tennis player Mardy Fish got into friendly banter with Roger Federer after a post on social media commemorating the former's famous Indian Wells win 15 years ago.
On March 23, 2008, Fish, ranked 98 in the world, beat World No. 1 Roger Federer 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Indian Wells Masters in a record 64 minutes. It went on to become the quickest win against Federer between 2004 and 2018.
Fish and Federer met nine times on the tour, with the Swiss legend winning the remaining eight encounters.
Taking to social media, Mardy Fish requested Roger Federer to translate a post detailing his famous win.
"@rogerfederer Can you translate this? I don’t speak Spanish. #Thanks!" Fish tweeted.
Tal día como hoy, hace 15 años, Mardy Fish 
(No.98) derrotaba a Roger Federer 
(No.1) en semifinales del Masters 1000 de Indian Wells en 64 minutos de encuentro.
.@rogerfederer Can you translate this? I don’t speak Spanish. #Thanks! twitter.com/onlyrogercanfl…
Mardy Fish struggled with mental health issues
During his heyday, Mardy Fish was tipped to be the next big thing in tennis.
After turning professional at the age of 18, Fish was the top-ranked American for a brief period and reached the final of the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The American entered the top 10 for the first time in 2011 at the age of 30. But in the midst of the 2012 French Open, he suffered severe cardiac arrhythmia.
Although Fish returned to tennis soon after, the pressure at the US Open proved too much for him. He withdrew from his fourth-round match against Roger Federer just moments before it was supposed to begin.
It was then that Fish was diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder. For the next three years, he appeared on the tennis circuit only sporadically until officially announcing his retirement at the 2015 US Open.
Fish spoke of how his mental health issues affected his career in a Los Angeles Times interview in 2021.
“You’ve got to remember, too, I was at the top of my career. And it was all taken away. And looking back on that, you know, ‘Gosh what if I didn’t have to deal with that and I was just kind of a top-10 player and just continuing to sort of play high-end tennis, where would that have taken me?'" Fish recalled.
Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan recently received sanctions from the International Tennis Integration Agency for their involvement in gambling. Fish captained the United States in the 2022 Davis Cup Finals, where they lost in the quarterfinals.
Fish currently serves as an advocate for mental health, using his personal experiences to remind people to prioritize their health and minimize the risk of burnout.