Talk about Fish long enough and you will learn that there is Fish the tennis player, and Fish the person. The player might have had his struggles, but the person was always very popular with the boys. And the girls.
“Mardy was like any other teenager,” says Boster. “He enjoyed all sports, cars, music and girls.”
And the girls must have enjoyed Mardy. His wife, the lovely actress Stacey Gardner, gets more stares from the Centre Court crowd than Hawkeye.
“The first thing that comes to my mind with Mardy is a good time,” says Blake. “He is someone that is always making people laugh. When we were younger and playing a lot of doubles together, I remember that some of the other doubles players thought we weren't taking it seriously. Yet we played great and were trying, but we just had so much fun that we were laughing the whole time we were on the court.”
It was billed as the Battle of Bogota. A Davis Cup World Group play-off tie between Colombia and the United States of America. The warm sunny days that Bogota enjoyed all week came to end on the final day of the tie. It was a damp, grey Sunday morning when play started in the Plaza de Toros. The bullring was draped in the tricolour of the Colombian flag; yellow, red and blue. As the Colombian crowd entered the Plaza de Toros wearing sombreros, tight fitting blue jeans and leather cowboy boots, Fish entered the bullring with his ball cap pulled down low and dressed like a Ralf Lauren poster boy. However, image was the last thing on this quiet American’s mind. He might as well have entered with a hard hat and tool box for it was obvious by his demeanour and five-set win on the first day and four-set doubles win on the previous, that he was not leaving Colombia until it was 'Mission Accomplished'.
tricolour: =tricolor 三色的 (如果大寫the Tricolor 就變成法國國旗的名稱喔)
demeanour: 行為，舉止
The scoreboard indicated the Americans were leading, but if synergy could talk it would say that this would be death in the afternoon for Team USA. It would not be pretty tennis, but at an altitude of 8,000-feet, it never promised to be. In addition to Santiago Giraldo and Alejandro Falla of Team Colombia, Fish was facing a clear and present danger to his mission; pressure-less tennis balls. With a forehand that looks more like a slingshot than a stroke taught from a ‘How To Play Tennis Manual’, Mardy would have to adapt to the tricky conditions. Fish went old school mixing up quick and delayed pressure so much that not even captain Patrick McEnroe knew what he would do next.
indicate: 指出
synergy: 合力，協力
altitude: 海拔高度
“Mardy has great variety in his game,” quipped McEnroe wisely. “He can adapt to the situation as needed.”
Early in the fourth set, there was a bit of a scare for Team USA when Fish, on a coast to coast scramble, tumbled to the court, plowing his racquet hand into the clay. The flesh on three knuckles was ripped off. With blood on his hands, and the momentum swinging towards Colombia, Fish toughened up.
scramble: 攀爬
knuckle: 關節
“It looked worse than it was,” says Doug Spreen, Team USA trainer. “Basically, we washed it out. Mardy gritted his teeth, and went back to the front lines.”
He would need a little more than toughness to take down Santiago Giraldo who was now scrambling around the court like a terrier in heat. The match was level at two sets all.
terrier: 牛頭梗，狗名 (一種動作很迅速敏捷的小狗)
When Giraldo broke the Fish serve at five games each, it looked like Mardy was done and dusted. With Giraldo now serving at 30-all, somebody from Team Colombia did not do their homework because Giraldo served to Fish’s backhand. Hell, even on the ATP Player Profile it says clear as day that the backhand return is Mardy’s favourite shot. Fish blistered the return for a forcing error. Break point converted proved to be Brokeback Mountain for Colombia.
This Davis Cup tie will forever be remembered as the Mardy Fish Show, and for rescuing the Americans from relegation. Team USA Coach Jay Berger adds.
relegation: 遺棄 (這裡指Fish把美國隊從淘汰邊緣救回)
“It came down to Mardy getting the ball in the court more than anyone else,” says Berger. “Mardy brought a lot of commitment to the team without any ego. Before we had our first practice, he told us that he did not care if he does not play at all, or if he plays every match. He is here to do whatever it takes to the get the win and get back to the World Group.”
“Mardy leads by example,” says Davis Cup teammate Ryan Harrison. “You see the way he goes about preparing. Every day same routines, he gets out before everyone else. First one at breakfast, etcetera. I have learned a lot from him.”
etcetera: = et cetera 等等 (也是常看到的etc.)
“I watched every last point of Mardy's matches in Bogota and he was inspirational,” says new Davis Cup Captain Jim Courier. “Winning all three points in a tie puts him in rare company in US team records.” 
After listening to any and all who have ever known Mardy Fish, it sounds as if all of his career he has been auditioning for a role in a Batman movie. Only he was not sure if he wanted to play the hero or the Joker. After the stunt he pulled in Bogota, how about Ironman? These days he has an entire cast of coaches singing his praises.
“Mardy has started buying shares in himself,” claims Stanford Boster.
“The maturing Mardy Fish is what we are seeing today,” says Kelly Jones.
On 28 December 2010, Mardy Fish cut his holiday short and arrived in Brisbane, Australia a week early.
“I did not want to leave anything in the bag for the start of the year,” said Fish. “I wanted to make sure that I did everything right preparation wise.”
wise: ...的方式，...的方向
Mardy’s coach, David Nainkin, believes that he is on the right track.
“Mardy is a true professional,” says Nainkin. “A lot of good years in him.”
If we have learned anything about Mardy Fish, it is that he is a multi-talented athlete who is a lot of fun to be around and who saves his best stuff for the biggest stage. Now that he has added substance to the style, it is most likely that we will be seeing a whole lot more of the talented Mr. Fish in 2011.
substance: 物質
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