by Heather Marcoux
From SniffandBarkens.com
Retired tennis star Mardy Fish is known for his skill as a hard court specialist, but he’s not the only member of the family with an affinity for the sport’s equipment. His seven-year-old dachshund, Charlie, is also a big fan of bouncing tennis balls.
Sniff & Barkens thought our dog-loving followers might want to know more about the role Charlie plays in Mardy’s life, so we reached out to this tennis great for more information.
A lifelong lover of dachshunds, Fish and his wife, Stacey, brought Charlie into the family just after the pair were married in 2009. It was a major time of transition in Fish’s life. After getting married and getting a dog, the tennis player was embarking on a new chapter not just at home, but also on the court.
At 27 years of age, with a silver medal from the 2004 Olympics already under his belt, newlywed Fish changed his lifestyle and his eating habits. He lost 30 pounds and found himself performing at a higher athletic level than ever before. By 2011, Fish was the #1 ranked American tennis player and #7 in the world. While his fans, known as “Fishheads”, cheered their player on at the French Open and Wimbledon, little Charlie was waiting to welcome her hero home from his international adventures.
“She always was the first one at the door,” Fish recalls, adding that Charlie would become so overwhelmed with happiness she would pee a bit. “[She was] so happy to see me.”
Fish’s number one canine fan, Charlie would lick her human’s face for hours when he returned from a match or a tournament, and was always up for a game of fetch. Fish says even after spending his days hitting tennis balls, he didn’t mind picking them up in his off hours because it made high-energy Charlie so happy.
Things changed for Fish in 2012 when his health took a turn for the worse at the height of his career. Suffering from an arrhythmia, the tennis player often felt his heart racing out of control. Fish had an ablation, a corrective procedure to regulate the electrical signals around his heart. After taking some time off he was given the okay to get back on the court. Unfortunately, his health challenges didn’t end there. His heart was no longer racing, but his mind was.
Intensely focused on being the best tennis player he could be, Fish often found himself in a high state of anxiety when facing an extremely physical match that might challenge his heart. On Labor Day 2012, just before his match against Roger Federer in the fourth round of the U.S. Open, Fish was forced to pull out after a series of severe anxiety attacks on his way to the court. It was the kind of match for which players train their entire career, but in that moment Fish chose to prioritize his health over his sport.
When he returned home, Charlie was waiting for him. The little dog would prove to be a big support to the tennis star as he dealt with his anxiety.
“For the first few months I couldn’t leave my house. She was always right there with me,” he says, noting that Charlie was always happy to lie by his side after a hard day. “She never cares what’s going on. [She] just wants to be loved.”
In 2014 Fish’s family expanded again, when he, Stacey, and Charlie welcomed a new baby into the household. The new father also returned to the tennis court, but retired in 2015, saying goodbye to the game at that year’s U.S. Open.
These days, Fish is mentoring young tennis players, but also focusing on fatherhood, his golf game, and his children’s foundation, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, but he always has time for Charlie and the love that comes from his canine companionship.
“You never ever feel alone when you have a dog in the house,” he says.
For more on Mardy Fish and his work on behalf of children in Vero Beach, visit MardyFishFoundation.com To learn more about Sniff & Barkens’ effort to bring the world together through our shared love of dogs, visit SniffandBarkens.com.
