By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
As Mardy Fish winds down his professional tennis career at the 2015 US Open, it’s a perfect time to take of his legacy and career.
“He’s had a solid career,” said Paul Annacone on Tennis Channel, citing the Vero Beach, Fla., native’s Olympic silver medal in singles won at the 2004 Olympics, six singles titles and being a stalwart on the U.S. Davis Cup team from 2002 to 2012.
My assessment is he could become the modern-day incarnation of Ellsworth Vines.
While Fish didn’t win two U.S. singles titles and a Wimbledon men’s singles title – as Vines did in the 1930s (but did have a comparable cannonball serve as Vines), Fish’s comparison to Vines lies not as much in tennis as it might be in golf.
Vines holds the distinction – along with a man named Frank Conner – of being the only men to play in the modern-day U.S. Open (or the U.S. Nationals pre-1968) and the golf U.S. Open. Althea Gibson also played on the LPGA Tour following her tennis career.
Vines abandoned his tennis career in 1940 to turn his attention to competitive golf. He not only was a competitor at the golf U.S. Open, but in the Masters and the PGA Championship as well. His best finish in the golf majors being a tie for third at the 1951 PGA (he was a losing semifinalist in the match-play format.) In stroke-play majors, his best finish was a tie for 14th at the U.S. Open in 1948 and 1949. His best finish at the Masters was a tie for 24th in 1947.
Fish has been playing at such a high level in golf that he has exploring his options on the pro golf tour. He has played events in lower-level pro tours – the All-American Gateway Tour and the Golden State Tour with mixed success, but became the first alternate in U.S. Open local qualifying in 2014 and 2015.
Frank Conner was a standout American tennis player in the amateur era, competing in the U.S. National in 1965, 1966 and 1967, reaching the second round in 1967. He went on to become a tennis All-American at Trinity University in Texas, one of the top tennis schools at the time. However, he had also picked up and excelled at golf as well and, realizing he could make more money in pro golf than tennis, turned into a golf professional, qualifying for the PGA Tour in 1975. His best finish at a major came at the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion where he finished tied for sixth. He never won an official PGA Tour title, but lost in a playoff to Tom Watson at the 1982 Heritage Classic on Hilton Head Island, S.C. and to Dave Barr at the 1981 Quad Cities Open.
So while you might not be seeing Fish compete on the Tennis Channel anymore, hopefully, fans will be able to see him compete on the Golf Channel.
DONATE: Tom Fish, Mardy’s father, is running in the New York City Marathon on November 1 to raise money for The Mardy Fish Kids Foundation. To donate, click here: http://mffkids.org/runforthekids.html
