Three US players Mardy Fish, Robby Ginepri and Michael Russell have decided to made their farewell from tennis during 2015. The retirement of these three players has marked the end of an era for US tennis which is looking for new stars. After some difficult years the 2015 season was highlighted by some promising rising stars like Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe who could follow in the footsteps in the years to come.
Mardy Fish returned to the court in 2015 last March at the Indian Wells and announced his farewell from tennis last September during the US Open. He was diagnosed with severe cardiac arrhytmia in March 2012 and suffered from panic attacks that left him feeling unable to be competitive and forced him to step out of tennis.
Fish reached a career high Number 7 in the ATP Ranking on 15th August 2011. That year he reached the Wimbledon quarter finals and qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals. During his career Fish reached 20 finals and won four titles. He finished runner-up in four Masters 1000 (Cincinnati 2003, Indian Wells 2008, Cincinnati 2010 and Canadian Open 2011). He led by two sets to love and went up a break in the fourth set in the Olympic final against Nicholas Massu in Athens 2004 before losing his chance to win the gold medal in the fifth set. After his second round match against Feliciano Lopez last September Fish left the Louis Armstrong Stadium in tears. He received an emotional standing ovation from the crowd when he said: “I have got a lot of great memories. I have got a lot of good wins out here. I have made a lot of really good friendships with almost everyone out here. I will miss that”, said Fish.
Robby Ginepri retired from tennis before the US Open. In 2005 Ginepri beat three consecutive five-set matches before losing to André Agassi in an epic five-set match. Ginepri reached two Masters 1000 semifinals in Madrid and Cincinnati and reached the career-high of World Number 15 in 2005. He won three ATP titles at Newport in 2003 and Indianapolis in 2005 and 2009. He suffered a mountain bike accident in October 2010 and underwent elbow surgery twice.
“To play tennis as a profession and compete on the biggest stages around the world is a privilege and I will forever be grateful to have had the opportunity”, said Ginepri.
Michael Russell, nicknamed “Iron Mike”, reached a career high Number 60 in the ATP Ranking, finished runner-up with his teammate Xavier Malisse in the doubles final in Atlanta in 2012. As a qualifier at the 2001 Roland Garros Russell led Gustavo Kuerten by two sets to love and 5-3 in the third set but he failed to convert a match point before losing in four sets.
