In a recent appearance on GOLF’s Subpar podcast, Mardy Fish got amongst it with hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. The following Q&A originally ran in the January/February 2022 edition of GOLF Magazine and has been edited and condensed for clarity from the original podcast.
Drew Stoltz: You played during maybe what could go down as the greatest era [ever] in professional tennis. You got Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic all coming out. To make a golf comparison, is that the equivalent of, like, three Tiger Woods 2000 out there you gotta compete against?
Mardy Fish: No, there’d be a Jack, Tiger, and I don’t even know who’s third…
Stoltz: Hogan!
Fish: Hogan, yeah. But all of them would be 20-something years old. All in their prime.
Colt Knost: That’s totally what it was like for you.
Fish: Those three [tennis] players — they’ve taken everything from us. They’ve taken our legs, our souls, our bank accounts. Everything. We’ll never see another generation like it.
Stoltz: Yeah. Doesn’t leave much room for everybody else. Who did you … fear isn’t the right word … who did you dread playing or feel most helpless against out of those three?
Fish: No, fear is probably the right word.
Stoltz: Fear is the right word! [Laughter]
Fish: I never beat Novak in singles. I could never find any holes [in his game]. And tennis is different from golf in this way: The better player wins a lot.
Knost: Yes. Right.
Fish: Way more. That’s what makes what Tiger did so amazing. The competition was there, yet he was so dominant.
Knost: You’re also a hell of a golfer. I was just pulling up your handicap, and you’ve currently got a little plus-2.8 index. Hello!
Fish: Yeah. I probably play once a month or so. I don’t even, like, hit balls. [Laughter]
Knost: What?!
Fish: I’m not saying it to be cocky. I have a really hard time going out and just swinging the club and, like, playing a [full] round. I need either three really good friends that I wanna hang out with, or it needs to be a big-money game. I need the action.
Stoltz: You’re one of those guys? You don’t need practice? You can just kinda show up and put the club on the ball? I can’t stand those guys.
Fish: I don’t know, dude. It’s sorta like my lefty golf swing is just like my tennis backhand. It comes so natural. I’ve never taken a lesson, but I know exactly what my ball will, like, do.
Stoltz: No lessons, no practice, shoot 64.
Fish: I grew up playing tennis, playing golf, a little baseball. They invited me out to Dodger Stadium a few years ago, and I hit seven home runs. I’m not very strong at all. But, like, I don’t know…
Stoltz: Jesus. I wanna be you.
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