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Mardy Fish the latest to come back from tennis wilderness into the limelight

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Barry Millns praises the achievements of Mardy Fish last week and recalls how the likes of Andre Agassi and Goran Ivanisevic went one better in the past

In the end there was no fairytale finish for Mardy Fish in Indian Wells last week. But, as the 26 year-old American (once ranked as high as No.17) showed, there is nothing like winning matches against some of the best players in the world to rebuild confidence, upset the odds and boost the ranking.

Down at No.98 when he entered the year's first Masters Series event, Fish heads into Miami at No.40 following his latest six wins, all against higher ranked players including five seeds and three in the Top 10. Having slipped in under the radar at Indian Wells after doing little of note in the past year, Fish (currently trading at [520.0] for the French Open title) proved to be a most 'dangerous floater' in sweeping past Florian Mayer, Igor Andreev [270.0] and Nikolay Davydenko [100.0].

Having dealt with the initial pressure of trying to avoid another quick exit and built up some momentum, a feeling of 'nothing to lose, everything to gain' took over and his back-to-back final set tiebreak wins over Lleyton Hewitt [280.0] and David Nalbandian [26.0] were outstanding achievements, both physically and mentally. Consequently, by the time Fish took on Roger Federer [6.8], who had won all five of their previous matches, he felt he could beat anyone including the world No.1, and barely missed a ball as he fearlessly thumped the Swiss 6-3, 6-2!

Novak Djokovic [8.4] ultimately prevented Fish from taking the title, but the latter's headline making run through the draw served as a reminder that class players invariably remain a threat regardless of their ranking. As Federer said after falling to him, "The guy has been top 20 before, and he's had big matches before...Let's not talk about 98 in the world. We know he's way better than that."

Andre Agassi was the last American to win Indian Wells back in 2001. By then the Las Vegan was a tennis legend having two years previously become only the fifth man ever to win all four grand slams, following a dramatic decline in fortunes that would have broken lesser mortals.

Having topped the rankings for first time in April 1995, by 1997 Agassi's career was in freefall - loss of form, fitness and motivation saw him nosedive out of the top 100 and the tennis wilderness beckoned. But in something close to a sporting epiphany, with the help of coach Brad Gilbert and fitness trainer Gil Reyes, Agassi saw the light and came back better than ever to make the most of himself.

From rock bottom at No.141 in November 1997 Agassi swallowed his pride, played in a couple of challengers to start rebuilding his confidence, was back at No.4 a year later and the following June crowned his remarkable revival by winning that elusive French Open. Four more major triumphs followed, along with a return to the top of the rankings, and the sport, not just Agassi, benefited hugely as a result.

Another great example of returning with unstoppable momentum seemingly from nowhere belongs to Goran Ivanisevic. Three times a Wimbledon runner-up, injuries and loss of form appeared to have ended the Split personality's last hope of ever becoming a grand slam champion when he was handed a wild card by the All England club in 2001.

Ranked No.125 at the time and fast approaching his 30th birthday, few backed the Croat to make it to the second week let alone the final. But by the time he took on Pat Rafter for the title, Ivanisevic had beaten two former world No.1s, another one in the making, plus Britain's heroes Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman, and looked destined to win the trophy - which is exactly what he did 9-7 in the fifth!

As many great players have said down the years it is one thing to reach the top, quite another to stay there. Such comebacks from near oblivion are few and far between but when they occur, they often define the individuals concerned and leave us eagerly awaiting the next one.

What odds on that being Marat Safin [500.0]? Hmm, maybe not...