MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Mardy Fish said doctors have diagnosed the mystery illness that has been sapping his energy as a thyroid problem.
The No. 16 seed exited the Australian Open on Wednesday with a four-set loss to Spain's Tommy Robredo. He had a tough first round, too, having to come back from two sets down to win in five for the first time in his career.
Fish, who had a career-best 40 match wins in 2010 and is the second-highest ranked American behind good friend and Davis Cup teammate Andy Roddick, said he was lucky to have lasted the distance in the first round and came into the second round very sore.
He had blood taken recently to try to identify a medical reason for listlessness occurring despite a strong fitness regimen during the off season. He said doctors in Australia had told him it was a problem with his thyroid, a large endocrine gland that secretes hormones that help control how quickly a body uses energy.
It just kind of zaps you,'' said Fish, 29.It's a tough to explain. You kind of feel a little helpless because your body kind of doesn't let you go (on).''
Doctors were not sure of the exact cause, though it might be a virus, he said. Fish plans to seek treatment when he gets back to the United States.
I didn't feel unbelievably sick. It was just one of those things where you go on the court and you just get tired after 30 to 45 minutes,'' Fish said.It was alarming and frustrating, and it's been going on for about a month. Hopefully it's going to run it's course soon.''
BATTLE OF CHAMPIONS: When Justine Henin and Svetlana Kuznetsova meet in the third round, it will be the first time at this Australian Open that two Grand Slam winners go head-to-head.
Former No. 1-ranked Henin, winner of seven Grand Slam titles, is entering the second stage of a comeback after a 20-month retirement. Serena Williams denied Henin the Australian Open title in the final last year, when she was also troubled by injuries.
Kuznetsova has a lower profile than Henin, but is considered capable of upsetting more favored players. She won the 2004 U.S. Open and the 2009 French Open, and until 2010 had reached the quarterfinals or better in at least one major every year since 2002.
It's going to be a tough one, and we are both coming up and playing better,'' said Kuznetsova, who is the only unseeded player among the seven women at Melbourne Park who have previously won a Grand Slam title.Definitely we're both not at our top level, but it's going to be just a great match.''
Henin, seeded 11th, said Kuznetsova was a tough opponent to face in the third round.
She has been a little more in trouble in the last maybe year or two years,'' Henin said.I think she remains a great player, and physically she has a lot of qualities - big forehand, great serve. So I know I'll have to be at my best to win that one.''
HIGH FIVE: Fernando Verdasco holds the record for the longest match ever played at the Australian Open, at 5 hours and 14 minutes. Digging deep at Melbourne Park is becoming a habit.
The ninth-seeded Verdasco reached the third round at Melbourne Park for the third year running on Wednesday in yet another five-set marathon.
Verdasco has five career titles but is best remembered for his semifinal against Rafael Nadal in Melbourne in 2009, when the two Spaniards battled for 314 minutes in a match that started at dusk and ended after 1 a.m. He followed that last year with a fourth-round loss to Russia's Nikolay Davydenko that also went to five sets.
This year, Verdasco had a straight sets win in the first round but found himself two sets down to Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic on Wednesday. He won the third set, then saved a match point in the fourth and closed out by dropping just one point on his serve in the fifth.
His strategy was simple.
Don't push the brake, keep pushing the gas,'' the Spaniard said.Keep fighting all the time. I was really close to losing today. I think that just my mentality was the key, one of the biggest keys today to coming back.''
BRIGHT SIDE: Perhaps it's a sign of the gap between the best and the rest in women's tennis that Elena Baltacha came away from a drubbing from Justin Henin feeling great.
Britain's top-ranked woman lasted a little more than an hour against Henin, whose powerful backhand and aggression were too good for for Baltacha.
Baltacha, who scraped into the top 50 at No. 49 for the first time last year, could take some comfort from her performance in the second set, when she threw caution to the wind and let loose on her first serve.
I went out there and I thought, 'Right, I've got to really kick it. I've got to really do something quite extraordinary here,''' Baltacha said.Then I kind of got into the match, and then it kind of just went away from me.''