Mardy Fish will aim for a comeback to tennis as early as the pre-Wimbledon Queens events in a fortnight, following a medical all-clear after the worried American overcame a two-month heart rhythm scare.
The 30-year-old world No.10 revealed to USA Today the details behind his absence from tennis since early April.
“I want to stress that I’m good now. I’m fine. They’ve fixed the problem,” he said. “I don’t want people to think I missed the French Open because I didn’t want to go because I was just tired. That’s just not the case.”
Fish said he had been bothered by incidents in which he would wake up at night with a heart rate of up to 180 beats per minute – three times faster than normal.
Doctors investigated over time and eventually solved the problem by “disabling” a circuit in his body that was causing the arrhythmia.
“It felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest,” Fish said.
“During days, I’m totally fine. But every time I would go to bed, my mind would start racing. ‘Is this going to happen tonight? Is this going to be another night like that?’ It was super hard to go to sleep.”
Fish said he first experienced the symptoms during February’s Davis Cup win over Switzerland in Europe.
He said he hoped to resume training this week at his Los Angeles base.