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TENNIS
Mardy Fish

Fish, Roddick denied last hurrah on the court together

Douglas Robson
USA TODAY Sports
Mardy Fish during his match against Philipp Kohlschreiber at the Western & Southern Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, August 12, 2013.

Mardy Fish is disappointed that he won't be taking the court with childhood friend Andy Roddick at the U.S. Open due to Roddick's inability to comply with existing drug-testing protocols.

Former No. 1 Roddick brought up the idea recently in order to give Fish a possible last hurrah after his career was derailed by a heart ailment and the subsequent psychological after effects.

But Roddick, who retired at the 2012 U.S. Open, no longer adheres to the World Anti-Doping Association's (WADA) requirements after submitting his retirement papers. To compete again, he must be in the testing program for three months prior to an event.

"It was a bummer," former top-10 player and American No. 1 Fish told USA Today Sports Wednesday.

Fish, 32, said he understood the ruling but he and Roddick nonetheless asked ATP Tour board member Justin Gimelstob to see if there was a way around it. WADA said no.

"Selfishly I think exceptions should be made, but it's hard to really get around the drug stuff," Fish said. "They're strict for a reason and that's a good thing. But this is just such a harmless action on our part to try and maybe finalize my career and get on the court with Andy one last time and get back to the Open one last time. I'm not sure I'll be able to do it in singles."

Roddick, 31, also discussed their plan in detail on a Fox Sports Live podcast this week.

"We went through our entire careers as brothers, as Davis Cup teammates - the whole deal - and selfishly, I wanted to see him have an awesome time on a tennis court again," Roddick said.

Fish, now ranked No. 524, hasn't played since last August when he retired in the third set of his match against Jarkko Nieminen at Winston-Salem, N.C. Now trying to make it on the professional golf tour, he has not yet officially retired.

As high school teammates in Florida, Fish said he and Roddick fantasized about playing together in New York but that their singles success made it impossible.

"When we were 15 and 16 years old and thinking and dreaming about the U.S. Open, playing singles and playing doubles together would have been the coolest thing in the world," he said.

"Now here it comes back around full circle. We get the opportunity and the idiot files retirement papers, so we can't play," he added with a laugh.

It could still happen. Chris Widmaier, a spokesman for the U.S. Open, told the Associated Press that the tournament would offer Roddick and Fish a doubles wild card in 2015 if they were eligible.

Fish said he practiced once after agreeing to play with Roddick and was surprised by how far his form had dropped from just a couple of years ago.

"Oh man, I am not as good as I used to be," he said. "Part of me felt a little relieved that I didn't have to do it. But it would have been fun for sure."

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