Fish Passes Roddick to Become Top American Tennis Player

When the new men's world tennis rankings come out next week, Mardy Fish will be the highest ranked American on the list. He has reached this milestone¹ in his tennis career, remarkably², at the age of 29. With his 7-5, 6-2 win late Wednesday at the Sony Ericsson Open over world No. 6 seed David Ferrer of Spain, Fish earned enough rankings points to move ahead of compatriot Andy Roddick.
Reaching the age of 29 in men's tennis often is a time when many players start thinking beyond hitting balls, beyond the hours of training and the steely focus that is required during a match.
A player who certainly has no such thoughts is Fish, who for the first time in his 11-year pro³ career, assumes a position that has been revered⁴ by players from the United States. He will be the No.1 American in world tennis, moving ahead of one of his closest friends, Roddick.
Defeating Ferrer to reach the semis of the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami brought him that glory.
"I've never been in this position before. Obviously, it's very humbling⁵. This is a pretty big country, [with] a lot of people playing tennis, so I will try to put it into perspective, and I will. Number 11, a career high of number 11 sounds really good, too. And these are the rewards that come with working as hard as I did."
Roddick had held that position every week since January 23, 2007. While Andy will be delighted for his buddy⁶, it's not something that Fish will readily bringing up when they are trash talking. On those occasions, Fish will rub in their golf scores. Mardy says Roddick's tennis career has been far better than his.
This is an honor that's well deserved for Fish, who has been through more than his fair share of health and physical problems. At his lowest ebb⁷, he dropped to No. 341 in the world, and just recently he was diagnosed with a thyroid problem that currently is in check.
Now that Fish has achieved this milestone, he feels the job is not yet done, but the confidence it brings will be an added bonus.
"Confidence is such a huge part of our sport. Obviously I'm still here [competing on the tour], but I'd love to do well on the clay [courts]. I like playing on it. I'm very much looking forward to hopefully being healthy and playing a full clay court season and seeing how well I can do there."
The understated Floridian said this will be something to look back on when his career is over.
"Being the number one American would be something that would be pretty cool to tell my kids about," said Fish.

1 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

2 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

3 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

4 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句

5 humbling   

adj.令人羞辱的v.使谦恭( humble的现在分词 )；轻松打败（尤指强大的对手）；低声下气

参考例句：

• A certain humbling from time to time is good. 不时受点儿屈辱是有好处的。 来自辞典例句
• It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-buildingexperience. 据说天文学是一种令人产生自卑、塑造人格的科学。 来自互联网

6 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

7 ebb   

vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态

参考例句：

• The flood and ebb tides alternates with each other.涨潮和落潮交替更迭。
• They swam till the tide began to ebb.他们一直游到开始退潮。