American tennis player Mardy Fish recently had a medical procedure to correct a heart problem.
Fish hasn’t played since late March after being diagnosed with fatigue. He told USA Today he had a procedure called cardiac catheter ablation on Wednesday to deal with misfiring electrical pulses in his heart. He is recovering at his home in Los Angeles.
“It has been so scary,” Fish told the newspaper for a story posted in its web site Monday.
Fish, who at No. 10 is the highest-ranked American on the ATP Tour, told USA Today that at times he would wake up with his heart racing as if he’d been running sprints.
“It felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest,” he said.
Doctors described his condition as a form arrhythmia. It started afflicting him in February, he said.
Fish said he can resume light training soon and hopes to play at the grass-court tune-up for Wimbledon that begins June 11.
He said withdrawing with the explanation of fatigue bothered him.
“It’s kind of a ugly word for me because I’ve worked so hard the last three years to get that stigma off my name,” the 6-foot-2 right-hander told USA Today.
Fish said he kept his condition quiet until he had a better understanding of it.
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