Two wrist surgeries kept him from competing, but on Sunday he proved all of us that rehabilitation is working as he defeated tennis player Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to win the U.S. Clay Court Championship. The next thing he will have to do is to make the main draw at Wimbledon in late June.

Fish hadn't been in a lucky streak, before Sunday he had lost six of seven tennis tour finals before. He needs to play at least four more of those before Wimbledon to gain enough ATP points to get straight into the Grand Slam draw. He also started the week ranking 212, but he is projected to jump to position No.120.

This is the first fall of the Austrian Melzer before Fish beat him in a 2003 three-set quarterfinal match here. The title is Fish's first on clay. His only other tour win came three years ago in Stockholm. This explains why this victory means more to Fish than to any other American tennis player that could've won the Clay Court Championship.

While the Americans treat Monte Carlo like anathema, world No.1 tennis player Roger Federer has embraced the dirt in 2006, proclaiming he will play all three Masters Series events at Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg in an attempt to sharpen his game for an assault on Roland Garros.