Harrison replaces exhausted Fish in Davis Cup

Top-ranked American Mardy Fish is suffering from "extreme fatigue", which forced him to pull out of the United States' Davis Cup tie against France in Monte Carlo. The tie begins on Friday.

USTA.com reported that doctors told world No. 9 Fishâ€"who reached his first quarterfinal of the year last week in Miamiâ€"that he must rest for a minimum of two days, which prevented him from traveling abroad. Fish reportedly had a minor health scare on Thursday, March 29 in Miami, the same day that he lost to Juan Monaco in the quarterfinals.

Fish has been complaining of fatigue all year; at the Australian Open, he attributed it to having the shortest off-season of his career, as he qualified for the year-end ATP Championships for the first time. He then decided to play the Hopman Cup exhibition, which starts at the beginning of the year, and traveled to Australia just after Christmas.

Fish then played an exhibition in Kooyong, the Australian Open, the first round of Davis Cup in Switzerland (where he beat Stanislas Wawrinka in five sets and then teamed with Mike Bryan to defeat Wawrinka and Roger Federer in doubles), Marseille, Dubai, Indian Wells, and Miami.

American teenager Ryan Harrison will replace Fish on the roster. Harrison won his first Davis Cup match in Switzerland over Michael Lammer in a dead rubber. It is unclear whether former Davis Cup stalwart Andy Roddick, who complained in Miami of being out of shape, was asked to replace Fish.

"I think it is pretty important that Ryan was a part of the team and that he got on the court in Switzerland, even if it was for a match that was a dead rubber match," U.S. captain Jim Courier told USTA.com. "Those moments are still meaningful for him as a player and they are meaningful for us on the bench together because we have a better communication now as a result of having been through a match together and I hope it will help him when he is playing in his two matches here."

The rest of the U.S. team includes No. 11 John Isner and the No. 1 doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan.

France’s top clay court player, Gael Monfils, has also pulled out of the tie with an injury. His replacement has not been named yet. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga leads the French team that includes Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau.â€"MC