WIMBLEDON, England — When Mardy Fish was in Germany last month, playing in the World Team Championship, he agreed to participate in a promotion with the Rhein Fire, a Dusseldorf football team that’s part of NFL Europe. Fish suited up in pads and a jersey without a problem. His field goal attempt didn’t go as well.

In an instant, Fish injured a ligament in his foot, ended his clay court season, and sentenced himself to two weeks without tennis. Whatever the layoff cost him in terms of practice, it’s hurt him far more at Wimbledon. When the French Open came and went without Fish, he dropped five places in the rankings to no. 36, which denied him one of the 32 seeds at the All England Club. He drew Rafael Nadal, the no. 2 player in the world and last year’s finalist, in the first round. Bad luck, for sure, but his coach of two and a half years, Todd Martin, put a positive twist on it.

“It’s a better draw than Nadal at the French Open,” Martin said yesterday as the rain that delayed the first day of Wimbledon came to a stop. “He’s had some good stretches. He’s healthy now, he’s ready to play. It’s just a matter of having belief in himself and going and taking the best swing at the second best player in the world. If he does, he has a real fair shot against him.”

Fish, 25, plays a throwback game of big serves and sharp volleys, the brand of tennis that, while perhaps no longer the ideal way to succeed on the higher bouncing lawns of Wimbledon, is still better suited to this tournament than any other. Last year, Fish reached the third round here for the second time in his career. It was his best performance of the season, and a sign that his left wrist, which underwent two surgeries in 2005, had healed. At the Australian Open earlier this year, he had his best result at a major: a quarterfinal loss to Andy Roddick.

Fish has never lacked weapons. He serves powerfully, if inconsistently, hits a mean two-handed backhand, and volleys well. He’s not a superb mover and his forehand, which he tore apart and rebuilt last year to produce more topspin, still has its off days. Martin believes that with more mental toughness, Fish could do wonders for his ranking. In 2004, he cracked the top 20, but he’s never reached the top 10.

“We all like to have our best be great, but when you play 20 to 25 tournaments a year it’s important that your average and good are really, really good,” Martin said. “It’s a matter more of controlling his mind rather than his body and racket.”

Fish has been criticized in the past for lacking fitness, but Martin said Fish’s less-than-stunning physique inspires more negative remarks than he deserves.

“There are guys out here who are ripped, but they’re not really in that great shape,” Martin said. “Mardy’s not naturally lean, not naturally sculpted.”

Nadal is. The 21-year-old’s fitness has taken on legendary status in his short career, which includes three consecutive titles at the French Open. Before every match, as Nadal and his opponent wait to enter the arena, Nadal bounces and pumps his fists like a boxer. He does the same at the net when the referee tosses the coin to decide who serves first, and then he sprints to the baseline. Nadal doesn’t show off his bulging biceps for nothing — he’s imposing, and he knows it. The longer a match lasts, the less his opponent likes his chances.

There’s no good time to play Nadal, but there’s no better one than the first week of Wimbledon. Nadal nearly lost to Robert Kendrick, another American with a huge serve and an attacking game, in the second round last year. He dropped the first two sets before recovering to win the third one in a tiebreaker. One could see Kendrick’s confidence fade and then disappear. Nadal didn’t lose another set until the final.

Fish knows what it’s like to be smothered by Nadal. They’ve played three times, and Fish hasn’t won yet, not even when they met on grass at Queen’s Club last year. The first set went to a tiebreaker, Fish played it poorly, and Nadal dusted him 6–1 in the second set. Martin said Fish “wilted.”

“He was affected by the persistence, the relentlessness of Nadal,” Martin said. “If that happens [today], it’s not going to be a pretty sight. But Kendrick showed last year if you take it to him, you are going to at least force him to play his best.”

The pairing of Martin and Fish makes sense. Martin, who played two years at Northwestern University, also had a powerful, oldfashioned game that didn’t inspire many believers in his ability. He proved most everyone wrong by finishing two seasons among the top 10 in the world and by achieving a career-high world ranking of no. 4 in 1999. He also reached two Grand Slam finals, at the 1994 Australian Open and the 1999 U.S. Open, and two semifinals at Wimbledon, in 1994 and 1996.

The majors taught Martin a lot about something else Fish has had to cope with the last few years: disappointment. In the Australian Open final, Pete Sampras defeated Martin in three sets. At the U.S. Open, he lost a heartbreaker to Andre Agassi after leading two sets to one. He never had a better chance at a major, and when he retired, he didn’t think he would enjoy playing competitively again. He changed his mind after joining the senior circuit started by Jim Courier.

“I never expected to do it,” he said. “It feels really good to play, it feels really good to play well, and it doesn’t feel all that bad to play badly. There’s no pressure. You go out, you take your best swing, and you accept your limitations a lot better. It was never much fun to accept limitations 10 years ago.”

Fish, in many ways, is like Martin of 10 years ago. Today, it’s time to test his limits against one of the game’s best.

tperrotta@nysun.com