Marcos Baghdatis is a Cypriot professional tennis player. No. 1 junior in 2003 with Australian Open juniors title and runner-up at US Open juniors in 2002-03. Won nine junior titles. "Man of the Year" in Cyprus in 2005. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships and reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 8 in August 2006.
Background
Began playing tennis at age five. Played with his father and two older brothers, Marinos and Petros, who played Davis Cup. Father Christos owns a clothing store in Cyprus.bMother's name is Andry. Has a younger sister Zena, who was adopted when she was one month old.
Career
Trained at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Paris on an Olympic Solidarity Youth Development Programme Scholarship since age 13.
2003 -- Won four titles in five Futures finals. Reached final at Bukhara Challenger.
2004 -- Won Bolton and Bratislava Challengers. As wild card at Athens Olympics reached 2nd RD (l. to Kiefer). Qualified into first Grand Slam at US Open and reached 2nd RD (d. Mutis, l. to Federer).
2005 -- Became first Cypriot to rank in Top 100. Reached Australian Open 4th RD (l. to Federer). Underwent surgery on Feb. 9 to correct a congenital problem that caused a pair of muscles to constrict a nerve in his right arm. Notched first Top 10 win (d. Puerta) en route to QF in Tokyo. Qualified in Basel and reached first ATP final (d. Haas, Nalbandian; l. to Gonzalez). Also reached final at Cordoba Challenger.
2006 -- Finished a year-end best No. 12 and won his first ATP title in Beijing (d. Ancic). Opened with QF in Doha and first Grand Slam final at Australian Open (l. to Federer at both). En route, defeated No. 3 Roddick, No. 8 Ljubicic and No. 4 Nalbandian. Reached first AMS QF in Indian Wells (l. to Nadal). On grass, reached SF at 's-Hertogenbosch and Wimbledon (l. to Nadal). Afterwards, spent 13 weeks in Top 10. Fell to Agassi 7-5 in fifth set in 2nd RD at US Open and was American's last career win. Posted a career-best five Top 10 wins (5-6).
2007 -- Finished in Top 20 for second straight year highlighted by second ATP title in Zagreb (d. No. 8 Ljubicic) while reaching two other finals -- Marseille (l. to Simon) and Halle (l. to Berdych). Won a career-high 48 matches and advanced to his first ATP Masters Series SF in Paris (l. to Nadal). Also QF in Doha and Sydney. On clay, advanced to SF in Munich (l. to Kohlschreiber) and 4th RD at Roland Garros (l. to Andreev).On grass, reached final in Halle and QF at Wimbledon (d. Nalbandian, Davydenko, l. to Djokovic in five sets). Compiled 10-5 mark to finish year, reaching QF in Beijing and SF in Basel and AMS Paris (d. Ljubicic, No. 4 Davydenko and No. 8 Robredo, l. to Nadal in three sets).
2008 --The Cypriot was limited to 12 tournaments and fell to No. 100 due to injuries during season...His best results were SF in Marseille (l. to Ancic) in February and QF in Halle (l. to Federer) in June. In January, reached 3rd RD at Australian Open where he lost a four hour, 45 minute five-set marathon that finished at 4:34 a.m. to Hewitt. In June, advanced to 4th RD at Wimbledon (l. to Lopez 8-6 in fifth set) and then was sidelined for two months with a stress fracture in right wrist. Returned week of Sept. 8 and reached SF at Orleans Challenger (retired with back injury vs. C. Rochus). Also retired in two of his last three tournaments in Metz and AMS Paris with back ailment. In doubles, reached first ATP final in Chennai (w/Gicquel).
2009 -- The Cypriot returned to year-end Top 50 by capturing his third career ATP World Tour title and collecting three Challenger titles (14-1 record). In October in Stockholm, defeated Belgian Rochus for his first ATP title since February 2007. The previous week in Tashkent he collected his third Challenger title of year, beating Istomin. He also won titles in Vancouver in August and St. Remy in September, defeating Malisse in both. In February, he advanced to QFs in ATP World Tour tournaments in Johannesburg (l. to Ferrer) and Delray Beach (l. to Chardy). Compiled marks of 21-12 on hard, 2-2 on grass and 0-2 on clay.
2010 -- The Cypriot finished in Top 20 for first time in three years and won fourth career title. Reached QFs or better 11 times. Won title in Sydney (d. Hewitt, Fish and Gasquet in last three rounds). Donated $5,000 of his prize money to the World Vision Australia Haiti Earthquake Appeal. Runner-up in Washington (l. to Nalbandian) and Moscow (l. to Troicki). Only player in 2010 to beat Nadal and Federer while they were No. 1. In March, saved three match points in three-sets win over No. 1 Federer in 3rd RD in Indian Wells. In August, beat No. 1 Nadal in Cincinnati QF en route to SF (l. to Federer). Shoulder injury sidelined him in October. Was 35-18 on hard and 8-6 on clay.
2011 -- The Cypriot reached 11th career final in Kuala Lumpur (l. to Tipsarevic), SF on grass in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Dodig) and QF in 5 other hard court events while finishing in Top 50 for 5th time in 6 years. Compiled match records of 16-17 on hard, 5-2 on grass and 3-7 on clay while going 1-5 vs. Top 10 opponents. His lone win came over No. 5 Murray (1R) in Rotterdam en route to QF.
2012 -- The Cypriot finished in Top 50 for 6th time in 7 years (except ’08), with SF results in Sydney (l. to Benneteau), Zagreb (l. to Lacko), Tokyo (l. to Nishikori) and Stockholm (l. to Tsonga). Also reached QF in Brisbane (l. to Murray) and Munich (l. to Haas). In Grand Slam play, best result was 3R at Wimbledon (l. to Murray). Lost in 2R in other Slam events. Highest ranked win came over No. 10 Monaco in Tokyo 2R...Had 5 Top 20 wins overall. Went 26-16 on hard, 6-4 on grass and 3-5 on clay. Went 1-8 vs. Top 10 opponents.
2013 -- Reached SFs in Brisbane (d. Simon, l. to Dimitrov in 3rd set TB). Beat Ramos in five sets in Australian Open 1R, before falling to Ferrer in 3R. Has 22-9 career record at Australia Open & has never lost in 1R. On 7 February, lost in Zagreb 2nd RD (l. to Kavcic) and withdrew from doubles (w/Youzhny) due to foot injury. On 26 February, failed to convert 3 M.P. at 5-4 in 3rd set versus del Potro in Dubai 1R, losing 76(3) in decider. On 8 March, withdrew from Indian Wells doubles (w/Youzhny) due to a shoulder injury. On 5 May, as a first-time pairing with Butorac, reached the Munich doubles final (l. to Nieminen-Tursunov); dropped to 1-2 in team finals. On a six-match singles losing streak after falling in ‘s-Hertogenbosch 1R (l. to Berlocq).
Views
Quotations:
“To have the crowd support -- it's incredible.”
“I think it's getting crazy - all of the people are watching my match.”