Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis is a Greek Cypriot former professional tennis player and coach. 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. In the latter part of his career, Baghdatis endured a series of injuries that impacted his play.
Personal and early life
Baghdatis was born in Paramytha, Cyprus, to a Lebanese father, Christos, and a Greek Cypriot mother, Androula. He has two brothers—Petros and Marinos—and a sister, Zena, who was adopted by his family at just six months old. His father, a native Lebanese who follows Greek Orthodox Christianity, emigrated to Cyprus from Lebanon and owns a clothes shop. He began playing tennis at the age of five with his father and brothers. He grew up idolizing tennis players Pat Rafter, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. He enjoys playing and watching football and is a supporter of Manchester City in England. He trained at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Paris on an Olympic Solidarity Youth Development Programme Scholarship since the age of 14 and learned to speak French.Baghdatis received the 2005 Cyprus Male Athlete of the Year award. On 28 January 2006, he received an exemption from the otherwise mandatory Cypriot national service so that he could concentrate on tennis.
On 14 July 2012, Baghdatis married the Croatian former tennis player Karolina Šprem. They had their first child, a daughter Zahara, on 20 October 2012, a second daughter, India, on 17 December 2015, and a son, Zeus.
Junior career
Baghdatis played his first junior match in September 1998 at the age of 14 at a Grade-5 tournament in Cyprus. He made the final at the 2002 Junior US Open but lost to Richard Gasquet. He reached No. 1 in the ITF Junior Circuit world singles rankings in January 2003. He then won the 2003 Junior Australian Open as the top seed defeating Florin Mergea in the final. He then repeated his final feat from 2002 at the 2003 Junior US Open but lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, his major rival in his junior career. He then won the 2003 Orange Bowl for the U18 category defeating Gaël Monfils in the final. He ended his junior career after 2003 with a win–loss record of 152–41.Junior Grand Slam results – Singles:
Australian Open: W
French Open: QF
Wimbledon: 2R
US Open: F
Professional career
2004: First full year as professional
Baghdatis performed moderately throughout most of 2004. He picked up his form later in that year.At the US Open, Baghdatis played for the first time in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. He defeated Olivier Mutis in a first-round match 2–6, 6–2, 6–1, 7–5. He was one of only two players who won a set from eventual champion, Roger Federer. Baghdatis then finished the year with two Challenger tournament titles, in which he defeated many higher-ranked opponents.
2005: A rising star
Baghdatis's 2005 season began with a first-round loss in the Chennai Open against Nicolas Devilder. In his next tournament, the Australian Open, as a qualifier, Baghdatis defeated then-top-20 player Ivan Ljubičić in the second round and had a straight sets victory over another top-20 player, Tommy Robredo, in the third round, before losing to Roger Federer in the fourth round. Baghdatis suffered an elbow injury right after the Australian Open and was out of the professional tour until late April, when he entered a clay court tournament, the Estoril Open in Portugal. He held two match points in his first-round match against a resurging Juan Carlos Ferrero, but failed to convert them into a win.Baghdatis kept playing Challengers and qualifying for upper-tier ATP events for the rest of 2005 and found good form towards the end of the year. As a qualifier, he reached the final of the ATP tournament at Basel, defeating former world No. 2, Tommy Haas, world No. 40, José Acasuso, and the eventual 2005 Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian. But he lost the final to Fernando González in four sets. Although he was not the first qualifier to reach an ATP Tour event final, he was the first player from Cyprus to do so.
2006: Australian Open final and entering top 10
Baghdatis entered the Australian Open as an unseeded player, under the coaching of Guillaume Peyre, and produced an unexpected four-set victory over second-seed and world No. 3, Andy Roddick, in the fourth round. He then defeated the seventh seed Ivan Ljubičić in the quarterfinals in five sets. In the semifinals, he came back from two sets down to defeat fourth seed David Nalbandian in five. The vocal support he enjoyed from his local fans throughout the tournament was considered one of the highlights of the tournament. In the final, Baghdatis started strongly, but eventually lost to world No. 1, Roger Federer, in four sets.At the French Open, Baghdatis lost in the second round in five sets to Julien Benneteau. At Wimbledon, Baghdatis defeated Andy Murray in the fourth round in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Baghdatis beat the 2002 champion and former world No. 1, Lleyton Hewitt. Baghdatis then lost to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals in three sets. At the US Open, Baghdatis defeated Alexander Waske in the first round. He played retiring Andre Agassi in the second round, and in a long match that lasted past midnight, Baghdatis lost in five sets. This was to be the final victory of Agassi's twenty-year professional career, as he lost to Benjamin Becker in the following round. At the China Open, an ATP International Series event, Baghdatis defeated Mario Ančić in the final for his first career ATP tournament championship.
2007: Second singles title
Baghdatis was the eleventh seed at the Australian Open but could not match his success from the previous year, losing a second-round match to Gaël Monfils in four sets. He won his next tournament in Zagreb, defeating Ivan Ljubičić in a three-set final. At the Open 13 tournament in Marseille, France, Baghdatis advanced to his second consecutive singles final and the fifth of his career, where he lost to Gilles Simon in two sets. At the French Open, Baghdatis defeated Sébastien Grosjean in the first round and Kristian Pless to advance to the third round. There, he defeated Jan Hájek. In the fourth round, Baghdatis lost to Igor Andreev in four sets.At the first grass-court tournament of the season in Halle, Baghdatis reached his sixth career singles final by defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semifinals. In the final, which took place on his birthday, he lost to Tomáš Berdych. At Wimbledon, as the tenth seed, he made it to the quarterfinals for the second straight year, defeating Ernests Gulbis, Nicolas Devilder, David Nalbandian, and sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, before losing to Novak Djokovic in a five-hour match. At the next Grand Slam, the US Open, Baghdatis was defeated by no. 106 ranked Max Mirnyi in the first round. At the Paris Masters, Baghdatis found good form. He reached the semifinals by defeating Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Robredo. He then lost to second seed Rafael Nadal, in three sets.
2008–2009: Injuries
Baghdatis started his season on the 2008 ATP Tour at the Chennai Open in India, where he lost to Robin Haase in the first round. At the Australian Open, Baghdatis defeated 2002 champion Thomas Johansson and 2005 champion Marat Safin, before losing in the third round to 2005 runner-up Lleyton Hewitt, in five sets. This match lasted 282 minutes, beginning at 11:52 pm and finishing at 4:34 am. At the French Open, he lost in the first round to Simone Bolelli in three sets. At the 2008 Halle Open in Germany he lost to Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. At the Wimbledon Championships, seeded tenth, Baghdatis progressed to the fourth round, where he lost to Feliciano López in five sets. Baghdatis suffered injuries for the remainder of the season and did not participate in the US Open.Entering 2009, ranked No. 96 and having not played since the ATP Paris Masters in late October 2008, Baghdatis entered the Brisbane International in preparation for the Australian Open, losing in the opening round to Jarkko Nieminen.
In the Australian Open, traditionally his best grand slam event, he began with a straight-sets win over 48th-ranked Frenchman Julien Benneteau and followed that up by ousting 16th-seed Robin Söderling in four sets and 23rd-seed Mardy Fish in straight sets. In the fourth round he lost in four sets to Novak Djokovic.
After the Australian Open, he played in the SA Tennis Open tournament in Johannesburg and was the eighth seed. He defeated Andrew Anderson and Raven Klaasen. In the quarterfinals, he lost to David Ferrer in two sets. After getting a wild card for San Jose, he drew Sam Querrey in the first round, and lost in three tight sets. At the Delray Beach International Championships, Baghdatis defeated Ernests Gulbis and Dudi Sela before losing to Jérémy Chardy in the quarterfinals in two tiebreaks. Baghdatis found some form at the Ordina Open 's-Hertogenbosch 250 tournament, beating 15th-ranked Tommy Robredo 7–5, 6–2, to move into the second round. In the second round, he suffered a match-ending knee injury when playing Raemon Sluiter.
Due to the knee injury suffered at 's-Hertogenbosch, he withdrew from the Wimbledon Championships. Baghdatis returned to the ATP Tour with a three-set loss to Wayne Odesnik in Indianapolis. In Los Angeles, he progressed to the second round after beating Frank Dancevic but was upset by John Isner in straight sets, after holding a set point in the second set. Baghdatis won the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open, a Challenger event over Xavier Malisse in the final. The title was his first at any level since triumphing at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Zagreb in February 2007.
Baghdatis failed to qualify for the Cincinnati Masters, losing to Robert Kendrick in the opening qualifying round. He won his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the season, after defeating Xavier Malisse again, in the final of the Trophée des Alpilles in St. Remy. He won his opening match in the ATP 250 tournament in Kuala Lumpur, against Lu Yen-hsun, but was beaten by Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets in the next round.
In the China Open, an ATP 500 tournament held in Beijing, he drew top seeded Rafael Nadal in the first round. He pushed him hard, but was eventually defeated. It was Nadal's sixth straight win over the Cypriot. At the 2009 If Stockholm Open, Baghdatis reached his first ATP final since 2007 at Halle. In the opening round, he upset third seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets. He followed this up with crushing victories over Robert Kendrick and Arnaud Clément. Top-seed Robin Söderling gave Marcos a walkover into the final. Baghdatis beat Rochus in the final to win just his third ATP title, which ended his two and a half year title drought.