Biography of Tennis Player Marcos Baghdatis
Although it may seem as though Marcos Bagdatis has come from out of nowhere to become one of the world’s best tennis players, in actuality, Baghdatis has been on the fast track to success ever since he first picked up a tennis racket.
Baghdatis began playing tennis at age five with his father and brothers and trained at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Paris on an Olympic Solidarity Youth Development Program Scholarship since the age of 13.
Baghdatis became the ITF World Junior Tennis Champion in 2003 and joined the ATP professional tour later that year.
In 2004, Baghdatis performed moderately throughout most of the year but picked up his form later in the season. Baghdatis was one of the two players who took a set off their encounters with eventual champion Roger Federer in the 2004 US Open (the other player was Andre Agassi). Baghdatis then went on an impressive run to finish the year with two challenger tournament titles, in which he defeated many higher ranked opponents.
Baghdatis’s 2005 season began on a low as he crashed out of the Chennai Open in the first round. But he redeemed himself in spectacular fashion in his next tournament, which was the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open.
He ousted then-top-20 player Ivan Ljubicic in the second round and then had a straight sets victory over another top-20 player Tommy Robredo in the third round before running into Roger Federer in the fourth round, where he lost. His 2005 performance at the Australian Open set him apart as one of the young talents to watch out for in the coming months.
Unfortunately, Baghdatis suffered an injury right after the 2005 Australian Open and was out of action until late April, when he entered the clay court tournament Estoril Open in Portugal.
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 made his way through to the finals of the ATP tournament at Basel, defeating former world number 2 Tommy Haas, world number 40 Jose Acasuso, and the would-be 2005 Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian in that run.
Baghdatis started 2006 in an ever-improving fashion. He entered the 2006 Australian Open as an unseeded player and produced an unexpected four-set victory over second-seed and world number three Andy Roddick in the fourth round, outplaying the big-serving American with accurate returns and powerful, well-placed groundstrokes.
He then went on to beat the seventh-seed Croat Ivan Ljubicic in five sets in the quarterfinal and in the semifinal, he came back from two sets down to defeat the fourth-seed Argentine David Nalbandian, again in five sets. In the final against Roger Federer, he started strongly, but eventually lost in four sets to world number 1 Roger Federer, 7-5, 5-7, 0-6, 2-6.
On July 3, Marcos beat Andy Murray in the fourth round at Wimbledon in straight sets. On July 5, he beat Lleyton Hewitt in four sets to reach the semifinals of Wimbledon, where he lost to Rafael Nadal 6-1, 7-5, 6-3.
Not only is Baghdatis an excellent player – and ranked number 10 in the world now, but his open exuberance for the game and festive on-court presence has endeared him to fans all over the globe.
Soon enough – probably around the time he wins his first Grand Slam title – Baghdatis will become a household name in the tennis world – and one that appears as if he’ll stay that way for years to come.
