Marcos Baghdatis: Why Isn't He World Number 1?
Marcos Baghdatis is one of the greatest tennis enigmas to be found in this decade. Beginning a professional career in the year 2003, he seemed full of promise and potential as one of the brightest stars the game could have seen. The 25 year old Greek Cypriot
first came into the media’s eye when he became the ITF World Junior Tennis Champion in 2003, after which he joined the ATP professional tour.
This player was cited by The Guardian as "a wonderfully ebullient character who radiates immense enjoyment whenever and wherever he plays, and has acquired a loyal throng of fans who roar his every winning point." He is one of the only ATP players on tour
who has an unbelievable fan following, with crowds of Greek and Cypriot fans gathering at every match to support him and mock his opposition.
Baghdatis was one of only two players who defeated eventual champion Roger Federer in a set at the 2004 US Open draws.
In 2005, he defeated two top 20 players (Ivan Ljubicic and Tommy Robredo) at the Australian Open. He ended his second year on tour by defeating World Number 2 Tommy Haas, World Number 40 Jose Acasuso and David Nalbandian, losing to Fernando Gonzalez. He
was the first player from Cyprus to reach an ATP tour event final as a qualifier.
In 2006, Baghdatis defeated World Number 3 Andy Roddick at the Australian Open in a surprise four set victory. He also defeated Ljubicic and Nalbandian for the second time, before losing the tournament to Federer. The vocal support which fans from Melbourne
gave him throughout the championship was considered one of the exclusive highlights of the event.
In the next year, 2007, Baghdatis defeated some former adversaries such as Ljubicic and some new opponents, such as Ernest Gulbis and Nikolay Davydenko. 2008 was similar, but Baghdatis defeated Marat Safin and Thomas Johansson at the 2008 Australian Open,
before falling to former World Number 1 Lleyton Hewitt. In 2009 at the Australian Open, Baghdatis defeated Robin Soderling and Mardy Fish, before falling to Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.
In this year’s tournaments, Baghdatis has had a very mixed record. At the Medibank International ATP Tournament, he defeated players such as Viktor Troicki, Hewitt, Fish and, in the final, Richard Gasquet to win the tournament. This raised his ATP ranking
to 31. He consistently lost tournaments after this, defeating lower level players and falling to champions like Davydenko and Djokovic. He also managed to defeat both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, World Number Ones, in this year, thus increasing his points
and climbing to World Number 18, by reaching the quarterfinals and more of many tournaments, but ultimately suffering defeat.
The fact remains, however, that despite many victories and personal triumphs, Baghdatis has steadily failed to make it to the top. A player as talented as him, with top notch reviews and victories over the best players in tennis, should be at a position
much higher than World Number 18. To the fans and critics alike who ask why Marcos Baghdatis fails to make it big, there are several reasons, but one stands out: he has minimal fire power. His game is neither aggressive nor tricky enough to take another player
down in a truly challenging match; his style is too relaxed. He also has a tendency to play dangerous shots, which more often than not backfire and cost him points, games, sets and at times, matches. This high risk tennis develops into a severe handicap for
the player. Add to this, Baghdatis’s tendency to be injured; in 2008, he was forced to skip the Miami Masters, Torneo Godó, Rome Masters, Monte Carlo Masters and Hamburg Masters due to an ankle injury sustained at the Davis Cup, and in the next year he suffered
a knee injury at the Ordina Open. He also claimed to have a right shoulder injury during a match with Lleyton Hewitt.
Taking all these factors into account, it is plain to see that though Baghdatis may in theory be one of the best players out there, his game is weak to a fault, and while he may hover near the top, he does not have what it takes to conquer it.
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