Marcos Baghdatis quits Davis Cup Team
Upset with his performance in Grand Slam events this year, Marcos Baghdatis announced Wednesday at a news conference that he has quit Cyprus's Davis Cup team.
The 25-year-old said he wants to focus on improving his game to regain a place in the top 10 of the world rankings. In past Davis Cup competitions, Baghdatis has been outstanding representing his country with 54 wins in 67 matches in both doubles and singles play. In single matches alone, Baghdatis is an incredible 38-3. However, the player also admitted that he feels Cyprus has only a slim chance of advancing beyond Group 2 in Davis Cup competition even with him on the team.
In 2006, Baghdatis climbed to a career-high ranking of No. 8 after reaching his first and only Grand Slam final at the Australian Open. He also reached the semifinals at Wimbledon that same year. At the Australian Open, Baghdatis defeated Andy Roddick, Ivan Ljubicic and David Nalbandian en route to the final before eventually losing to Roger Federer. Since his breakout performance in 2006 however, Baghdatis has been bothered by nagging injuries and saw his ranking slip to out of the top 100 last year.
For the most part in 2010, Baghdatis has been healthy and has climbed back up to No. 18 in the rankings. Baghdatis has also beaten Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal this year, and now feels confident that he can get his ranking back into the top 10.
"It was a positive year. I didn't do well at the Grand Slams, but I beat Federer and Nadal. I found a way to do well. I can make it into the 10 best," Baghdatis said.
Baghdatis has a 37-21 record thus far in 2010 and has won one title, winning the Medibank International Sydney tournament back in January. He also plans to compete in four more tournaments this season – three in Asia and one in Russia.
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