Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis
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Marcos Baghdatis

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Marcos Baghdatis

Marcos Baghdatis (Greek: Μάρκος Παγδατής; born 17 June 1985) 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.

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 Greek Orthodox Christian, emigrated to Cyprus from Lebanon and owns a clothes shop.

Marcos 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 from age 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.

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 (2003)
French Open: QF (2003)
Wimbledon: 2R (2001, 2002)
US Open: F (2002, 2003)

Baghdatis performed moderately throughout most of 2004. He picked up his form later in that year.

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