Baghdatis and his kebabs

It has been common knowledge that Marcos likes his food. Kebabs is one of his favourite dishes. A Melbourne kebab house has gone as far as naming a version of the quintessentially Cypriot dish after him. Rumour has it he used to sneak out for a kebab or two at 4am before major games.

Apparently serious tennis players don't do that. Someone pointed this out to him recently, and if you believe the press, those days are over . He is now:

• stopping futsal (even I used to see him knocking a ball around in Cyprus)
• he has cut out beer drinking
• he has cut out those infamous kebabs

Baghdatis beats David Ferrer

What a match. What an epic match!!! 2 sets to 0 down, never having beaten Ferrer before. What a game to turn around. Yet again Marcos makes the headlines (for the right reasons)!

He is the Australian Open.

I predict that the Hewitt match will be rostered for the Rod Laver arena. We beat him last week, we should beat him again. Just like at Wimbledon 2007. Take revenge for last year's loss.

Baghdatis to meet Ferrer.

Paolo Lorenzi was no match for Marcos, who brushed him aside with a 6-2 6-4 6-4 win. Worryingly, David Ferrer (our next opponent) easily won his first game. He has beaten us twice in the past.

Match most likely to be played on Thursday. I wander which court we will be allocated.

Baghdatis wins Sydney 2010

First ever encounter vs Gasquet, won in straight sets (6-4,7-6)! What a comeback, after trailing 5-2!
A few Euros in the bank and 250 much appreciated ATP points. Not a bad way to start the year. Let's keep up the momentum Marcos.

Baghdatis spears a Fish!

Could we please meet Mardy Fish over and again? 3 for us in encounters to date. 0 for the Fish.

Final is vs Richard Gasquet. These two have yet to meet to date. For those who want to watch it, it is on (Greek) Eurosport 2. 10:30am (Athens Time)

Baghdatis beats Hewitt (again)

With this 2-1 win Marcos is through to the semis. Head to head, it is 2-1 to Marcos now.

Mardy Fish next. He's ranked below us (cough, i thought we had hit rock bottom gov?) plus he's felt the wrath of Marcos twice in the past. Marcos dismissed him last week in Brisbane, straight sets. The omens are good.

Marcos Baghdatis in Australia!

Marcos started the year in true fashion, crashing out of the Brisbane 250 with a rather embarrassing 6-0, 6-1 defeat to Thomas Berdych. However, he’s found time to occupy himself with Miss Universe (check out the photo!)

He’s past round 1 in the Sydney Medibank (ATP 250) tournament and he’s up against Lleyton Hewitt tomorrow, an old foe.

Is there a cunning plan? Will we bounce back? Is 2010 the year?

Baghdatis wins the Stockholm Open 2009

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

This is no mickey mouse tournament. 250 points and $100k to play with. OK Soderling was a walk over and Olivier Rochus is not the most formidable of opponents. But a 6-1, 7-5 is convincing and the points are for real. A new beginning? Back to the good times? Tomorrow Marcos should shoot up the rankings back where he belongs.

Baghdatis beats Robert Kendrick

Come on Marcos keep the momentum. 6-2, 6-2. 7 aces in less than an hour. Judging by our form (I know of two games only) Arnaud Clement the 31 year old ageing Frenchman (who is up next) should be breakfast material.

This is supposed to be Robin Soderling's tournament, and we want to steal it.

Bagdatis beats Juan Carlos Ferrero at the Stockholm Open

Eat our dust Juan. 6-4, 6-2 is pretty solid stuff. Robert Kendrick up next, for a change a player ranked lower than us. Game starts soon, so tune your sets.

Baghdatis in Stockholm

Marcos has shot up the ATP rankings (by 20 odd places please!) and is now back in the top 70. Which now gets him into some half decent tournaments, such as the Stockholm Open, part of the ATP 250 circuit. First draw vs Juan Carlos Ferrer. Not an easy draw I'm afraid... The game is probably scheduled for Wednesday the 21st. The Stig says you can watch it on a JustinTV 4x4 screen here, live free and online. I am not so sure.

What is Baghdatis wearing?

Marcos has just conquered the prestigious Tashkent Open after brushing aside the infamous Denis Istomin. Where is Tashkent I hear you ask? Yep, dear readers, I had never heard of this place before. It is of course, the capital of Uzbekistan, with a population larger than Cyprus (~3 million).

After his hard earned 2-1 victory in the final Marcos had to wear what you see in the picture (is that a noodle take away box on his head?). Would he have still pursued the win, had he known about this impending photoshoot? Images of Borat...

Nadal beats Baghdatis (again) at the China Open

No surprises there. A limp Nadal struggled a bit, but would the end result ever have been any different? Perhaps a couple of years ago...

Mikhail Youzhny beats Baghdatis at the Malaysian Open

6-2, 6-3 to Mikhail Youzhny. Malaysian tour over, China next. Will Marcos stick around in SE Asia or come home for a mixed kebab?

Baghdatis beats Lu Yen-hsun, Mikhail Youzhny to come.

Praise raining in from all angles. Marcos has beaten no 75 in the world: Lu Yen-hsun the 26 year old from Taiwan. It only took us 3 sets over 3 hours. Is that what we have been reduced to? Mikhail Youzhny the Russian, is up next - a pretty respectable opponent. He beat Marcos at his inaugural Wimbledon appearance. Praise is due if we beat him.

Baghdatis in Malaysia

Marcos has squeezed a  wild card to take part in the Malaysian Open next week.This ATP tournament is worth a million bucks and offers the winner 250 ATP points. Nikolay Davydenko tops the seeds.

Baghdatis' ranking

Marcos has remained out of the top 100. Just click on this link and you will find you need to follow on to rankings 101-200 for his name to appear.

Some good news though, is his entry in the 2009 China Open. He needed a wild-card invitation on the back of his 2006 victory here, but should he perform well in Beijing there are points (and yes, money!, over $3 million in fact) to be won.

Could a good performance here herald a return to the good times? Come on Marcos, you are not over the hill yet...

Baghdatis in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence

Months have gone by, and Marcos is off the radars... Languishing in triple figure rankings he now competes in fringe ATP Challenger tournaments such as 'Le Trophée des Alpilles'.

Will he ever claw his way back into the big boys' club?

Baghdatis makes sushi Nishikori

Straight sets, 7-5, 6-3. I do hope Sam Querrey makes it to the next round. We need revenge!

Memphis here we come!

First up is a 19 year old Japanese guy by the name of Kei Nishikori ranked 56th, about 30 places above us. If the script is right, he will be flying back to Tokyo soon, which brings us back to guess who... Sam Querrey, our nemesis.

Baghdatis squashed by Querrey

2 sets to 1, short stay in San Jose. Is this a return to Marcos’ familiar form? Off to Mephis.

Baghdatis at San Jose 2009

And so to the states. San Jose 2009 (aka SAP open) starts tomorrow with Marcos facing Sam Querrey the 8th seed. This guy, ranked 50 places above us (he is no 35 in the universe) beat Marcos less than a year ago at the Paris masters. Time for revenge?

Bye Bye SA

David Ferrer was the end of the road. Decent first set with decent service, but hopeless in the second. Final score: 7-5, 6-2. Onto San Jose next week.

Baghdatis cooks Klaasen on the braai

6-3, 7-5. Nice and sweet, Marcos advances to the quarterfinals. David Ferrer next. He is ranked 72 (!) places above Marcos and in 2006 beat him in straight sets, their only encounter to date. Despite this, Baghdatis is still second favourite (behind Tsonga) to win this tournament.

Baghdatis makes biltong out of Anderson

Yummy yummy.

Marcos beats Anderson 6-4, 6-2. First set was closer than one might have expected. Good result though,. Next up is Raven Klaasen another South African wildcard. Ranked 350th by ATP he should also be a matter of procedure. Careful though, he's just beaten Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in straight sets. And we all know how Marcos can mess these 'easy ties' up...