Baghdatis at Wimbledon

So far, Marcos has taken out Blake in 5 sets and Seppi in straight sets. However next up is Mr Djokovic and I fear it will be the end of the road... 

And Baghdatis shoots up the ATP rankings!

New week, new rankings, from 100th to 85^th; on the back of a decent start to the season. Bowed out of the Aussie Open losing to Djokovic in a tightly contested match (again). It is worth mentioning that Djokovic - on the back of this game - had to retire from his next fixture with Roddick the following day. One could argue then that Marcos knocked the no 3 in the world out of the Australian Open! For those who remember, it has happened before, during Wimbledon 2007.

Marcos’ 4^th round Australian Open points replace the ones he gained 12 months ago where he only reached round 3, so up the ranking he shoots. Next tournament is in Sout Efrika.

Baghdatis is picking up pace.

Söderling dispatched. Just about. It was looking very much a pending disaster half way into the game - 1 set down and trailing 5-4. But Marcos managed to turn it around to a 3-1 victory, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. Don't want to tempt fate but Mardy Fish who follows tomorrow, should be just procedural. Which will bring us to a different Fish (or kettle of). Djokovic. Nuff said.

Baghdatis dispatches Chela, Federer next.

Although expected, this was the first time Baghdatis beats Chela following two defeats, ages ago. The results for Marcos have been good with Djokivic and Nadal dispatched by others. Good for morale, but we might just be hitting the brick wall called Federer again. To come across him this early could be considered a bit of an unlucky draw, but it just reflects Marcos ATP ranking at the moment. He is not even seeded in Masters Tournaments.

A draw against him tends to be synonymous with ‘the end of the line’ in tennisland. He has beaten Marcos in all 4 encounters to date, last time in the epic Australian Open final in January 2006. Forgive my pessimism, but I do wander by what score we will lose tonight.

Djokivic wins Rogers Masters.

OK, where does this info fit into this particular blog you may ask… This is no general tennis blog, my main concern is Marcos and his antics.

But it is relevant. It was only a few weeks ago that Marcos bowed out of Wimbledon by the thinnest of margins. To Djokovic, who had to run so hard for his money that he in turn walked out of his next match with Nadal. Whereas I (and most of the world) considered Federer virtually unbeatable on hard surface Djokovic has given the rest of the tennis world a glimmer of hope. It means Marcos can compete against the likes of Federer, if only he was in the right frame of mind.

Marcos vs Murray does not feature on today’s order of play in Cincinnati, so by default it must be tomorrow.

Reflections

For those of you who remember this year's Wimbledon duel with Novak Djokovic, you’ll have to be wandering how Marcos collapsed in front of Andy Roddick two days ago. Djokovic seems to have just walked all over Roddick in Montreal before going on to beat Nadal! Which surely has to mean that Marcos stands a good chance of beating any of the three above.

George Michael etc

George Michael, another Cypriot, was apparently in the crowd watching the ¼ final match with Djokovic. First time I hear he was a tennis fan. And it’s not that the guy advertises his roots. Plus, the TV director did not home in on him. I wander why.

In his post match interview, Marcos came across as very disappointed. He knows he could have won this game and I am sure he feels that he let himself down. Read the transcript of the whole interview here.

Bad luck Marcos, maybe next year.

This post will be a bit longer, just like Marcos’ last match in Wimbledon 2007. Five hours, three tie breaks. Let’s face it, if you were to bow out of Wimbledon you’d want to bow out this way.

Call me biased, but Marcos was unlucky. To start with, Novak hit the net at least 5 times in a row and the ball just trickled onto Marcos’ turf. So much so that it became a joke, Novak kept apologising! Then, how did Marcos waste 6 (yes, SIX) set points in the second tie break, whilst Novak went on to win his first set point? Damn it, it hurts. And Marcos seemed a bit emotional whilst walking off the court.

Never mind, there’s always next year. The bookies were right after all. Their favourite won. Well done Novak, in fact I hope you go on and beat Nadal.

Strawberries and Cream

The bookies got it right. Marcos squashed Nikolay Davydenko like a strawberry. Straight sets in 2h10m. Novak Djokovic next, tomorrow hopefully. This will be Marcos’ first match where the bookies have him as the underdog. Let’s hope they’ve got it wrong.