Halleluiah, Baghdatis through to the next round at the Olympics

He had me real worried there. Κάμ του γιούαρ σένσες ρε Μάρκο... (= come to your senses in Greeklish).

With our skeet shooters wide of the mark and virtually out of contention, Marcos remains our last hope for our first ever Olympic medal. Richard Gasquet in Round two. Beaten him once before, when were on top of the world.

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)

Bagdatis' new coach

Coach no 3 for 2008 turns out to be Olivier Soules who works for Team Lagardere, a professional sports training agency that specialises in tennis coaching (but also does athletics if you have the cash). They are based in Paris and Sophia Antipolis (close to Nice) plus they have/had a few other (mainly French) celebrities on their books - such as Richard Gasquet, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Julien Benneteau, Nicolas Devilder, Nicolas Mahut...

I think Olivier Soules himself was a tennis player, in the late 80's but I will dig out his story (and perhaps some dirt too) later on. New girlfriend and a new coach! Way to go... I seem to have been out of the loop for too long - has Marcos turned the page?

Baghdatis beats Robredo to reach Master's semi

By beating Robredo, Marcos has made it to his first Master’s semi-final. To make it to Shanghai though (I’ve worked it out now) not only does he need to beat the winner of Nadal vs Youzhny, but neither Murray nor Gasquet should make it to the final. Pretty slim, but not impossible.