CYPRUS’ Marcos Baghdatis was crowned Australian Open boys champion on Sunday after an historic win at Melbourne Park, the first person from the island to have achieved such a major sporting honour.
The tournament’s top seed beat Florin Mergea of Romania 6-4 6-4 to win his first Grand Slam title.
The win helped make up for Bagdatis’ loss in the finals of the US Open when nerves got the better of him at 5-4 up in the second set. But on Sunday, as he served for the match against Mergea, with the score once again reading 5-4, he managed to conquer his nerves.
“At 40-0 I missed a first serve, then I just pushed a second and the guy made a winner, then at 40-15 I missed a smash. I told myself to just try and get the first serve in and make a slice serve which is not so risky and it worked because he just put the ball out. It was a big relief.”
Baghdatis’ superior serving and consistency off the ground had proved too much for Mergea throughout the game. Match statistics showed that Baghdatis won more than 90 per cent of the points when he got his first serve in.
“I felt like I was the boss of the match. I knew he was playing good but I just felt like on my serve he didn’t win a lot of points and when he served all the time it was deuce,” he said. “I was more solid, he made a lot of unforced errors, so I am pleased with that.”
As he had at Flushing Meadow in the US Open, Baghdatis draped himself in the Cypriot flag as he walked up to accept his trophy.
Baghdatis revealed that his toughest opponent during the week had been Jo Wilfried-Tsonga who he met in the semi-final. Baghdatis had beaten the big serving Frenchman on a previous occasion, but because of the extreme heat (44 degrees) the match was played indoors, a surface that suited the fifth seed’s serve and volley game far better.
“He was definitely my toughest challenge here in Melbourne, I really had to play well to win that match.”
Asked about his immediate plans Baghdatis revealed that it was time to re-evaluate when he returned to his base at the Bob Brett Academy in Paris. The plan for the year was to play in all the Grand Slam events at junior level while playing in satelite tournaments on the men’s tour in preparation for the step up to the senior game next season. His major goal was to try and win a Grand Slam title this year.
But as he has already taken that giant step it is time to re-assess. “I’m really not sure what is going to happen next, we will discuss it when we get back to Paris. but I’m not sure of the value of playing in too many more junior tournaments.”
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
