MARCOS Baghdatis’ incredible feat in reaching the final of the Australian Open in Melbourne has seen the 20-year-old jump nearly 30 places to number 27 in the latest world rankings.
World number one Roger Federer weathered an early storm eventually to come out on top 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2 in two hours and 46 minutes to claim his seventh Grand Slam title.
Unseeded Baghdatis became just the second man to take a set from Federer in a Grand Slam final.
But despite the defeat, President Tassos Papadopoulos congratulated Baghdatis for making it to the final, calling it “a huge and unprecedented success for a Cypriot athlete.”
He described Baghdatis as “a unique youth, with courage, determination, mental strength and faith in his homeland and religion,” adding that “his achievement is great and we congratulate him, all the people of Cyprus, and let us not forget that he is still at the beginning of his career.”
The President noted that “a 20-year-old youth has achieved what seemed to be impossible” and praised Baghdatis for managing to compete in the final with the world’s number one.
Asked if he would advise Baghdatis to be patient, Papadopoulos said, “I congratulate him and I don’t have to advise him to be patient, nor does he, with the mental strength and determination he has shown, need either advice or encouragement from others.”
Government Spokesman George Lillikas said: “Marcos has made us all proud both with his distinction and his ethos. In all Cypriots’ hearts, Marcos Baghdatis is a champion, who proved to be a worthy ambassador of the virtues of our people. We warmly thank him. We are sure that the future belongs to him. We wish that soon he will be on the highest step because he deserves it,” Lillikas concluded.
Speaking after the match, the 2003 Australian Open Junior Boys’ Singles champion explained that the momentum changed when he began to start “thinking too much” about winning the title and not just playing his natural game.
“I just started thinking, got a bit stressed out, stopped playing my game, made some mistakes, gave the chance to Roger to come in and play his game and be aggressive, and that cost me the match I think. I did focus for two sets. But then, I don’t know. Maybe I was a bit scared of him and didn’t really believe in it. So, I mean, it was tough. After everything was going so fast, I couldn’t do anything. He was playing great.
His described his tournament highlight as the fourth-round victory over second seed Andy Roddick. “Beating Roddick was my first time winning on Rod Laver Arena, I mean, beating the number three in the world was my best victory,” he said of his stunning Day Seven victory. “It was really emotional and fantastic.”
In his home village of Paramytha (Greek for fairytale), Baghdatis’s family watched the match behind closed doors. When it was over, they emerged to the sound of church bells and shots fired in the air.
Marcos’ father, Christos, told reporters that, “the winner today was Cyprus. Thank you, Marcos. Thank you, my son.”
According to the figures from the national broadcaster, 320,000 people watched at least one minute of the match, with 200,000 seeing the final in its entirety. That’s more people than those who watched the Portugal versus Greece Euro 2004 football final.
Baghdatis yesterday flew to Sydney for a reunion with his grandmother and cousins. He is expected to return to Cyprus on Friday, where he will Match winner Roger Federer spent more time on the media post-mortem of his win than he did on court in the final. The four-set match went for two hours and 16 minutes. Federer started his first interview with Channel Seven at 11.15pm on Sunday night. He gave the compulsory post-match news conference and then sat through another 15 interviews – in three languages, English, French and German. He finished his last grilling with American newspapers at 2.30am – three hours and 15 minutes, all up.
Yesterday morning, looking a little drawn, Federer was again at the beck and call of the media.
He rose, after little more than an hour’s sleep, to appear on the Channel Seven breakfast program Sunrise just before 9am and then agreed to an unscheduled news conference for waiting television cameras in the hotel foyer.
Federer was still surprised by his own response to the victory.
The usually unemotional Swiss cracked, tears springing to his eyes as he held his prize last night.
“It really all happened in a split second, the pressure, receiving the trophy from Rod Laver in his arena. Winning the Australian Open is such a nice feeling,” he said.
One group of media sated, at 9.30am he moved on to Docklands for the traditional photo session with the Norman Brooks Challenge Cup.
Federer said he was surprised at his ability to recover and that it was “pretty good” for one hour of sleep.
He left for the airport after the photo shoot for a flight to Switzerland. He will decide over the next few days whether to play in the Davis Cup tie between Australia and Switzerland in Geneva on February 10.
be welcomed as a hero.
The Cabinet is to propose he receive £150,000 from the state as a gift from the people, and his hometown of Limassol plans to name a street after him.
On Sunday, he walked off Rod Laver Arena with a runners-up cheque for £215,000. He may not have claimed the title, but he captured the hearts of not only Cyprus, but also plenty more both in Australia and all around the world.
