Baghdatis prepares for Oz Open

MARCOS Baghdatis yesterday left his Paris training base to fly to Australia in preparation for this year’s Open.

Baghdatis goes into the new year full of confidence and hoping to build on the success of 2002 where he ended the year ranked number two in the world junior rankings after having won a number of satellite tournaments and making it to the final of the US Open.

Baghdatis was recently in Cyprus visiting his family and received his visa from Australian High Commissioner Frank Ingruber, an avid tennis fan. Ingruber was present at the 17-year old Cypriot’s first tournament victory – the Aphrodite Cup in 2000.

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.