Smiley Happy Marcos

Like most Australians, I have some very fond memories of Marcos Baghdatis. If there is one tennis tournament I will remember till the day I die, it will be the Australian Open 2006, because that is when I went from being a follower of tennis to the insane true believer that I am now. For me, the tournament was all about Roger Federer (surprise, surprise): coming back from injury, he wasn't playing especially well, and yet he still found a way to win... and he cried at the end, which made me cry too... but I've written about this before (I think the post was called 'Why I Love Tennis', if I haven't gushed enough about Federer to put you off him for life.) But for the rest of Australia, the tournament was all about Marcos Baghdatis - and even for me, the tournament would not have been the same without him.

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The first time I remember hearing about Marcos Baghdatis was in about the second round of that auspicious tournament. He was playing out on one of the back courts - Court 17, I think - and Channel 7 did one of their brief feature stories on it in their Australian Open news, because there were so many people out there cheering for Marcos. Melbourne has a massive Greek community and Marcos, who apparently has cousins among them, was their poster boy. It was a little unusual for a player who wasn't an Aussie to get such vociferous support - actually, I remember the Channel 7 newscaster yelling out 'Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!' in a vague pretence at competition and cringing, because it was just so awful. But it was a cute story. Cypriot player has many fans.

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But no one expected the Cypriot player to do quite so well.

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I remember sitting down to watch the round of sixteen Roddick/Baghdatis match thinking it was going to be a blowout. Federer had drawn someone hard in the round of sixteen - Tommy Haas - and I was wishing he could have faced someone like Marcos instead. (Rafa was out that tournament and back in those days, Roddick was the #3, so he was the second seed - and speaking of Roddick, people have pretty much retired him to the semis at Queen's. He's played about three sets of tennis in three matches - or 'matches,' as the case may be.) It was late in the afternoon. I'd just come back from work and I vividly remember standing at my stove in my little college room, watching it over my shoulder as I was cooking dinner. Props to the underdog, I remember thinking - maybe not exactly in those words, but something to that effect. He took a set off Roddick.

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Marcos did win the first set, but got blown away by Roddick in the second - I think it was 6-1 or something like that. In my naivete, I thought that meant Roddick was going to get back on track. But no... Marcos took another set off Roddick. And then another. And that meant... oh, wait, the match.

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Everyone was shocked. The Cypriot fans exploded. But Roddick was not especially in form, so, as upsets go, it could have been worse. So the little guy pulled an upset. These things happen.

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But then he backed it up.

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It took him five sets, but Marcos took out Ivan Ljubicic, who, unlike Roddick, was in form. Australia started to realise that this kid could be huge. But next up was David Nalbandian, and no one expected Marcos to win that one. Nalbandian was too good, too solid, too experienced.

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And Marcos took him down. He came back from two sets to love down and took out David Nalbandian. (And may I just note that, pursuant to previous discussions about David Nalbandian, it was not LameDave that showed up that day.) And then he was in the final.

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And Australia just got out of control.

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For the past few years, the Australian Open has been the one that's had a random finalist. Hewitt/Safin back in 2005 was a pretty normal final as finals go, but since then we've had Baghdatis, Gonzalez and Tsonga. But there has been nowhere near the hype round Gonzalez and Tsonga that there has been round smiley happy Marcos. I don't know whether it's just because Marcos does have something resembling an Australian connection or whether it's just because he's so likeable. I like to think it's because he's so likeable. But Australia pretty much tried to adopt him.

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Actually, they did try to adopt him - literally. There was all this 'oh no! Marcos Baghdatis's brilliant tennis career is going to be cut short by compulsory military service!' stuff, and I think it ended up with the premier of Victoria offering Baghdatis Australian citizenship. Marcos did the equivalent of backing slowly away from the crazy person with his hands in the air and saying no thanks. No one had thought to ask Marcos his opinion before they tried to solve his life.

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And then, the final. I have such fond memories of this match, although I was on absolute tenterhooks throughout it. I shut myself away. I didn't want to be with anyone else while I watched it. Unfortunately, that was while I was a duty student at college and I happened to be on call that night - but luckily, no one called. I had been pulling for Marcos all through the quarters and the semis, but he very much took second place to Federer. I never cried over a Marcos match. I wept over Federer's.

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(Yes, I am lame.)

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Marcos took the first set. Federer looked shaky. Marcos went up a break in the second. Australia cheered, I wept. But then Federer broke back, and broke again, and then the third and fourth sets were a showcase of Roger Federer God Tennis. Marcos didn't have a shot.

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I will always remember the presentation of the Australian Open 2006. Mostly I will remember it because Federer cried, and I cried too (again, see 'Why I Love Tennis') but I remember Marcos as well. Arguably, that was a match of the two best smiles in the tennis universe. And it was just lovely.

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Why the Marcos-reminiscing, you ask? Well, last night in Halle, there was a rematch of that Australian Open final. It was a quarter final this time, on grass, and only best of three, but those two lovely, smiley men faced off again.

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Federer won. He usually does. The Australian Open 2006 has taught us this. And Marcos hasn't been playing his best of late. But whenever I see these two men playing, I am reminded of that immortal final - of the great champion that captured my heart, and the smiling Cypriot that captured the nation's.

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Today's Results

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Artois Championships (Queen's Club, London)

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Rafael Nadal def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4)

David Nalbandian def. Richard Gasquet, 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-3)

Novak Djokovic def. Lleyton Hewitt, 6-2 6-2

Andy Roddick def. Andy Murray, walkover

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Gerry Weber Open (Halle)

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Roger Federer def. Marcos Baghdatis, 6-4 6-4

Nicolas Kiefer def. Michael Llodra, 4-0 retired

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Robin Soderling, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

James Blake def. Andreas Beck, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5)

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Orange Warsaw Open (Warsaw)

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Nikolay Davydenko def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-4 6-2

Fabio Fognini def. Guillermo Canas, 7-5 7-5

Juan Monaco def. Marcel Granollers, 6-4 6-3

Tommy Robredo def. Oscar Hernandez, 4-6 6-2 6-2

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DFS Classic (Birmingham)

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Kateryna Bondarenko def. Petra Cetkovska, 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

Marina Erakovic def. Alona Bondarenko, 6-4 7-5

Yanina Wickmayer def. Melanie South, 6-4 6-3

Bethanie Mattek def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-3 6-0

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Campeanatos Internacionales de Tenis Femenino de Espana (Barcelona)

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Nuria Llagostera Vives def. Sara Errani, 2-6 6-2 6-3

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Lucie Safarova, 6-2 4-1 retired

Stephanie Cohen-Aloro def. Ekaterina Ivanova, 6-2 6-1

Maria Kirilenko def. Edina Gallovits, 7-6 (7-3) 6-1