Baghdatis Speaks

A week of headlines finally took their toll Marcos Baghdatis, who had endured calls for his explosion from the tournament because of alleged racial comments, with the Cypriot visibly wilting against Lleyton Hewitt, losing a five set epic that ended at 4:35am on Sunday.

Baghdatis needed several minutes of treatment early in the third set after rolling his right ankle, however the fifteenth seed acknowledged front page stories of him and his cousin, who was involved in Tuesday’s capsicum spray incident, were major factors in his demise.

“I had pain, but they gave me four painkillers, at the end I was a bit tired, but not because of the ankle, because of all the stress I had,” Baghdatis said

“I had my chances to break him first (in the fifth set). I didn’t, and he did. He deserves to win. He played better than me in the important points.”

The 2006 Australian Open finalist was a picture of emotions through the early morning skirmish with Australia’s number one player. Baghdatis exploded in the first set with three gigantic shrieks after winning consecutive points, while he slumped after losing the third set.

Down 1-5 in the fourth and seemingly moments away from defeat, his trademark smile suddenly appeared, changing the course of the match.

“I started to forget the result. I was a bit stressed out even from the beginning of the match.

“By relaxing, by trying to change the rhythm of Lleyton, just playing drop shots, I start changing everything and it worked.”

Baghdatis had been the victim of a horror draw, with this morning’s thriller preceded by a five-setter against 2005 champion Marat Safin, while 2002 finalist Thomas Johansson was the fifteenth seed’s opening opponent.

“I came out with so many good emotions. I had really so much fun and the crowd was great. It is tough, but it’s a positive thing. I love the game.”

Had Baghdatis survived this test, he would have had 36 hours to get ready for Serbian Novak Djokovic, who has barely broken a sweat this week. So, can Hewitt possibly compete with the world number 3?

“Oh, for sure. He works out. If I was in his place I would recover, so I think he would,” Baghdatis said.