MARCOS BAGHDATIS is without a doubt the best Tennis player Cyprus has ever produced. Born and raised in Limassol, the now retired 39-year-old had quite the career.
The former world number 8 played in multiple tournaments, reaching a Wimbledon Semi-Final and even the Australian Open Final.
He also came face to face with some of the game’s greatest ever, to mention a few, all of ‘The Big Four’.
He was also the only player in the 2010 season to beat both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer while they were both world number one.
Now Baghdatis will be returning to Limassol, where he’ll be spearheading the new ‘Marcos Baghdatis Tennis Academy’, located in his hometown.
The academy is a state of the art, premium sports facility, located at the new 5-star ‘City of Dreams’ holiday resort on the south coast of Cyprus, making it the largest integrated resort in Europe.
As well as being the manager of the academy, Baghdatis will provide personal training sessions alongside his wife Karolina, who is also a former tennis player, supported by top coaches who are hand selected and taught by the Cypriot himself.
The aim is to train and nurture the promising young tennis players coming up through the ranks, and give them an opportunity to develop as players, by creating ATP-style events and tournaments alongside regular training, which will all be supported by the partnership with City of Dreams.
Baghdatis was forced to leave home and move to Paris at 14, due to there being no academy or top-tier facilities for him – or the other players – growing up in Cyprus, nor did they have a mentor, which is the main driving force behind the creation of the academy.
The goal is to provide the opportunities that Baghdatis never had, where he will also use his experiences as lessons to guide these young players through the first period of their careers.
25 years after Baghdatis’s return to his hometown, there was still no facilities or training courts anywhere.
Until now.
Hear more about it below, on the Solent Sports News YouTube channel.
National sporting Legend returns to his hometown
