A TRUE PROFESSIONAL ON-COURT...
Our Champion Marcos Baghdatis, playing once more in Cyprus, in front of a fully packed National Tennis Centre, exhibited his high level of tennis and on-court professionalism, gaining an easy first day match against Yordan Kanev of Bulgaria, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
"...I played very well today in front of my home crowd representing my country...I followed exactly my coaches' instructions...staying focused...doing exactly what it takes to win...I am looking forward for tomorrow's doubles match...and I am very confident that we will be the winners of the tie at the end...I know an incident occured with my opponent in the middle of the match...but this is over now...I continued playing my usual game without any problem...at the professional level I am, I don't give special attention to such incidents..." Marcos stated during the press conference.
"...First of all, I would like to apologize to Marcos for the incident that occured...I tried to do everything I needed to do to win today but obviously playing against such a player, it was quite impossible...I did not by any means try to hit my opponent with the ball...however, it is all part of a tennis game to try to break down the psychology of the opponent...congratulations to Marcos..." Kanev pointed out after the match.