The new "ATP World Tour" was officially launched today, at the Brisbane International Tennis Centre in Australia. The newly inaugurated "Queensland Tennis Centre", will host the first event of the year with many of the top ATP players being present.
Our Champion Marcos Baghdatis made his debut appearance of the year at the event, after an unlucky year 2008, troubled with serious injuries and missing out various big events like the Beijing Olympics in China this past summer, as well as facing a drop in his ATP ranking for the year.
Our Champion, who is making his comeback in the tennis scene in 2009 starting in Australia, and with a new coach from the "Team Lagardere" of France, had an unfortunate early exit today from the event, against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.
Facing a tough battle inside the Rafter Arena, in a match lasting more than two hours, Baghdatis fought very well and played great tennis at times, especially in the first set, taking the lead 7-5. However, it was Nieminen who managed to come back, win the second set 6-1, and the final set 6-4 to move to the second round, probably facing Frenchman Tsonga.
Despite losing the match, Baghdatis looks ready to play and make a serious comeback in the top 20 position this year, after gaining some important time in playing matches during the beginning of this year. He will now move on to play at the Kooyong Classic and then head on to the Australian Open, the first Grand-Slam of the year.
Our site would like to wish him all the best and we are sure that our Champion will come back stronger and offer us some more great tennis memories, similar to the ones in Australia during 2006.
 |
 |