Dubai: Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis has promised to stand in the way of reigning three-time Dubai champion and world number one Novak Djokovic at the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open, which gets under way tomorrow.
"When I am in the tournament I don't see Novak winning," Baghdatis told Gulf News on the sidelines of the official draw held at the Majlis of the Dubai Tennis Stadium here yesterday.
"I am here to win and I don't care if he is there. I doubt he can win here this week, not when I am here at least."
Baghdatis, the son of a Lebanese who migrated to Cyprus and married a Greek-Cypriot woman, is one of the few colourful personalities on the men's ATP Tour. And he makes no apologies for it either.
"It's good to have one's own personality as it shows one's upbringing. I don't know if we need some more or not. You will have to ask the fans about that," Baghdatis said.
"Involving spectators is part of my personality and I am just doing something that comes to me naturally. It's the way I have grown up in life. And I would never change anything in the way I interact with the people.
"Novak is doing that very well and he is number one in the world. Anyway, I don't do it for the people, but I do it for me because it is nice to do it. I love tennis and that's the way I love to play the sport. And yes, it does motivate me a bit."
Injuries
Being a runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and a semi-finalist at Wimbledon the same year saw Baghdatis climb to a career-high eight in the world.
Injuries then pulled him lower down the rankings, but by 2010, he had made enough progress to once again take on top players like Roger Federer, against whom he saved three match points in three sets to win in the third round at Indian Wells. Also in 2010, Baghdatis went on to beat No 1 Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open, only to fall to Federer in the semi-finals.
In Dubai, he is up against a strong first round opponent in the form of fourth seed Jo-Wilfred Tsonga — a semi-finalist in Marseille yesterday. "It will be a tough first match for sure, but I am ready for it," Baghdatis said.
"When you come to a tournament like this, you know you have to beat everybody. There is no option, but one has to find a way to win and go all the way."
