Photo: Henk Koster, ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
Marcos returns to the court next week at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, an ATP World Tour 500 tournament that begins on Monday, 22 February. In the first round, Marcos has drawn eighth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.
In a field featuring six of the world’s Top 10, the draw could have been much worse for Marcos. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Nikolay Davydenko, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marin Cilic will all be strong contenders for the title.
Should Marcos upset the eighth-seeded Simon, who played and lost his first match of the season this week in Marseille, he would meet either Swiss Marco Chiudinelli or a qualifier. Fourth seed Davydenko is a likely quarter-final opponent, with Tsonga and defending champion Djokovic also headlining the bottom half of the draw.
Check out the full draw here.
Marcos is making just his second appearance in Dubai, returning after a close first-round defeat to then-World No. 2 Rafael Nadal in 2007.
“I am looking forward to playing in Dubai,” said Marcos. “I love coming to Dubai. The people are so friendly and the tennis club is great, and everyone treats you really, really well. I am looking forward to coming back this year.
“I had a good win over David Ferrer (at the Australian Open), who is a top player, and that also gave me a lot of confidence. It also tells me that I am able to compete with the best players, so you never know. I would like to come back to the Top 10, it was a good feeling when I was there, so hopefully I can make it back there with some good results this year,” he added, speaking to Gulf News.
Stay tuned to www.baghdatis.com for all the latest on Marcos’ progress in Dubai.
Go, Marcos!
