NEW YORK, NY -- 08/02/10 -- IMG Worldwide, the premier sports, entertainment and media company, announced today that it has signed the talented and charismatic Cypriot professional tennis star Marcos Baghdatis as a client. Baghdatis, currently ranked No. 27 in the world, holds four career titles, was the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships and reached a career-high ATP ranking of No. 8 in 2006.
Born in Limassol, Cyprus in 1985, Baghdatis began playing tennis at the age of five with his father and his two brothers. He became the ITF World Junior Tennis Champion in 2003 and joined the ATP professional tour later that year.
During 2004 and 2005 Baghdatis qualified for a number of upper-tier ATP events and at the end of 2005 became the first player from Cyprus ever to reach an ATP tour event final as a qualifier and the first Cypriot to break into the Top 100. He was honored as the 2005 Cyprus Male Athlete of the Year for his accomplishments.
In 2006, Baghdatis entered the Australian Open as an unseeded player and scored an unexpected four set victory over the second-seed and world No. 3 Andy Roddick in the fourth round. He then defeated Croat Ivan Ljubicic in the quarterfinals and Argentine David Nalbandian in the semifinal en route to playing then world No.1 Roger Federer in the final.
That same year he advanced to the semifinals at Wimbledon, beating Andy Murray and former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt before playing current No.1 Rafael Nadal. At the China Open, an ATP International Series event, Baghdatis defeated Mario Ancic in the final for his first career ATP tournament championship.
In 2007, Baghdatis made it to the fourth round of the French Open and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the second straight year, before winning his second ATP title at Zagreb. He finished the season strong with semifinal appearances in Basel and at the BNP Paribas Masters.
Baghdatis made it to the semifinals of the Open 13 in Marseille, France in 2008, won the Stockholm Open, an ATP World Tour 250 tournament in 2009 and also won three ATP Challenger Tour events that year. This year he won the Medibank International, an ATP World Tour 250 tournament and was a semifinalist at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship, an ATP World Tour 500 tournament. Baghdatis scored his biggest ever win to date by beating then World No. 1 Roger Federer in the third round of the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Baghdatis will be managed by IMG agent Carlos Fleming.
