by Alexios » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:10 am
Marcos Baghdatis parents live in a village outside Limassol called Paramytha.For the T/C and other non greek speaking members, Paramythi means fairy-tale.It,s appropriate for the story of Marcos, the son of a Lebanese turned Cypriot immigrant father and a Cypriot mother.His parents, trusted a French tennis academy and believing in his talent, sent their son to France at the tender age of 13 where , exploiting all that talent, he built on his terrific forehand, learned to use his body to hit the tennis ball really hard for a relatively small man,directing it to the base line of the opponent with amazing accuracy and chase every strike of the opponent, even the ones that appear unbeatable.For anyone with a little knowledge of tennis, these are Marcos strong technical points.Coupled with an unassuming disposition,a flamboyant,pirate type style and an ever smiling face, make Marcos a crowd,s favourite already turning him into a sporting star.
For the above reasons i would have supported Baghdatis even if he was not Cypriot.The fact that he is, makes us justifiably very proud as any other country would and should be.However, i am afraid,Marco,s terrific fairy-tale progress so far in the Australian Open served for most of us G/Cs as just another opportunity to demonsrate and reveal our inability to keep things within their right dimension.Just another chance to flood the streets waving flags and shout out the usual slogans, temporarily satisfying our huge inferiority complex (we have even heard again that nonsense of the Greek superior soul been responsible for Marco,s victories!!!!!).....
Anyway, so be it.For me the most important aspect of Marco,s success so far has been that in just a few days he put Cyprus on the map erasing with that huge smile of his, a large part of all the harm done to our public image over the last 2 years.....