Marcos Baghdatis has named Novak Djokovic as the toughest opponent from his 16-year professional tennis career. The 24-time Grand Slam champion won all eight of their matches between 2007 and 2015, the second of which was a five-hour-long Wimbledon quarter-final.
Djokovic is the best player Baghdatis never beat, having recorded wins over Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in 2010, the only person to beat both while they were World No 1. That is why the 40-year-old gives the current Olympic champion an edge over the other two in the “Big Three”.
Baghdatis told Tennis365: “I would pick Novak Djokovic, just because of the reason that I never beat him, but it’s very hard to pick.” He also mentioned Andy Murray as one of the top four before naming David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin del Potro, Marin Cilic, Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych as other very high-level opponents around at the time he played.
On Djokovic, Baghdatis added: “I think, whenever I played Novak, [they were] pretty close matches. That’s my thinking; maybe I’m wrong, but that’s what I remember.
“But I think I once got a nice beating out of him, and it was in Indian Wells. It was a 6-1, 6-2.” That match ten years ago actually finished 6-1, 6-3 and was the last time they played each other.
Baghdatis continued: “I came off the court, and I felt the guy gave me a lesson, and I never felt like that with another player. I never felt like that with Roger or with Rafa.
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“Even when I was younger, and I played Roger, I always felt like, ‘next time I can beat him’. I always felt that. But with Novak it was… I didn’t have that feeling, especially after that match.”