ATP star serves in the province

Munich – TC Pfarrkirchen plays in the regional tennis league. The big goal is to advance to the Bundesliga. A former ATP star will help – it is a real transfer hammer.

In July, Marcos Baghdatis still served in Wimbledon – before he said goodbye to the ATP tour. But the 34-year-old still has an appetite – for second division tennis. At the end of February, the Bavarian tennis club Pfarrkirchen announced a transfer coup: Baghdatis is to help the men’s 30 to advance to the Bundesliga.

Two of the team’s players contacted the former world number 8 via Facebook. Which they did not expect: A few contacts later, the Cypriot was to be their new teammate.

Because: The people of Pfarrkirchen had received “an incredibly nice answer” from Baghdatis on their mobile phone, team leader Felix Riedel told the Passauer Neue-Presse. A PR gag? Hardly. Because Baghdatis is supposed to serve in several meetings for TC Pfarrkirchen.

Baghdatis does advertising
Baghdatis is of course immediately the new “poster boy” of the club, as a glance at the club’s website reveals.

And Baghdatis? He is also already stirring up publicity.

“I am so happy to be part of the Men’s 30 Regional League for the 2020 season. I am joining the Pfarrkirchen Tennis Club. So check the schedule and see you in Germany,” the former Australia Open finalist wrote on Twitter.

End of career on the “holy lawn”
Baghdatis played his last ATP tournament at the Grand Slam in Wimbledon in July. There he failed in the second round against Matteo Berrettini from Italy. In 2006 he made it to the final at the Australian Open. There he lost against Roger Federer 1:3 in sets. It remained his greatest success.

Especially in his home country Cyprus Baghdatis is an absolute superstar. Throughout his career, however, he has had to struggle with injuries time and again.

After his career ended, Baghdatis returned to the big tennis stage at the end of 2019. He is the coach of Elina Svitolina, currently number 5 in the world rankings.