2006 Australian Open changed life for me: Baghdatis

Mumbai, Sep 23 (UNI) Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis today revealed that he had to pull out of the Kingfisher Open Mumbai tennis tournament due to a wrist injury he suffered while playing in Beijing last week.

Baghdatis, who interacted with mediapersons here, spoke about the difficulties he had to face after coming face to face with stardom following his stupendous show at the 2006 Australian Open.

He admitted that life changed completely for him after the 2006 Australian Open. ''I had to face a sudden change in my lifestyle specially back home in Cyprus and it took me some time to come to terms with the sudden fame bestowed upon me'', he said.

''I am only now being able to handle the fame and popularity and finding my feet in life. I have become slightly stable now'', Baghdatis said.

The present world number 20th, however, admitted that it was a difficult phase in which he made mistakes, but he had learned from them and was more stable now.

Speaking about his game, Baghdatis said that the main problem he is facing now is finding consistency. ''This year I have been low on confidence after not having a good enough year and I have been chasing after points, which has not given time to concentrate on my game so much. I have been going from tournament to tournament in a bid to collect more points and become a regular in the top 10'', he added.

Speaking about his success on grass, a surface he was not very comfortable on, Baghdatis said he made some changes to his game which gave good results.

On his injury, he said that he hoped to start hitting by Wednesday and should have a full practice session by Friday depending on the doctors advice.

UNI