2004: First full year as professional Baghdatis performed moderately throughout most of 2004. He picked up his form later in that year. At the
US Open, Baghdatis played for the first time in the main draw of a
Grand Slam tournament. He defeated
Olivier Mutis in a first-round match 2–6, 6–2, 6–1, 7–5. He was one of only two players who won a set from eventual champion,
Roger Federer (the other being
Andre Agassi). Baghdatis then finished the year with two Challenger tournament titles, in which he defeated many higher-ranked opponents.
2005: A rising star Baghdatis's 2005 season began with a first-round loss in the
Chennai Open against
Nicolas Devilder. In his next tournament, the
Australian Open, as a qualifier, Baghdatis defeated then-top-20 player
Ivan Ljubičić in the second round and had a straight sets victory over another top-20 player,
Tommy Robredo, in the third round, before losing to Roger Federer in the fourth round. Baghdatis suffered an elbow injury right after the Australian Open and was out of the professional tour until late April, when he entered a clay court tournament, the
Estoril Open in Portugal. He held two match points in his first-round match against a resurging
Juan Carlos Ferrero, but failed to convert them into a win. Baghdatis kept playing Challengers and qualifying for upper-tier ATP events for the rest of 2005 and found good form towards the end of the year. As a qualifier, he reached the final of the ATP tournament at Basel, defeating former world No. 2,
Tommy Haas, world No. 40,
José Acasuso, and the eventual 2005
Masters Cup champion
David Nalbandian. But he lost the final to
Fernando González in four sets. Although he was not the first qualifier to reach an
ATP Tour event final, he was the first player from Cyprus to do so.
2006: Australian Open final and entering top 10 Baghdatis entered the
Australian Open as an unseeded player, under the coaching of Guillaume Peyre, and produced an unexpected four-set victory over second-seed and world No. 3,
Andy Roddick, in the fourth round. He then defeated the seventh seed
Ivan Ljubičić in the quarterfinals in five sets. In the semifinals, he came back from two sets down to defeat fourth seed David Nalbandian in five. The vocal support he enjoyed from his local fans (consisting mostly of members of Melbourne's large
Greek Australian community) throughout the tournament was considered one of the highlights of the tournament. In the final, Baghdatis started strongly (being a set and a break up with a chance to double break), but eventually lost to world No. 1, Roger Federer, in four sets. At the
French Open, Baghdatis lost in the second round in five sets to
Julien Benneteau. At
Wimbledon, Baghdatis defeated
Andy Murray in the fourth round in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Baghdatis beat the 2002 champion and former world No. 1,
Lleyton Hewitt. Baghdatis then lost to
Rafael Nadal in the semifinals in three sets. At the
US Open, Baghdatis defeated
Alexander Waske in the first round. He played retiring Andre Agassi in the second round, and in a long match that lasted past midnight, Baghdatis lost in five sets. This was to be the final victory of Agassi's twenty-year professional career, as he lost to
Benjamin Becker in the following round. At the
China Open, an ATP International Series event, Baghdatis defeated
Mario Ančić in the final for his first career ATP tournament championship.
2007: Second singles title Baghdatis was the eleventh seed at the
Australian Open but could not match his success from the previous year, losing a second-round match to
Gaël Monfils in four sets. He won his next tournament in
Zagreb, defeating Ivan Ljubičić in a three-set final. At the
Open 13 tournament in Marseille, France, Baghdatis advanced to his second consecutive singles final and the fifth of his career, where he lost to
Gilles Simon in two sets. At the
French Open, Baghdatis defeated
Sébastien Grosjean in the first round and
Kristian Pless to advance to the third round. There, he defeated
Jan Hájek. In the fourth round, Baghdatis lost to
Igor Andreev in four sets. At the first grass-court tournament of the season in
Halle, Baghdatis reached his sixth career singles final by defeating
Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semifinals. In the final, which took place on his birthday, he lost to
Tomáš Berdych. At
Wimbledon, as the tenth seed, he made it to the quarterfinals for the second straight year, defeating
Ernests Gulbis,
Nicolas Devilder, David Nalbandian, and sixth seed
Nikolay Davydenko, before losing to
Novak Djokovic in a five-hour match. At the next Grand Slam, the
US Open, Baghdatis was defeated by no. 106 ranked
Max Mirnyi in the first round. At the
Paris Masters, Baghdatis found good form. He reached the semifinals by defeating Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Robredo. He then lost to second seed Rafael Nadal, in three sets.
2008–2009: Injuries Baghdatis started his season on the
2008 ATP Tour at the
Chennai Open in India, where he lost to
Robin Haase in the first round. At the
Australian Open, Baghdatis defeated 2002 champion
Thomas Johansson and 2005 champion
Marat Safin, before losing in the third round to 2005 runner-up Lleyton Hewitt, in five sets. This match lasted 282 minutes, beginning at 11:52 pm and finishing at 4:34 am. At the
French Open, he lost in the first round to
Simone Bolelli in three sets. At the 2008 Halle Open in Germany he lost to Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. At the
Wimbledon Championships, seeded tenth, Baghdatis progressed to the fourth round, where he lost to
Feliciano López in five sets. Baghdatis suffered injuries for the remainder of the season and did not participate in the
US Open. Entering 2009, ranked No. 96 (his best having been 8) and having not played since the ATP Paris Masters in late October 2008, Baghdatis entered the
Brisbane International in preparation for the
Australian Open, losing in the opening round to
Jarkko Nieminen. In the Australian Open, traditionally his best grand slam event, he began with a straight-sets win over 48th-ranked Frenchman Julien Benneteau and followed that up by ousting 16th-seed
Robin Söderling in four sets and 23rd-seed
Mardy Fish in straight sets. In the fourth round he lost in four sets to Novak Djokovic. After the Australian Open, he played in the
SA Tennis Open tournament in Johannesburg and was the eighth seed. He defeated
Andrew Anderson and
Raven Klaasen. In the quarterfinals, he lost to
David Ferrer in two sets. After getting a wild card for San Jose, he drew
Sam Querrey in the first round, and lost in three tight sets. At the
Delray Beach International Championships, Baghdatis defeated
Ernests Gulbis and
Dudi Sela before losing to
Jérémy Chardy in the quarterfinals in two tiebreaks. Baghdatis found some form at the
Ordina Open 's-Hertogenbosch 250 tournament, beating 15th-ranked Tommy Robredo 7–5, 6–2, to move into the second round. In the second round, he suffered a match-ending knee injury when playing
Raemon Sluiter. Due to the knee injury suffered at 's-Hertogenbosch, he withdrew from the
Wimbledon Championships. Baghdatis returned to the ATP Tour with a three-set loss to
Wayne Odesnik in Indianapolis. In Los Angeles, he progressed to the second round after beating
Frank Dancevic but was upset by
John Isner in straight sets, after holding a set point in the second set. Baghdatis won the
Odlum Brown Vancouver Open, a Challenger event over
Xavier Malisse in the final. The title was his first at any level since triumphing at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Zagreb in February 2007. Baghdatis failed to qualify for the Cincinnati Masters, losing to
Robert Kendrick in the opening qualifying round. He won his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the season, after defeating Xavier Malisse again, in the final of the
Trophée des Alpilles in St. Remy. He won his opening match in the ATP 250 tournament in Kuala Lumpur, against
Lu Yen-hsun, but was beaten by
Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets in the next round. In the
China Open, an ATP 500 tournament held in Beijing, he drew top seeded Rafael Nadal in the first round. He pushed him hard, but was eventually defeated. It was Nadal's sixth straight win over the Cypriot. At the
2009 If Stockholm Open, Baghdatis reached his first ATP final since 2007 at Halle. In the opening round, he upset third seeded
Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets. He followed this up with crushing victories over Robert Kendrick and
Arnaud Clément. Top-seed Robin Söderling gave Marcos a walkover into the final. Baghdatis beat Rochus in the final to win just his third ATP title, which ended his two and a half year title drought.
2010: Return to top 20 During the 2010 season, Baghdatis was the only player to beat both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal while they were world No. 1. The 2010 season saw Baghdatis return to form. He started off the year at the
Brisbane International beating Mardy Fish before losing to Tomáš Berdych, winning just one game. He then entered the
Medibank International tournament in Sydney, where he beat
Nick Lindahl,
Viktor Troicki and Lleyton Hewitt, rallying from a set and a break down in the second set to win in a three-sets quarterfinal. Then he defeated Mardy Fish in another heart-stopping three-set win on a final set tie break in the semifinals. In the final, he faced
Richard Gasquet. After a rain delay at the start of the second set, Baghdatis went on to a straight-sets victory, a win which elevated his ATP ranking to No. 31. At the
Australian Open, Baghdatis beat
Paolo Lorenzi in the opening round and 17th seed David Ferrer in the five-sets second round. This marked his second career victory after being down two sets to none, while suffering from leg cramping in the final game. A right shoulder injury forced Baghdatis to retire just 56 minutes into his third round match against Hewitt after trailing 0–6, 2–4. After this, his ranking dipped slightly to No. 34 (on 1 January). In Rotterdam he beat
James Blake in a comfortable two-sets victory, but lost to in-form Nikolay Davydenko in the second round. Baghdatis made a second-round appearance at the
Open 13 tournament in Marseille, losing to eventual champion
Michaël Llodra. He then appeared at the
Dubai Championships, but came into the tournament with stomach cramps (due to food poisoning). Despite the handicap, he beat No. 8 seed
Gilles Simon and then beat
Somdev Devvarman and
Michael Berrer. In the semifinals, after being a set and a break up, he lost a frustrating match against No. 2 seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic. At the
Indian Wells Masters he beat Arnaud Clément in the second round. In the third round, he captured his biggest win to date, stunning world No. 1 Roger Federer in three sets, while saving three match points. By beating Federer for the first time in his career, he reversed a six-match losing streak. However, in the fourth round, he was unable to recuperate in time, losing to Tommy Robredo, despite coming into the match with a 3–0 head-to-head lifetime against Robredo. At the
Miami Open he beat
Juan Ignacio Chela and in the third round, he lost to seventh seed
Marin Čilić in straight sets. Baghdatis had a disappointing start to the clay-court season, being eliminated in the first rounds of both the
Monte-Carlo Masters and the
Rome Masters by
Albert Montañés and
Ernests Gulbis, respectively. He next played in the
BMW Open, where he beat
Peter Gojowczyk in three sets,
Marco Chiudinelli in straight set and
Philipp Kohlschreiber in two sets. For a spot in the final, Baghdatis took on first seed
Marin Čilić. Despite taking the first set, Baghdatis was unable to close out the match, eventually losing in three erratic sets. He then made a quarterfinal appearance at the
Open de Nice Côte d'Azur as the fifth seed, where he was upset by Argentinian
Leonardo Mayer in three sets, despite saving 21 of 24 break points in the match. At the
French Open, Baghdatis was beaten by Britain's
Andy Murray in the third round in four sets. He suffered a surprisingly poor run in the 2010 grass-court season. He went out in the first rounds in all three grass court tournaments he entered by
Philipp Petzschner in Halle,
Peter Luczak in s-Hertogenbosch, and
Lukáš Lacko at Wimbledon. It was the worst showing he had had in Wimbledon, and even more disappointing as he had a good history record in the past few years there. However, a reshuffle behind the scenes after the grass court season has resulted in Baghdatis once again working with Guillaume Perye. He reached the quarterfinals at the
Farmers Classic in Los Angeles, where he lost to
Janko Tipsarević for the first time in their third meeting, and reached the final at the
Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, where he lost to in-form David Nalbandian. Baghdatis was ousted in the opening round at the
Rogers Cup in Toronto, losing to
Jérémy Chardy in three sets. At the
Cincinnati Masters, he found decent form. In the first round, he beat Marin Čilić for the first time. In the second round, he toughed out a three-sets victory over Brazilian
Thomaz Bellucci, followed by a two-sets victory in the third round against Tomáš Berdych. In the quarterfinals, after six successive losses against the Spaniard, he finally defeated Rafael Nadal for the first time in his career. It was his second win over a world No. 1 that year, having earlier defeated then-No. 1 Roger Federer at the
Indian Wells Masters. Oddly, he defeated a world-number-one player on his seventh attempt again. As he stated back in March 2010 after beating Federer, "Seven is my lucky number." For only the second time, he made the semifinals of a Masters 1000 tournament, but here he could not beat Roger Federer again, as he succumbed to his in-form opponent in two sets. Just before his campaign at the US Open, he made an appearance at the last tune-up tournament, the
2010 Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, Connecticut. Baghdatis had a chance to win the year's
US Open Series if he won this tournament. Appearing as the top seeded player, he beat
Igor Andreev for the first time and then came back from a set down to defeat
Juan Ignacio Chela to reach the quarterfinals. However, he lost to the eventual champion,
Sergiy Stakhovsky on a final-set tie break in the quarterfinals. Arriving at the
US Open, he lost in the first round in five sets to Arnaud Clément.
2011: Solid season Baghdatis started the
2011 season by competing in the
Brisbane International, losing in the quarterfinal to defending champion and second-seeded American
Andy Roddick in two sets. He made it to the third round of the
Australian Open, before retiring midway through the fourth set against
Jürgen Melzer due to a finger injury. Baghdatis had a very quiet summer on the ATP tour, his most noticeable appearance was at the
Wimbledon Championships where he was the 32nd seed and gave eventual winner Novak Djokovic a tough test in the third round, losing in four sets, during a point in the match Djokovic was unable to keep his cool on the Centre Court and at the end of losing a long rally repeatedly hit the grass court with his racket. As the match progressed, Baghdatis received a rapturous support from the home crowd, to the point where they were screaming every point he won. Just before the US Series, Baghdatis teamed up with British coach
Miles Maclagan. Baghdatis found some form in the Kuala Lumpur, where he was runner up to a determined
Janko Tipsarević. In Tokyo, Baghdatis lost narrowly to Andy Murray in three sets. After the match Murray commented kindly that, "I think he played very well. At the end of the third set, we were both playing good tennis, but in the first two he was the better player. Marcos is a very, very good player. He might not have played his best tennis so far this year, but he has been close to the top 10 before. He has a lot of talent, a big serve and has many ways to hurt you on the court."
2012: Promising signs In the
Australian Open, Baghdatis lost in the second round to
Stan Wawrinka. During a change over Baghdatis smashed and broke four of his tennis rackets to vent frustration on how the match was unfolding. He was fined A$770 by the organization of the Australian Open for this behaviour. Baghdatis played
Andy Murray in the third round of
Wimbledon playing under the closed roof until 11:03pm, eventually losing in four sets. In July 2012 Baghdatis was selected by the Cypriot Olympic Committee to carry the Cypriot flag in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Games. In the interrupted first-round match on 29–30 August, against
Go Soeda of Japan, he won in three sets before scoring an impressive straight-sets victory over Richard Gasquet in the second round. Although he lost in the third round to Andy Murray in three sets, Baghdatis was the only player who won a set off Murray on the latter's run to Olympic gold.
2013: Struggles with injuries and form Baghdatis entered the Australian Open as the 28th seed. He defeated
Albert Ramos in the first round and
Tatsuma Ito of Japan in the second round. However, he was defeated by the 4th seed
David Ferrer in the third round in straight sets. At the
French Open, Baghdatis lost in the first round to the 24th seed
Benoît Paire. At
Wimbledon, Baghdatis was defeated in the first round by the 10th seed Marin Čilić. After a poor run of form over the summer, Baghdatis found some rhythm at the
Citi Open in Washington. He had impressive wins over
Lukáš Lacko in three sets and 11th-ranked and second seed
Kei Nishikori whom he defeated with the loss of three games to reach the quarterfinals. There he was defeated by eventual finalist John Isner in a competitive three set match. At the
US Open, Baghdatis defeated
Tatsuma Ito in the first round. In the second round, he produced a convincing performance against the 17th seed
Kevin Anderson, winning in straight sets and losing only six games. In the third round, he was defeated by an in-form Stan Wawrinka in four sets. In his next two tournaments, he was defeated by
Dmitry Tursunov at
St. Petersburg in the first round, and was defeated by Wawrinka at the
Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur in the second round. At the
Japan Open in Tokyo, he was defeated in the opening round by top-seeded
Juan Martín del Potro in three sets after a decent performance. At the
Swiss Indoors in Basel, Baghdatis defeated
Benjamin Becker in the first round before losing in the second round to top-seeded and eventual champion
Juan Martín del Potro in two sets.
2014: Challenger Tour Baghdatis was not given a wildcard into the
Brisbane International, although he did receive one for the
Heineken Open in Auckland. In the opening round Baghdatis lost to American lucky loser
Steve Johnson in three sets. Baghdatis entered the
Australian Open, ranked at a low 109 in the ATP rankings. Despite recovering from 1–4 down in the second set and saving several match points in the third set, he was eventually bundled out by
Denis Istomin in straight sets in the first round. Due to a low ranking, he needed to qualify for his next tournament at the
Zagreb Indoors. His poor run of form continued as he was defeated by 19-year-old
Peđa Krstin from Serbia in the opening qualifying round. Over March, after Baghdatis split with his coach, Baghdatis had found some form again with a good run at the
Sony Open in Miami, where he defeated
Santiago Giraldo and Philipp Kohlschreiber in a three-set battle that ended with two tiebreaks. He had another memorable match in the third round against Tsonga, but he could not convert his chances and lost in three sets after more than two hours. Baghdatis started the clay-court season with a first-round loss at the
U.S. Clay Court Championships in Houston to
Alejandro González. After a tough period through injuries, Baghdatis opted to find his way up the rankings again through the ATP Challenger Tour. Baghdatis finished in the Top 100 for the tenth straight year with best results coming at Challenger level (22–2 record), winning four titles: Nottingham (d. Matosevic) in June, back-to-back in Vancouver (d. Dustov) and Aptos (d. Kukushkin) in August and Geneva (d. Przysiezny) in November. Baghdatis ended the year at No. 85 in the ATP rankings.
2015: Resurgence on ATP World Tour; back into top 50 Sitting at No. 85 in the rankings, Baghdatis decided to begin his 2015 season on the ATP Challenger Tour, at the city of Onkaparinga. He made the final, before bowing out to American Ryan Harrison in straight sets. Baghdatis returned to the Australian Open, where he beat Teymuraz Gabashvili in five sets and 22nd-ranked David Goffin in four sets with an impressive display of attacking tennis. Baghdatis's campaign ended in dramatic fashion in round 3 against Grigor Dimitrov. The Cypriot rode the abundant emotion and Greek chanting on showcourt 3 to twice lead by a set before Dimitrov found another gear to win in five sets. After the match, Baghdatis stated his goal was to finish 2015 in the world's top 50, believing in 4–5 years he can reach the world's top 10 again. After a promising Australian summer, Baghdatis returned to Europe. He defeated Ivo Karlović and Mikhail Youznhey on his way to the Zagreb semifinals (l. to Garcia-Lopez). At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Baghdatis defeated for the second time this season David Goffin, before being forced to retire hurt in a final set tie-breaker against Borna Ćorić in the second round. At Roland Garros, Baghdatis stunned 25th ranked Ivo Karlović for the second time this season, winning in three sets. However, he was defeated in the second round by Damir Džumhur in four sets. Baghdatis's grass-court campaign began in Stuttgart, where despite losing, he showed encouraging signs in his three set loss to superstar Rafael Nadal. This promise was fulfilled in an incredible week of ball striking at Nottingham. Baghdatis stunned world No. 7 David Ferrer, young gun Alexander Zverev and Simone Bolleli to his way to the semifinals. However, Baghdatis, with an early break ahead against Denis Istomin, was forced to retire hurt after feeling a 'pop' in his calf muscle. It ended a great week for the Cypriot, who obtained his first top-ten win in more than two years. At Wimbledon, his campaign was in doubt due to the calf injury suffered at Nottingham. However, he decided to participate, and with his left calf heavily strapped, he defeated Donald Young in four sets in the opening round. In round 2, Baghdatis, struggling with his calf injury and form, was trailing two sets and a break down against Australian qualifier John Millman. However, the Cypriot produced one of the most incredible comebacks in recent Grand Slam history to defeat Millman in over three hours. Baghdatis ran out of gas in round 3, with David Goffin exacting revenge against the Cypriot with a comfortable victory. Baghdatis's resurgence continued at the Atlanta Open to kick-off his US Open swing. Baghdatis, defeated Austin Krajicek, Sam Groth and Vasek Pospisil on his way to the semifinals. There, Baghdatis stunned Gilles Müller to reach the final. In the final, Baghdatis obtained a right groin injury early in the match, severely hampering his performance in his loss to John Isner. It was Baghdatis's first appearance in an ATP World Tour final since 2011. Unfortunately, due to the groin injury suffered in Atlanta, Baghdatis was forced to pull out of the events following Atlanta, except for Winston-Salem (first round loss to Pierre-Hugues Herbert). At the US Open, Baghdatis was forced once again to pull out of the tournament in the middle of his opening-round match against Steve Darcis. He retired hurt again citing his right groin. Baghdatis was solid on the ATP World Tour over the coming months. He reached the round of 16 at St. Petersburg, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo. His final tournament of the season was in Stockholm for the Stockholm Open, where he beat Sam Querrey, Bernard Tomic and Gilles Müller in the quarterfinals. However, Baghdatis's right groin injury again forced him to retire from a match, where he retired in the second set of his semifinal against top seed Tomáš Berdych. The Cypriot enjoyed an 11th straight finish in top 10, improved to 63–13 lifetime in Davis Cup thanks to doubles win over Greece in July and posted 26 tour-level wins in 2015, four more than 2013–14 combined. Baghdatis ended the year at No. 46 in the ATP rankings and will hope to continue his resurgence in 2016. At the
Australian Open, where Baghdatis was unseeded, he drew ninth seed Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in a match between two former finalists. Despite playing some vintage tennis in the second set his lack of match play showed in his four-sets defeat. Baghdatis reflecting on the loss, said "I played a good match. It was my first match of the year and I lack a bit of rhythm, especially under pressure. I had some chances in the third set but the lack of matches before the tournament made me make wrong decisions at those moments." Baghdatis next participated at the ATP 250 tournament,
Open Sud de France. Baghdatis defeated Lukáš Lacko and saved seven second set setpoints against Taro Daniel, winning in straight sets. In the quarterfinal he was beaten in two sets by
Richard Gasquet. Baghdatis next moved onto Rotterdam, where he competed at the
ABN AMRO ATP-500-tournament. He was drawn against fourth seed
David Goffin and achieved a three-sets victory, coming back from a 5–2 deficit in the third set tiebreak. He improved to 4–1 against Goffin in their head-to-head. Baghdatis's run ended in Rotterdam after round two, with a two-sets defeat to eventual champion,
Martin Kližan. Baghdatis continued his resurgence at the prestigious Dubai Tennis Championships. Baghdatis, stunned Viktor Troicki, Vasek Pospisil, Bautista Agut and Feliciano López on his way to the final. He lost to Stan Wawrinka in the final, including a near 30-minute tiebreaker in the second set. Baghdatis, re-entered the world's top 40 for the first time in three years, and hit form that was present from ten years before. Baghdatis said after the final: "I didn't win the tournament this week but I won a lot more, I won my confidence back. I'm happy I'm back and playing this kind of tennis now. It's just to continue improving and play at this level throughout the year." Traditionally his worst surface, Baghdatis began his clay-court season in Houston. He recorded the first double-bagel victory of his career in the opening round against Diego Schwartzman, before stunning Fernando Verdasco to reach the quarterfinals. He was defeated by eventual finalist Jack Sock. Baghdatis, however, struggled once again for majority of the clay-court season, recording first-round losses in Bucharest and Madrid, while pulling out of a number of other tournaments. At Roland Garros, Baghdatis recorded an impressive straight-sets win over Giles Muller, before despite winning the first two sets, bowing out in a thriller to Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in five sets. Baghdatis produced solid, without spectacular results over the coming months. He made the quarterfinals in both Halle and Nottingham on grass, with his run in Halle en route to a straight-sets victory over world No. 8, Tomáš Berdych. He was disappointed at Wimbledon, ousted in straight sets to John Isner. He extended his grass-court season in Newport, and made the semifinals before bowing out to eventual champion Ivo Karlović. Baghdatis was forced to pull out of the Olympic Games in Rio due an elbow injury. He stated "It is clear that unless I am 100% fit and healthy to compete, I shall not participate at the Olympics because I would be doing injustice to my country."
2017–2018: Last ATP final, outside of top 100 Baghdatis lost in the first round in seven out of the 15 ATP tournaments he played during the 2017 year. His continued struggle with form saw his year-end ranking fall outside the top 100 for the first time since 2004. Similar results with numerous first round exits followed in 2018, with Baghdatis finishing the year ranked 125. At the
2017 Chengdu Open, Baghdatis made his last ATP final where he lost against
Denis Istomin after being forced to retire in the first set due to a back injury. At the
2018 Indian Wells Masters, Baghdatis went on a run to the fourth round as a qualifier defeating
Yoshihito Nishioka, 14th seed
Diego Schwartzman, and
Dudi Sela along the way. He withdrew from his fourth round match against
Milos Raonic due to injury. The result would earn him a wildcard into the
2018 Miami Masters the next week. He lost to
Jared Donaldson in the first round in straight sets. At the
2018 Wimbledon Championships, Baghdatis won his last match over a top-10 when he defeated world No. 7,
Dominic Thiem, in the first round.
2019: Retirement At the
2019 Open Sud de France, Baghdatis qualified for the main draw and defeated top seed and defending champion
Lucas Pouille in the second round to make the quarterfinals. He lost to
Radu Albot in the quarterfinals in straight sets. He received a wildcard into
Dubai Open two weeks later where he won his opening match against fellow wildcard
Mohamed Safwat but lost in the next round to
Gaël Monfils in straight sets. Two more weeks later, he won the
2019 Pingshan Open as the 2nd seed defeating
Stefano Napolitano in the final. It would be his first challenger title in over four years and the last title of his career. Baghdatis announced that he would retire and that the
2019 Wimbledon Championships would be his last tournament. He received a wild-card entry into the main draw and defeated
Brayden Schnur in the first round in straight sets which would be his last win of his career. On 4 July 2019, he lost to
Matteo Berrettini in the second round in straight sets for his last match. He was cheered by fans in the stadium as he was leaving the court in tears. Many fellow players such as
Roger Federer praised his retirement and he was honored as one of the biggest retirees in 2019. ==Davis Cup==