Baghdatis drops weight ahead of new season
Category: Tennis
Publish Date: 12-23-2010 07:00 PM -0500
Marcos Baghdatis has lost about 10 pounds as a result of an offseason fitness regime that has included mountain biking, gym work and careful eating.
"He drank lots of water, avoided the fatty acids... Everything is steamed or grilled and the portions are the correct portions," Baghdatis' trainer Andreas Nicolaou was quoted saying on the ATP website. "The main thing is to be stable and stay on that number of 10 percent body fat."
After ending his season early because of a shoulder injury, Baghdatis eased back into a routine, spending two weeks on endurance training and two weeks doing exercises and working on the practice court.
As a measure of Baghdatis' improvement, Nicolaou noted, "He was running 10 metres in 1.7 seconds, now he can do it 1.6 seconds... He used to struggle with 100 kg on the bench press, we can now increase it to 130 kg."
Baghdatis ended the season ranked No. 20, contiuning his long road back after falling to No. 100 during an injury-plagued season in 2008. He reached as high as No. 8 in 2006 after making the Australian Open final that year.
