Former Grand Slam finalist pinpoints Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s biggest weakness after beating them both

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Marcos Baghdatis believes that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had more weaknesses than Novak Djokovic.

Baghdatis reached the Australian Open final in 2006, and actually lost to Roger Federer in the championship match.

That was one of many experiences he had facing ‘The Big Three’, but Baghdatis recently confessed to finding Djokovic the toughest to play.

Now, the Cypriot has spoken about the biggest weakness that he thinks both Federer and Nadal had.

Marcos Baghdatis names Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s biggest weaknesses

Baghdatis spoke to Tennis 365 in a new interview, and was asked which of the Big Three he thought had the highest peak.

Echoing his previous point about finding Djokovic the toughest to play, he picked the Serbian again, suggesting he had the fewest number of weaknesses.

When continuing to explain his reasoning, Baghdatis pinpointed the backhand as a weakness for both Federer and Nadal.

“I think Djokovic, and why I say that [is] because he had less weaknesses,” answered Baghdatis. “I think maybe he volleys worse than Roger, but volleying is not a weakness.

“I’m talking on the baseline, the way he moved, the way he counter-punched, the way he attacked, the way he controlled the whole game — especially when I played against him. I would say that he was the best.

“Roger, you know, you could see some weaknesses with his backhand. Rafa, the same a bit. But Djokovic, I think he’s more of a complete player. Maybe less better forehand than those two, but yeah, not too many weaknesses.”

Marcos Baghdatis suggests biggest moment of his career other than beating Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

Baghdatis remains today as the only player from Cyprus to reach a Grand Slam final, but that was not his only career achievement.

The now 40-year-old was then asked if his wins over Nadal (Cincinnati Open 2010) and Federer (Indian Wells 2010) are the biggest of his career.

While he agreed that they were the two single biggest wins of his career, he suggested that they were not his favourite and instead pointed to a streak he went on after falling down the rankings.

“I think they are the biggest wins of my career, for sure,” said Baghdatis. “But I cannot say favourite or standout… The feeling of course is different because they were both No 1 in the world back then, so winning against the No 1 in the world, at the time, I think it’s a nice feeling.

“But I have some other great matches and great moments where I felt like, ‘that’s a great win’. Especially when you’re struggling, and I give you an example: when I fall back to 170 in the world, or whatever, I had to go play some Challengers.

“And I remember I won two Challengers in a row. And for me, winning 10 matches in a row was a big step because of all the injuries that I had back then.

“There were other moments where you were in a difficult situation with injuries, and I was out of the tour for two months, and then coming back and going and winning two Challengers in a row, back-to-back weeks, I think that’s also a great achievement, a great feeling. It depends on the moment, it depends on a lot of things.”

Baghdatis officially retired from tennis at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, playing his final match against Matteo Berrettini.

He would finish his career having won four ATP titles and with a best singles ranking of world number eight.