Tennis-Baghdatis pulls out of Davis Cup, cites heavy schedule

NICOSIA, July 3 (Reuters) - Marcos Baghdatis has caused a stir in his home country after informing the Cyprus Tennis Federation (CTF) he will not be representing the island in the Davis Cup games against Portugal between July 18 and 20.

Having previously knocked out Slovenia, Cyprus, who rely almost entirely on the prowess of Baghdatis when they compete in the Davis Cup, will take on favourites Portugal, with a place in the Europe/Africa Zone Group 1 up for grabs.

World number 25 Baghdatis, a 2006 Australian Open finalist and Wimbledon semi-finalist, made an early exit from Wimbledon this week after his defeat by Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.

He was quoted in Cyprus's Politis daily on Thursday as saying he was pulling out of the Davis Cup because of other commitments, but would not be quitting the team indefinitely.

"This difficult decision was taken after serious consideration because of my heavy schedule," the paper said, quoting a written statement from the player.

Baghdatis is due to participate in the U.S. Open, the Beijing Olympics and tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati.

"I believe that his decision has been the result of his disappointment of having exited Wimbledon in the early stages but also because of his slip down the ATP rankings", said CTF President Filios Christodoulou.

"This is definitely a shock for us because we didn't expect a decision like this from Marcos. Had we known about this six months ago then we could have maybe arranged other alternatives but with ten days to go before we travel to Portugal, it has definitely come as a blow."

"I respect his decision despite the disappointment."

(Reporting by John Leonidou, editing by Martin Petty)