Happy birthday, Marius!

Who doesn't remember that stunning Davis Cup result, when a 18-year-old newcomer, Marius Copil, and his partner Horia Tecau, came back from 0-2 against the more-experienced team Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, winning in a 5-set thriller? Now, that sweet teenager is not a sweet teenager anymore. OK, excepting the 'sweet' part.

This week, right before turning 20, he made himself a birthday present, at the Italy F30 Futures, playing the singles semifinal, as a qualifier and the doubles final, as a wild-card (partnering with Giuseppe Faraone from Italy).

Marius reached his highest ATP ranking this year, 265 in singles and 260 in doubles, this progress following a nice victory at the Guatemala F1 Futures in singles and doubles (partnering with Ecuadorian Ivan Endara), the Cremona Challenger final and a good victory in the first round of BCR Open Romania in doubles, against another Romanian team, Victor Crivoi/Adrian Ungur.


Here are some things you probably didn't know about him:

1. He trained this autumn with the former world no.1 Mats Wilander.
2. He left tennis for football. After a year, he decided to return at tennis. Good choice!
3. In the Davis Cup doubles match against Russia, he decided to change something in his game when he heard the national anthem, in the third set.
4. Last year, he broke about 15 racquets.

Off the court, he likes to read and to play games, like Football Manager 2010, where he trains his favourite team, Bayern Munchen. He thinks the most beautiful girls are from Romania, Venezuela and Colombia.

Marius Copil, his father and his friend Horia Tecau

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARIUS!!!