Sometimes, life has a way of teaching you how to turn disappointing situations into positive opportunities. Certainly, Marin Cilic is an example of that.
Last year, Cilic wasn’t able to play in the US Open. This year, the 25-year-old has made his way into his first career Grand Slam singles final where he’ll face off against Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who also will be contesting for his first Grand Slam title.
It wasn’t Cilic’s choice to skip playing here in 2013. He had received a four-month doping suspension for a banned stimulant he said was ingested by accident.
Many players would’ve just been angry at the circumstances. But Cilic used the time off the tour to his advantage. He corraled his boyhood idol Goran Ivanisevic to be his coach. And then he got down to the business of improving his game with a good amount of emphasis on honing his big serve.
The strategy worked wonders as the No. 14 seeded Cilic’s US Open run indicates. On Saturday, Cilic played one of the greatest matches of his career. Despite it being extremely hot and humid, Cilic schooled 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. There was absolutely no area of Cilic’s game that wasn’t a better weapon than anything Federer brought to the table that day, and Cilic realized that quickly.
“For the performance today, from first point to last I was absolutely playing the best tennis of my life,”Cilic said. “Considering the huge occasion I was playing in, for the second time in the semifinals of a Grand Slam, it just can’t be more special.”
Indeed, Cilic was flawless down to the last game where he served three consecutive aces before missing out on a fourth. He posted 43 aces to 28 for Federer, and scored four service breaks on eight opportunities in comparison to Federer taking advantage of just one of the two break point chances Cilic offered.
But at this time last year, Cilic wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen to his career. Nevertheless, he kept preparing for the day he could return to the tour.
“I was back in Croatia and I was training,” said CIlic, when asked where he was last year at this time. “I was preparing for a time when I’m going to play. It was a difficult period. I didn’t know when I’m going to start back.
“But it was also a good period for me,” he added. “I matured a bit more and I was working day after day. I wasn’t relaxing and doing nothing. So I think that helped me to improve physically. Also, it helped me to have enough time to put some new parts in my game, which are helping me to play this good now.”
As a child, tennis for Cilic was all about Ivanisevic, a fellow Croat and 2001 Wimbledon champion. Now, as a strapping 6-foot-6-inch player, Cilic is on more equal footing with Ivanisevic as he soaks up all the pertinent advice his mentor has to offer.
And Cilic is careful to point out something most tennis fans already know about the personality-plus Ivanisevic: “Goran is everything, but not boring.”
“Probably the only matches I watched on TV were Goran’s Wimbledon matches,” Cilic recalls. “That’s the only memory from tennis at a very young age. And then later I started to play with him a few times when I was 14. He played with me and one other kid from Croatia my age, and that was, for me, huge at age of 14 to play with my idol. It was amazing.”
When Cilic returned to the court this year to resume his career he showed up with a whole new outlook.
“I felt that I was more happy,” Cilic said. “I was enjoying much more on the tennis court and still working hard. I felt during the matches [that I was] just clearer with my goals.
“[Tennis is] worth more now.”
What is readily apparent is that Cilic is way more comfortable with his position as a Grand Slam finalist at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center this year than anyone might have thought a year ago at this time.
“I want to keep going,” said Cilic, who is just hoping he can keep the momentum going for one more match against Nishikori. And if he can, he will join his coach and idol Ivanisevic as a Grand Slam singles titlist.
“It’s gonna be special day,” said Cilic, looking ahead to the final. “I mean, it’s an opportunity to win a Grand Slam, to be a part of history. It’s gonna definitely be huge emotions on the court.”
