life in Zagreb, the battles with Delpo and the last fight against his body

While the ATP 250 of Buenos Aires continues in its fight to move to the 500 category, this year it receives three Grand Slam champions who give it great visibility. Of course, all the flashes go to Carlos Alcaraz, because at 20 years old he achieved what only tennis legends achieved at that age, but the Argentine public will also be able to enjoy seeing other tennis players who have written some of the most glorious pages of this sport in recent years.

Among them is Marin Cilic, 35-year-old Croatian with an enviable resume. He won 20 titles, among which the US Open 2014 and the 2016 Cincinnati Masters 1000. In addition, he was a key piece for Croatia to win its second Davis cup in 2018, the year in which he reached third place in the ranking, and hung an Olympic medal on his chest, the silver one he obtained in Tokio 2020 in doubles with Ivan Dodig.

And, almost as an achievement that is on par with the previous ones, he can proudly say that he beat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal y Novak Djokovic, al “Big Three” complete. Nothing bad. Although today he is not going through the best moment of his career, due to a knee operation that allowed him to play just two games in all of 2023, His presence in Buenos Aires generates an impact.

With a kindness and smile that are not consistent with the serious and even defiant gesture that he shows during his matches, Cilic receives Clarion hours after debuting against Serbian Laslo Djere, 35th in the world. “Rehabilitation wasn’t easy, but I was focused on doing it well. Players always want this to be quick and compete again, but it was something totally new for me and I understood that I needed time,” he explains in the press room of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.

The problems began at the beginning of last year, when I was playing the Pune tournament, in India, in preparation for the Australian Open. He was number 17 in the world.

Minutes before entering the court to face the Dutch Tallon Griekspoor in the third round, an injury to his right knee during the warm-up was going to prevent him from playing that match. He didn’t look serious, but he was. Since then, he has not won any of the four matches he played and today he is ranked 1042 in the world rankings. He hasn’t left the Top 50 since 2008.

―How did you mentally deal with this situation, after so many years of maintaining yourself at a high level?

– It wasn’t easy at all. If I am 100% physically, I don’t care about bad results, I know I can recover. But when I feel like I can’t give my best, when I’m slower than usual, it’s very difficult. At the same time I see it as a new challenge for me. Throughout my career I remained physically well, I did not have major injuries and it is a challenge to recover.

He takes it with complete calm. “I always look forward,” He says like someone who knows that good and bad times are necessarily part of the journey.

Marin Cilic was born on September 28, 1988 in the Bosnian city of Medugorje, five days after Juan Martin del Potro in Tandil. They are both exactly 1.98 meters tall and they ran a race together, from Juniors until they become professionals. And both, from time to time, mentally travel to New York to remember their happiest moments in tennis: Delpo and his US Open with that historic final against Federer in 2009; Marin, five years later, also defeated the Swiss on his way to achieving maximum glory in Flushing Meadows.

These coincidences are also reflected in the game: a powerful serve and a drive fearsome; the other way around, she accompanies. That’s how the Croatian won his first and only Grand Slam a decade ago. He opened the court with a powerful right cross that required Kei Nishikori and closed the match with a backhand to the opposite side. And she dropped to the ground. Eternal glory.

“I am a Grand Slam champion among all the great tennis players who played in this Era and it feels absolutely incredible,” he remembers with a smile on his face. The title takes on even greater value when you see the entire film and not just one scene. It is that the story of sacrifice that goes through many elite athletes is reflected in his case.

“And Break Point career was moving to Zagreb when I was 14,” responds when asked about a moment in the past that explains what was going to come next. A moment of break

There, under the wing of his compatriot and national idol Goran Ivanisevic, Cilic’s risky decision to leave his hometown as little more than a child made sense. He trained with him, advised him and even introduced him to a former coach of his, Bob Brett. “Without Goran I wouldn’t be here today. He put Croatia on the tennis map. He brought sponsors to our country that supported tennis, a key in our beginnings. He helped me a lot,” praises the 2001 Wimbledon champion. Nickname “Baby Goran” It wouldn’t take long to arrive.

He grew up admiring Ivanisevic himself and enjoyed the first game like any other fan. Davis cup what Ivan Ljubicic y Mario Ancic They gave him to Croatia in 2005. He dreamed of lifting the salad bowl himself and he was going to achieve it. He was the protagonist of three finals. In the first of them, in Zagreb and against Argentina, the dream was a nightmare: with the series 2-1 in favor and 2-0 in sets against his friend Del Potro, he couldn’t. La Torre de Tandil recovered and he sent that tie to the fifth and decisive point, which Federico Delbonis and iba a ganar a Ivo Karlovic.

― You were part of one of the happiest moments for Argentine tennis, the 2016 Davis Cup final. What is your version of that story? How difficult was that defeat for you?

―As I said, I always look forward. I played ten or fifteen times against Juan Martín and they were always battles. I gave my best, I played great tennis and, in the end, Argentina was better on that last day, it must be said. It was probably the last chance for them to win the Davis Cup, with Juan Martín who suffered a lot with injuries. They deserved to win. I was sad that day, but calm.

― Did you feel relief when they were finally able to win the Davis Cup two years later, in 2018?

― The team said: ‘well, let’s give ourselves another chance to try to win.’ We had a fantastic doubles and then Coric and I. There was no sense of revenge or obligation to win. We were there simply to try to do our best. We played incredible tennis in Lille. Coric and I didn’t lose serve once all weekend against France and our dream became a reality.

In that 2018 Marin Cilic reached the final of Australian Open, who lost in five sets against Roger Federer, and reached third place in the ranking, its best historical position. He had just been a finalist for Wimbledon the previous season, also falling to the Swiss in the definition. I was at top. No goal was too ambitious for him at that time. Today your goals are different.

“It’s hard to set clear goals because it’s like I’m seeing with one eye. I’m not sure how my body is going to react, I don’t know if I’ll be able to be solid all year. That’s why, right now, I’m going step by step. I can’t look too far ahead because I know that the competition is demanding and that there are many young people playing fantastically. My goal is to try to raise my level as high as I can,” he says, cautiously.

And the beginning of his recovery attempt will begin this week, in Buenos Aires.