While the
ATP 250 in Buenos Aires
continues its fight to move to the 500 category, this year it welcomes four 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, a 35-year-old Croatian with an enviable resume.
He won 20 titles, including the 2014
US Open
and the 2016 Cincinnati Masters 1000. In addition, he was a key player in Croatia winning its second
Davis Cup
in 2018, the year in which it reached third place in the ranking, and hung an Olympic medal on his chest, the silver one he obtained in
Tokyo 2020
in doubles with Ivan Dodig.
And, almost as an achievement that ranks with all the previous ones, he can proudly say that he beat
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal
and
Novak Djokovic,
the entire
"Big Three"
.
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 only two games in all of 2023,
his presence in Buenos Aires generates an impact.
With a kindness and a smile that are not consistent with the serious and even defiant gesture he shows during his matches, Cilic receives
Clarín
hours after making his debut against Serbian Laslo Djere, 35th in the world.
"The rehabilitation was not easy, but I was focused on doing it well.
The players always want this to be quick and to compete again, but this was something totally new for me and I understood that I needed time," he explains in the Buenos Aires press room. Aires Lawn Tennis Club.
Few challenging weeks to start 2023. After consulting with various specialists, I made the difficult decision to undergo knee surgery as it seemed the best option for a long term fix to the injury.
Fortunately, the procedure went as well as we could have expected.
🙏⠀ pic.twitter.com/dXai2TD3qE
— Marin Cilic (@cilic_marin) January 20, 2023
The problems began at the beginning of last year, when he 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 prevented 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 any major injuries and it is a challenge to recover.
He takes it with complete calm.
"I always look forward,"
he says, as if he knows that good and bad times are necessarily part of the journey.
Marin Cilic and the US Open trophy in 2014, the best moment of his career.
(EFE/EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT)
Marin Cilic
was born on September 28, 1988 in the Bosnian city of Medugorje, five days before
Juan Martín Del Potro
in Tandil.
They are both exactly 1.98 meters tall and had a career together,
from
Juniors
to becoming 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
fearsome
drive ;
the reverse, accompanies.
That's how the Croatian won his first and only Grand Slam a decade ago.
He opened the court with a powerful forehand crosscourt that challenged
Kei Nishikori
and closed the
match
with a backhand to the opposite side.
And he 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 an even more special value when you see the entire film and not just a scene.
The
story of sacrifice
that goes through many elite athletes is reflected in his case.
The happiness of Marin Cilic, who has just become champion of the US Open.
(REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)
"A
Break Point
in my career was moving to Zagreb when I was 14 years old,"
he responds when asked about a moment from 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 to support tennis, a key in our beginnings. He helped me a lot," praises the 2001 Wimbledon champion.
"Baby Goran"
would not be long in coming.
He grew up admiring Ivanisevic himself and enjoyed, like another fan, the first
Davis Cup
that
Ivan Ljubicic
and
Mario Ancic
gave 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
was going to beat
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.
Del Potro and Cilic played 13 times at ATP level, with 11 wins for the Argentine.
Photo: Germán García Adrasti / Special Envoy.
― Did you feel a 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.
Cilic won 5 of the 7 matches he played in the 2018 Davis Cup. Photo: Yoan Valata/EFE/EPA
In 2018,
Marin Cilic
reached the final of the
Australian Open,
which he lost in five sets against
Roger Federer,
and reached third place in the ranking, his best historical position.
He had just been a
Wimbledon
finalist the previous season, also losing to the Swiss in the definition.
He was at the
top.
No goal was too ambitious for him at that time.
Today his goals are different.
"Today it's difficult to set clear goals because it's like I'm seeing with only 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, at this moment, I'm going step by step. 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.