Cilic: A Tennis Player with a Straightforward Game Style
Marin Cilic is a professional tennis player, born in Bosnia-Herzegovina on September 28, 1988. During his career as a junior player, he was outstanding, winning the U.S. Open and ranking number two in 2005. He’s the only player under 30 years old with more than 400 wins in the ATP circuit.
This is how Marin Cilic plays
Marin Cilic is a tennis player with a straightforward game style. Distinguished mostly by his powerful serve, thanks to his height, 1.98 meters (6 feet 6 inches). In spite of being such a tall player, agility is not an issue for the Croatian. He has impressive mobility on the court.
Often he’s been compared to the Argentine player, Juan Martín del Potro, due to his similar game style, as well as his physical resemblance and similar age.
In 2014 he took the U.S. Open title after defeating high-level players such as Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals, Roger Federer in semifinals and Japanese, Kei Nishikori in the final match with a triple 6-3.
Three years later, Marin Cilic reached the finals in Wimbledon, but this time he was not as lucky. He lost against the eight times Wimbledon winner and the best player on grass courts; Roger Federer.
In spite of this loss in the Wimbledon final, the Croatian has always felt more comfortable on grass than on any other surface. He says:
“Grass matches my game style perfectly. From the baseline I can hit flat shots with my forehand as well as my backhand. I also have good timing and I can always use the court’s speed to help me even more with the power of my shots.
It’s an ideal surface for my serve as well, because I feel the ball more. Possibly it doesn’t help my mobility, but I am used to it. I believe that I have improved over the years. I would say grass is my favorite surface.”
– Marin Cilic –
Tennis through the eyes of Marin Cilic
The Croatian has also expressed his admiration for two of the greatest players, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He would like to reach their levels of play someday.
“You can see how they improve year after year by changing their technique, but what amazes me is their capacity to adapt to any type of situation and the passion they display for the game.”
– Marin Cilic –
Marin Cilic is a great tennis player who expressed his desire to change certain rules in tennis. For instance, he feels that the time period between every point should not exceed 20 seconds. This would be contrary to Rafael Nadal’s point of view.
“If the points are long and the match goes to five sets, the strongest player will win.”
– Marin Cilic –
However, not everything contradicts Rafael Nadal, they both agree, as most players do, that Hawkeye technology should be used. It’s considered a major technological advance in tennis.
Definitely, Marin Cilic is a great player who has always been in the shadows of the best. This is due to the fact that he is a gifted but irregular player. Many consider him an intruder in the Grand Slam list of winners.
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- Wimbledon, K. M. at. (2017). Graceful {Roger} {Federer} transcends statistics to rebuild mystical aura {textbar} {Kevin} {Mitchell}. The Guardian.