The Balkan Peninsula has nurtured many legendary athletes, tennis ball masters , number one among whom is rightfully considered Serb Novak Djokovic. Croatian sports history also has its own legends - the winner of Wimbledon 2001, Goran Ivanishevich, the unfading thirty-seven-year-old Ivo Karlovich, whose record ball speed reached 251 km / h, Ivan Lyubichich. In 2005, a new star came up - Marine Cilic, today's leader of Croatian tennis.
Biography Pages
Medjugorje, the birthplace of Marina, is the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, located near the border of Croatia. The village is known to the whole Christian world, because here in the 20th century the appearance of the Virgin took place, and up to a million pilgrims flock here every year. It did not suffer at all during the civil war of the 90s, which confirms its uniqueness. In 1988, in an ordinary family, where in addition to him there are three more brothers, Marin was born. Until the age of 13, he played tennis in his hometown. The first who believed in him was his father, Zdenko Cilic. Marin, tennis for whom became the meaning of life, went on his patronage to Zagreb to Goran Ivanishevich.
Not yet completed his sporting career, Goran discerned talent in a tall, purposeful guy and later commissioned him to his former coach Bob Brett. Since then, life has inextricably linked two outstanding athletes, who from 2013 switched to full-fledged cooperation between a coach and a student. The talented Marin in 2005 became the ex-first racket among juniors, winning the youthful “Roland Garros”. Three years later, he won the first ATP title, declaring himself in full voice.
Dope scandal
In addition to injuries that did not pass the novice, Marine Cilic became the hero of the doping scandal in 2013. By this time, he had just passed under the coaching wing of Ivanishevich and was disqualified for 9 months. According to him, they purchased glucose tablets from a pharmacy, which included the forbidden niketamide, which stimulates the nervous system. To many athletes, including Andy Murray, who is extremely negative about the use of illegal drugs, the decision of the tennis authorities seemed too soft. But even after appeal, it was revised in favor of reducing the period of ineligibility to four months.
Cilic used this time while training in Ivanishevich’s homeland, strengthening physical data and learning new elements of the game. Goran is the leader in the number of aces for one season (1477), which provided Marina with the strengthening of his main weapon - feed. The season of 2014, he was preparing to meet in uniform.
Major victories
The Croatian athlete has 14 victories in ATP tournaments (singles), but a real triumph happened after returning to big sport from disqualification in 2014. Being able to literally everything on the court, meeting with eminent players, Marin Cilic lost confidence and lost in decisive matches . Nine times he happened to play in the finals of serious tournaments, where there was always a little bit of luck. In the US Open 2014, he started from the 14th line of the rating, not being considered in the forecasts by his rival to the ageless Federer, dominant on the court Djokovic and ambitious Murray.
It was a special BS tournament - unexpectedly, Cilic and Nishikori, who were not considered favorites, unexpectedly made it to the finals, leaving top players behind. In the decisive match, Marine left no chance for the athlete from Japan. So far, the US Open is the only tournament that has submitted to Marina, but it has already overcome the barrier of uncertainty before the leaders. On his account of victory over Nadal, Wavrinka, Federer. In 2015, the Balkan earned another title in Russia at the Kremlin Cup, demonstrating a real master class for Russian athletes.
Tennis players rating: position of Cilic
Currently, Marina is suffering from a knee injury, but in the ATP rating he occupies the eleventh line (2680 points), slightly inferior to Raonic (2740). The best position in the standings was in August 2015, when he confidently entered the TOP-10, taking 8th place. The most successful was the 2014th, when from the ninth position, Marin Cilic, as the winner of the TBS, became a participant in the final tournament in London. Before him, only one Croatian tennis player was awarded such an honor - Ivan Lubicic, who had completed his professional career several years ago. Marin is a worthy representative of the Croatian tennis school in the international arena.