TENNIS US OPEN – Last year at this time, Marin Cilic was home in Croatia away from the US Open and the sport he loves. He was out serving a drug suspension. Now fast forward to present day, Cilic is in the US Open semifinals for the first time after a resounding victory over Berdych 6-2 6-4 7-6(4). From New York, Cordell Hackshaw
US Open: All the interviews, results, draws and OoP
Last year at this time, Marin Cilic was home in Croatia away from the US Open and the sport he loves. His absence was not due to injuries or because he failed to make the main draw. He was out serving a drug suspension for the alleged presence of Nikethamide that was detected during a urine test at the Monte Carlo Masters event. He was given a 9-month ban which was later commuted to 4 months. During this time, Cilic found new inspirations and dimensions to his game as well as added the ever charismatic Goran Ivanisevic to his team. Now fast forward to present day, Cilic is in the US Open semifinals for the first time after a resounding victory over Tomas Berdych (6) 6-2 6-4 7-6(4).
Like their last meeting at the most recently concluded Wimbledon, Cilic got off to a brilliant start and Berdych was left in the shadows. Cilic broke and held serve for a 2-0 lead. Berdych was forced to play catch up and unfortunately he could not match pace with the Croatian. Cilic was seemingly breaking Berdych’s serve at will. “I start pretty terribly … [M]y serve was off … [W]hen you have a game built on a serve, then it’s really tough and difficult to reschedule it and do it a bit differently,” Berdych said. This was quite apparent as Berdych only had 4 aces for the match compared to Cilic with 19. Cilic has the 1st set 6-2 in less than half an hour. Cilic carried this momentum into the 2nd set when he broke Berdych in his opening service game for another 2-0 lead. Cilic maintain this break advantage to take the set 2-0 having never faced break point on his own serve in the 2nd set.
In the 3rd set, Berdych was able to claw his way into the match as he raced to a 3-0 lead but in the 7th game, he relinquished the break to level the set. The set was forced into a decisive tiebreaker as both players refused to be broken again. In the breaker, Cilic again showed himself to be the better player as he took it 7-4 points and thus the match 6-2 6-4 7-6 in 2 hours and 12 minutes. “[I]t was a great performance today … Just considering the conditions and the opening of the match went in my side, that sort of relaxed me a bit more. I felt that I’m in a good driving seat and that Tomas was all the time catching me and I was serving good in the right moments,” Cilic said after the match.
The serve was definitely the key to this match and Berdych was well off his best serving day. He was only getting 50% of his 1st serves in and won 72% of those points and 41% on his 2nd serves. Berdych noted, “[I]t was serve definitely. I mean, it was horrible from the beginning. That’s impossible to play with an opponent like Marin is.” On the other hand, Cilic made 63% of his 1st serves and won 84% of those points and 45% on the 2nd serves. Despite the fact that Cilic had 46 errors compared to 29 from Berdych, the Croat had more than twice the number of winners, 46, than Berdych who only had 21.
However, the real conversation regarding Cilic’s victory was about his suspension. During the press conference, Cilic stated that he was treated unfairly and got caught up in the big machine that is involved in the doping issues of tennis. “[Y]ou’re against big organizations you are small hand. You can’t do much. So I just accepted it.” However, he spoke about how this forced time away from the sport actually helped his game and has resulted in his improved level as a tennis player. “I just used the positive parts, which, you know, made me tougher. I felt that I was more, you know, directed to the goals I want and just with a great atmosphere in my team. I feel it helped me to gain much more in all different areas.” Cilic is not in his 1st US Open semifinals where he will play Roger Federer for a chance at this 1st major final.
