Former US Open champion Marin Cilic has parted ways with his Swedish coach Jonas Bjorkman, a former doubles specialist.
Bjorkman had joined the Croat’s team in 2016. The main reason behind Cilic’s decision to hire Bjorkman was to improve his play at the net as he wanted to do exceptionally well at the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world – Wimbledon. And Bjorkman did really well at that as he guided Cilic to the Wimbledon semis in 2016 and then again to the final in 2017.
While Cilic nearly played the match of his life against Roger Federer in 2016 – going up two sets to love before Federer clawed his way back, saving two match points and eventually prevailing in a marathon five-setter.
In 2017 there was no repeat of that act from Cilic as he was left in tears by the Swiss great. The Croatian was unable to match the brilliant shot-making of the former World No. 1 in a lopsided contest at Centre Court. Furthermore, a blister on his foot hampered his movement in the match and it further aggravated his struggles against Federer at SW19.
@BjorkmanTennis and me won't be working together anymore.
We had some great results during 16 months and established an amazing relationship. It was a great pleasure to work with him.
Would like to thank him for all his efforts and wish him the best. pic.twitter.com/vMWolKrSax— Marin Cilic (@cilic_marin) December 8, 2017
Under Bjorkman, who was earlier Andy Murray’s coach, Cilic attained his career-best ranking of No. 4 in October this year. Apart from being a finalist at Wimbledon, Cilic was a runner-up at the Queen’s Club and also advanced through to the semifinals four other tournaments on the ATP tour.
The 29-year-old debuted at the ATP Finals in 2016 and qualified for the tournament yet again in 2017. But, he failed miserably at the O2 as he couldn’t progress beyond the Group stage of the event in either of the two years.
It will be quite interesting to see who will now be appointed as Cilic’s new coach as during the larger part of 2017 it appeared like that his support staff had run out of ideas while dealing with his big game and the talent he possesses.
