After a injury-related setback to his 2019 season, Marin Cilic is keeping cautiously optimistic about his chances in the upcoming Australian Open.
Cilic, who finished runner-up in Melbourne 12 months ago to Roger Federer, pulled the plug on his first tournament of 2019. Last week he was set to play in India at the Maharashtra Open, but withdrew due to a knee problem. The Croat has been dealing with pain in his knee since the end of last year, which has intensified within recent weeks.
“Treatments during the short off season have been helping but there is still a ways to go and I cannot go into this tournament knowing I am not currently able to give 100%,” Cilic wrote on December 27th in a Instagram post.
Despite the blow, the former US Open champion is still on course for the first major of the season. This week Cilic is playing at the Kooyong Classic. An exhibition event that is located in an inner suburb of Melbourne. In his first match, he edged his way past Kevin Anderson 6-3, 4-6, 15-13. Cilic was at one point trailing 3-7 in the decisive tiebreaker.
Following his win, the world No.7 gave an encouraging concerning his knee. Saying that he is on course to reach full throttle in time for next week.
“The knee felt slightly more stiff than usual, maybe that’s from a first match,” Cilic told reporters after defeating Anderson.
“I need a few more days to play and train and hopefully reach 100 percent.”
Two months ago Cilic was part of the Croatian team that won the Davis Cup. He won both of his singles matches to help his country win the team tournament for only the second time in history. It was a triumphant occasion, but also one that took its toll.
“It took me some time to recover from the emotional end to last season with the Davis Cup,’ he explained.
“I’m feeling a bit rusty, but I’m hitting the ball well and feel on good form.”
Cilic is hoping to have another deep run in a major after reaching the quarter-finals or better is five out of his eight previous grand slams.
The draw for the Australian Open will take place on Thursday with action getting underway on Monday.
