Former US Open champion Marin Cilic believes he is playing his best tennis on the clay in his entire career following a series on encouraging results on the surface.
At the start of this month the Croat defeated Milos Raonic to win the Istanbul Open, his first clay-court title since 2012. Elsewhere he has also reached the quarter-finals in Monte Carlo and Rome, levelling his best ever performance at those events. The series of achievements means Cilic has entered this year’s French Open with a win-loss record of 8-3 since April.
“I’m feeling that this clay court season has been the best ever for me. A lot of good wins, a lot of good tennis, and I’m feeling really good on the court.” Said Cilic.
“I’m very focused to continue with good tennis. That’s, I guess, the most important part that I’m focused on to keep the things that I’m controlling, to keep the doing them well.”
Cilic’s growing love for the red dirt continued in Paris on Monday. Facing former French Open semifinalist Ernests Gulbis in the first round, he prevailed 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, without facing a single break point. During his straightforward win, the seventh seed fired eight aces and produced 26 winners.
“I felt that the match was quite good for my side. Really starting well from the beginning and serving well, and I felt that overall I was quite focused to play my own game and being aggressive, serving well.” He evaluated about his performance on Monday.
Roland Garros continues to be the blip in Cilic’s grand slam record. It is the only major where he has failed to reach the quarter-final stage. On three previous occasions Cilic reached the fourth round before losing to Andy Murray (2009), Robin Soderling (2010) and David Ferrer (2015).
“The results didn’t surprise me. I played well in the recent years as well. It’s just a matter of clicking the game. And I felt also last year I played well. I was just having a short clay court season.” Cilic explained.
Relishing in the current state of his confidence, Cilic is also looking at the bigger picture. With the grass season set to commence in under a month’s time, the 28-year-old is determined to convert his confidence from the clay to all surfaces. A task easier said than done.
Bidding to progress to the last eight at Roland Garros for the first time, Cilic will play Russia’s Konstantin Kravchuk in the second round on Wednesday.
