The direct balance sheet of Marin Cilic against Novak Djokovic is disastrous from the point of view of the Croatian – perhaps this is one of the reasons why Cilic expects the former number one in the world to return particularly strongly.
Over the years, Marin Cilic has developed a great championship in distracting from his own chances of competing for titles rather than being the favourites. The Croatian has played his way through the back door to his biggest career success, the triumph at the US Open 2014. Especially in the semi-final against Roger Federer, Cilic had gone as an outsider at the time, leaving the Swiss no chance with a flawless performance.
Federer took revenge several times, especially in the 2017 Wimbledon final, in which Cilic struggled with minor health problems in addition to his opponent. The past season was a success for Marin Cilic, after all, the veteran has qualified for the ATP final in London once again.
Which does not mean that Cilic is among the front row of contenders for major titles. Rather, he trusts a returnee extremely much: Novak Djokovic.
“I expect him to return motivated,”Cilic now told the portal Sport Klub,”Novak will start the coming season from a completely different perspective because he is no longer at the top of the rankings. I think this will make him even hungrier. We can expect him to be in the biggest tournaments for a long time.”
For Novak Djokovic, who is still ranked 12th in the ATP World Ranking despite a six-month break, the Australian Open would be a good bet:”The Serbian won half of his twelve major titles in Melbourne Park. In the latest issue in 2017, however, the defeat against Denis Istomin came unexpectedly early.
However, Cilic’s special respect for Novak Djokovic is also explained by the Croatian’s catastrophic record against the returnee: Marin Cilic has won exactly one of 16 games. After all, the last in the quarter-finals of Paris-Bércy 2016.