Marin Cilic led Croatia’s team to their second Davis Cup triumph against defending champions France and made a whole country happy.
Marin Cilic, Borna Coric and Co. danced in a circle wrapped in Croatian flags and sprinkled themselves with champagne. The Balkan tennis team kept their nerve in the Lille cauldron and won the Davis Cup for the second time since 2005.
Before the eyes of their President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, the Croat hosts and defending champions France spoiled the victory party – and at least returned the favor a little for the lost finale of the World Cup in Russia this summer. “You don’t become world champion every day,” said Cilic after scoring the crucial third point to 3-1: “It was a perfect weekend, we all dreamed about it. I’m incredibly proud of the team.”
The match at the OSC Lille football stadium was the last Davis Cup final in the old fashioned mode, and the ITF stands by its radical reform plans despite all the criticism. Instead of four rounds of home and away matches in the World Group spread over the calendar year, there will be a final tournament for 18 teams for the first time in Madrid at the end of November 2019.
The date and mode of the new Davis Cup have been the subject of much discussion over the past few months. Several top players, including Germany’s newly elected ATP final winner Alexander Zverev, have already categorically excluded their participation in the newly created event.
Cilic, the US Open winner of 2014, is not one of them. “This will be a big change, an important chapter of my life ends here”, he said, but also confirmed: “It is planned that we defend our title at the final tournament. I hope I can play there.”
But the thoughts about the future and the reform plans were still far away on Sunday. Instead, the Croats enjoyed the triumph to the full after missing out at the 2016 final at home in Zagreb.
When Cilic turned his third match point to 7:6 (7:3), 6:3, 6:3 against Lucas Pouille after 2:22 hours on Sunday, he gave the starting signal for a big Croatian party in Lille. The seventh in the world rankings had already won his first singles match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday and Borna Coric won against Jeremy Chardy.
After the 6:4, 6:4, 3:6, 7:6 (7:3) by Nicolas Mahut/Pierre-Hugues Herbert against Ivan Dodig/Mate Pavic in the doubles on Saturday, the French had hoped for a short turnaround, but Cilic kept his nerves in the decisive moments in the duel with the six-year younger Pouille.
France captain Yannick Noah had to give up his top players Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils in the hunt for the eleventh title. After his defeat in the singles on Friday, Tsonga also complained about groin problems. For the match against Cilic, first Chardy was planned, also Tsonga and Herbert had played themselves well on Sunday morning. But after some hesitation Noah preferred Pouille. However, the 24-year-old was only able to keep up with Cilic in the first run.