Marin Cilic has opened the gap of 2016 in Lille on Sunday. After the victory of the Croats in the Davis Cup final in France, the traditional competition is heading into an uncertain future.
Emmanuel Macron had more important things to do on Sunday afternoon, actually during the whole Davis Cup weekend. In France there is displeasure about many a reform of the president, the daily politics beats Macron’s sporting interest. Moreover, a trip to Lille would have brought with it much less chances of success than the one to Moscow that Macron started a few months ago.
For Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, the opposite is true: At the Football World Cup she had to congratulate the French for the title, this time three days of perseverance in row one next to ITF President David Haggerty paid off for the first woman in Croatia: Marin Cilic only briefly doubted against Lucas Pouille that he would win the third point for Croatia at the last Davis Cup final of the old school, unlike in 2016.
“It doesn’t happen every day that you become world champion,” Cilic explained on Sunday. “For us, a dream comes true. We are very passionate, you can see how much joy our fans have. I believe that it will also be incredible in Croatia. Lucas started very well and in the first set only one point made the difference.”
But then he served better and better, says Cilic. Which was also reflected in the statistics: In the three individual matches the French had not managed a single break against Cilic and Borna Coric in nine sets played.
Croatia will therefore go down in tennis history as the team whose victory will bury the traditional Davis Cup. How strong the resurrection will be in the coming year depends primarily on the negotiating skills of the ITF and the Kosmos Consortium. The November date for the final tournament only gives pleasure to very few players.
David Haggerty had to hear a lot from Yannick Noah, the outgoing team boss of the French. But at least he was able to congratulate his Croatian neighbour on the young country’s second Davis Cup triumph after 2005.