Marin Cilic has withdrawn from Croatia’s upcoming tie against Brazil due to an ankle injury. The injury occurred during the Croatian’s number 1 fourth round encounter against Jeremy Chardy at the US Open where he twisted his right ankle.
Cilic was knocked out in the semi-finals of the US Open by eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Following his loss to the world number 1, the world number 12 said that his ankle was still ‘pretty swollen’. It is understood that Cilic contacted the Croatian Davis Cup captain (Zeljko Kraja) to inform him of his decision. Croatian sports website HRT published an extract of what the 2014 US Open champion said.
“My medical advice is to spend a few days in complete rest, which means that I can not even train, and in this situation, the team would not benefit with me playing. It makes no sense to play. The decision of withdrawing is with a heavy heart because we know how much I love to play for the national team”. He said.
Cilic will be replaced in the Croatian team by world number 499 Mate Delic. Joining Delic in the group will be Borna Coric, Ivan Dodig and Franko Skugor. The world group play-off tie will take place at the Costao do Santinho Resort in Florianopolis, Brazil. Croatia was relegated to the play-off tie after suffering a 5-0 defeat to Serbia in March.
Playing in the Brazilian team will be Thomaz Bellucci, Joao Souza, Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares. The tie will be the second time that the countries have played each other in Davis Cup history. Their first meeting was in the 2008 world group play-off tie where Croatia won 4-1.
