LONDON: Sunday will see former world No.1 Novak Djokovic lock horns with top seed Marin Cilic in the final of the Fever-Tree Championships.
Djokovic, who will be playing in his first final at the tournament since 2008, has a one-sided winning record against the Croat. Dropping just five sets against him in their 15 previous meetings. He progressed to the final of the tournament without dropping a set. Scoring wins over John Millman, Grigor Dimitrov, Adrian Mannarino and Jeremy Chardy. The run continues Djokovic’s upward surge on the tour. Prior to Queen’s, he reached the semifinals of the Italian Masters and the quarter-finals of the French Open. Elevating his win-loss record for the year to 18-8.
“It’s quite different playing him on grass. We have played at Wimbledon, but he’s a different player, I think.” Djokovic said about facing Cilic.
“In last couple of years he’s been in the form of his life and reaching his highest ranking in his career. Reaching the finals of Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
“He’s probably been playing the best that he’s ever played. Grass court suits him very well. Big serve. Just big game overall.”
Former US Open champion Cilic is looking to spoil Djokovic’s party. Currently ranked three places below his career high at sixth in the world, his route to the final has been more challenging. Battling past Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Muller, Sam Querrey and Nick Kyrgios. Muller was the only one of those players to get a set off him. It is his second consecutive final at Queen’s and his third consecutive on the grass overall.
“I think on grass he has been returning great throughout the week, and that’s one of his biggest weapons.” Cilic commented about Djokovic. “Obviously of course it depends all on him and how he feels on the court, if he feels that he’s at 100% physically, because of the elbow, things like that.
“But what he’s showing and what I’m seeing from the sidelines, he’s playing better and better, which is great to see.”
With a lot at stake for both players, here are some key numbers ahead of their final at The Queen’s Club.
Cilic
1 – The Croat has taken on the former world No.1 on 15 previous occasions, but was only successful once. That occurred when the two last clashed at the 2016 Paris Masters. He is 0-2 on the grass against Djokovic. Losing in five sets at the 2014 Wimbledon championships followed by straight sets at the same tournament a year later.
2 – Cilic is gunning for his second title at The Queen’s Club and his first since 2012. This year is his fourth appearance in the final of the tournament. He was also runner-up to Andy Murray in 2013 and Feliciano Lopez in 2017.
2 – It is the second final of the season for the 29-year-old. His first was at the Australian Open when he lost to Roger Federer. Should Cilic win, it would be his first trophy on the tour since the 2017 Istanbul Open.
45 – Cilic has won 45 out of 46 service games throughout this year’s tournament at Queen’s. He has won 90% of first service and 64% of second service points. A slight improvement on Djokovic’s 86% and 63%.
Djokovic
11 – Djokovic will play in his first tour final since starting his comeback from an elbow injury in January. The last time he contested a tour final was when he defeated Gael Monfils at the Eastbourne International almost 11 months ago.
36 – The world No.22 has been just as impressive as Cilic on his serve. In total he has won 36 out of 37 service games this week. Has has also achieved a higher first serve in percentage than his rival with 68% (135/200). Cilic’s is 65% (161/248).
99 – Djokovic will play in his 99th tour final and his seventh on the grass. In the Open Era only two players have contested more finals that Djokovic on the ATP World Tour. Rafael Nadal has featured in 115 and Roger Federer in 149.
801 – Number of tour wins Djokovic has. Earlier in the tournament he became only the 10th man in the Open Era to score 800 wins on the tour. Another victory today would move him ahead of Stefan Edberg to ninth on the all-time list of most matches won.
How the two have performed so far this week
The Queen’s final is scheduled to get underway at 14:30 GMT on Sunday.
