Former US Open champion Marin Cilic has said he is ‘motivated’ for the new season after experiencing an injury-affected past 12 months.
A recurring knee problem blighted the Croat during parts of last season where he didn’t win a single title on the ATP Tour. Something that hadn’t happened to him since 2007 when he claimed a duo of Challenger trophies. Whilst he did play in all of the four grand slam tournaments, his best performance of the year was at a 250 event in Moscow where he reached the semi-finals.
“I feel that 2019 was a season that I could use to learn some new things. It was just a little bit of different aspects into the season and just a few different things that happened to me during the season that I didn’t experience before during my career.” Cilic told reporters on Monday.
“Having definitely a difficult form throughout most of the (2019) season. All those things are good motivation for me to get stronger and to push a little bit more further into 2020.’
Now ranked 39th in the world, Cilic is hoping to get back on track at this week’s ATP Cup. He is yet to lose a match in the tournament, but was pushed to his limits during his clash with Polish world No.450 Kacper Żuk. Eventually prevailing 7-6(8), 6-4, after more than two hours of play on the court. The crucial win helped Croatia to win the tie 2-1. Placing them at the top of Group D heading into their final clash with Argentina. Where Cilic is scheduled to play Guido Pella.
“I have to pick some things that I need to do better, it’s just converting breakpoints. I had a lot of them. In the first set, Love-40, three break points, three set points at 5-4, and then a couple occasions in the second set, too.” He said following his latest match.
“But otherwise, I felt that the level was quite good. I was being aggressive.”
Away from the court, 2020 is a big year for the 31-year-old where he will become a parent for the first time. Joining the growing list of dads on the tour that also includes Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
“I had a good time off in the off-season,trained well. I believe this event can definitely set the things up nicely for the rest of the season.” Cilic assessed.
“We (me and my wife) are expecting a child, and that’s going to happen.Hopefully everything is going to go well in February and a new thing and could lead to a lot of good positives in 2020.”
Croatia will play Argentina on Wednesday.
