Wydaje mi sie ze Cilic moze dlugo odchorowywac ten polfinal AO. 3 mordercze pieciosetowki + 2 dlugie czterosetowki moga sie dac Chorwatowi w znaki, zwlaszcza ze jest mocno cherlawej postury.

Goran Ivanisevic trenerem Marina Cilicia

Najlepszy w historii chorwacki tenisista Goran Ivanisevic wraca do sportu. Będzie trenerem Marina Cilicia, który w najnowszym notowaniu światowego rankingu awansował z 14. na 10. pozycję.

"To wielki zaszczyt współpracować z Goranem" - powiedział w poniedziałek w Zagrzebiu Cilic, który w zakończonym w niedzielę wielkoszlemowym Australian Open dotarł do półfinału.

Największym sukcesem 38-letniego obecnie Ivanisevica był triumf w Wimbledonie w 2001 roku. Cztery lata później sięgnął z reprezentacją po Puchar Davisa. W 2006 roku miał zostać kapitanem daviscupowej drużyny, ale nie doszedł do porozumienia z władzami federacji. Wtedy deklarował, że "opuszcza tenis na długi czas".

http://sport.interia.pl/tenis/news/gora … 1433122,27

Czy ja dobrze widzę że Cilić jest uśmiechnięty ?

Kastet, może chodziło ci o Top 50 z tym potencjałem Niemca, bo pomysł z Top 5 jest raczej śmieszny xD.

Ivanisevic Extends Cilic Coaching Role

Goran Ivanisevic demolished Michael Chang on day one of the ATP Champions Tour event in Zurich and then announced that he is to continue coaching World No. 9 Marin Cilic, the 2010 ATP match-wins leader, on a part-time basis.

Ivanisevic, who despatched Chang 6-4, 7-6(3), will travel with the Australian Open semi-finalist to the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Miami and Madrid in a continuation of a relationship that began at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors tournament in February, which Cilic won.

The 21-year-old is coached on a full-time basis by Ivanisevic’s former coach Bob Brett, but in Miami and Madrid Brett will take a step back and allow his old protégé to take the reigns.

“It should be fun," Ivanisevic told the ATP Champion’s Tour website. "Bob is still his coach but in Miami and Madrid I am going to be his replacement while he is not there. I will be like a mentor to Marin.”

It was Ivanisevic who first brought a 15-year-old Cilic to Brett’s attention in 2004, and the pair have worked together ever since at Brett's academy in San Remo, Italy.

Ivanisevic is so determined to win the BNP Paribas Zurich Open this week and then follow up successfully at the inaugural Seguros Bolivar Tennis Champions in Bogota, Colombia, that he has spent weeks practicing with Cilic. He believes it has done the trick - he moved well throughout against Chang and even hit a couple of serves timed at 218km/h (135mp/h).

“I practiced with Marin for a couple of weeks in February and I’m feeling very well prepared for this event. Hitting with Marin has really helped me. I hope the speed gun is accurate here, because 218km/h is good. Hopefully I can go even faster this week. I’ll definitely try. This event is really nice and the court is absolutely perfect as well so I’m really enjoying it here.”

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis … -Role.aspx


Jak ma być do Ivanisevicia ten news to przenieście

‘Baby Goran’ ready to show he’s all grown up

Marin Cilic, the 21-year-old Croatian derided for being too nice, intends to fulfil his potential this year at Wimbledon.

THREE months ago, Marin Cilic walked onto a golf driving range in California with his brother, Vinko, and his coach, Bob Brett.

Six weeks had passed since his defeat by Andy Murray in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Three weeks had passed since his loss to Jurgen Melzer in the quarter-finals of the Barclays championships in Dubai. Three days had passed since his defeat by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at Indian Wells. But nobody had seen him behave like this.

He snatched at the driver and whiffed another ball. “****! You cannot be serious!” shouted Cilic, the 21-year-old Croatian and world No 12, who has never been mistaken for John McEnroe.

“I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about Marin,” says David Law, the media director of the Aegon championships at Queen’s. “He seems to be a really nice, straightforward, popular bloke. Some have said ‘too nice’ to win the big ones, but with his game, I doubt it. The fact that he is still working with Bob [Brett] tells me a lot. Bob is one of the great thinkers of the sport and I get the feeling that Marin and he are kindred spirits.”

Ivan Ljubicic, a former Davis Cup teammate, painted a similar portrait last year after Cilic thrashed Murray at the US Open. “Marin is our tactician, a very smart guy. Whenever I play one of the young guys on the tour, I ask for his advice and he really understands the game. He gives me great tips.”

We meet on a pleasant afternoon in Munich and I have asked Cilic to choose three sportsmen he might like to invite to dinner.

“Well, I’ve never really thought about that,” he says, “but I would probably choose guys who . . . Bob has been telling me about this Australian 1500m runner who never lost a race.”

“Herb Elliott?”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

“Why would you invite Elliott?”

“Well, Bob is always talking to me about life and how to improve, and to push yourself to be better. He had some great stories about him and how he never accepted defeat, and when you play an individual sport that is one of the most important things.”

“Who else?”

“Maybe Usain Bolt.”

“Why Bolt?”

“Because he is so superior in what he does and he is a similar height as me,” he says, laughing.

“Okay, one more.”

“Maybe Michael Jordan. I watched a lot of basketball when I was younger and he was one of the best athletes.”

I ask about those days when he was younger. We spend an hour chatting about his life and go our separate ways. Some 23 minutes later, he sends me an email . . .

Hi Paul, it’s Marin.

I was thinking about that question of three persons I would go to dinner with, and instead of Michael Jordan I would put Kaka, the soccer player. He is one of my favourite athletes in general and seems like a really nice and humble guy. Thanks a lot. It was nice talking to you.

If only they were all like him.

The third of four boys born to Zdenko and Koviljka Cilic, he was raised in the town of Medjugorje, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and remembers a childhood traumatised not by war (the family moved to Croatia for a period during the conflict with Serbia), but by the agony of watching Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon.

Cilic was three when Ivanisevic lost the final to Andre Agassi in 1992, five when he was runner-up to Pete Sampras in 1994 and nine when he went down to the Pistol again in 1998.

“We watched all of his matches and when he lost in ’98 it was really sad,” he says.

“People got a bit cooled down from tennis after that, and when he won in 2001 it was just miraculous.”

Medjugorje was not averse to the odd miracle. There was the apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1981, the millions of pilgrims who flocked to its shrine, and there was the ramshackle tennis court where the new “Baby Goran” smashed his first ace and began to hone his skills.

At 14, he moved to a relative’s house in Zagreb to use better facilities, and within a year he was hitting with Ivanisevic, and working with Brett, whose former proteges include Ivanisevic, Boris Becker and Andre Medvedev.

“I was lucky to be able to stay in my godparents’ house,” Cilic says, “and that my father was able to finance me to go to some of the tournaments, but nobody ever pushed me to wake up in the morning or to be there on time. I was never late for practice. I wanted it for myself.”

In 2005, he served note of his talent by defeating the top seed Andy Murray en route to the French Open junior title and ended the season as the top-ranked junior in the world. A year later he posted his first ATP win, made his debut in the Davis Cup and had climbed into the top 175 of the ATP rankings. In 2007, he broke into the top 100 and defeated Tim Henman on his debut at Queen’s.

In 2008, he captured his first ATP title at New Haven, climbed to 22 in the rankings and was Croatia’s top player for the first time. He won twice in 2009, reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open and cracked the top 20.

But the steps are getting harder now as he closes on the summit.

“Every practice counts, every ball counts, but it can be really tough to put it all together. A young player who is coming up can work on his backhand or the weak parts of his game, but when you get to the top, these things are sensitive to change and you can’t really experiment.

“To win a Grand Slam would be a great achievement, but I’m just trying to enjoy each time I’m on the court and to give 100%.”

In January, his composure and mental fortitude were highlighted in Melbourne when, after three five-set matches and one of four sets, he became the first Croatian man to reach the Australian Open semi-finals. His opponent, Andy Murray, was playing beautifully and had not dropped a set, and Cilic knew he had to strike early.

“I felt I could do it,” he says, “and did really well to push myself and get the psychological advantage [he won the first set 6-3] but in the second set it turned around a bit [he lost 6-4] and also in a mental way. When you are in front you breathe easier and each point pushes you along, but when it turns around it’s much harder, and I began to feel tired. If you are one step behind, those guys are merciless, they take everything, and it was really tough after that point to get back into it.”

“Do you like Murray?” I ask.

“I don’t have anything against him,” he says. “I get along with most of the guys. Everybody does what they think is best for them to win but outside of the court, everything is fine.”

“Who would you be closest to?” I press.

“We all hang around together but it’s very . . . [superficial],” he says. “We are not going to have dinner with each other.”

“And if you could?” I ask. “Who would you most like to sit down with? Which of your rivals’ brains would you most like to pick?”

“Federer, obviously, but I admire Nadal for his attitude and his discipline. I really like him in that sense as an athlete. He is really simple and always gives his best.”

I ask him how crushing it would be if he were never to win a slam, but the words have barely left my lips when I offer a retraction. The notion seems absurd.

“I don’t imagine you would feel crushed by anything,” I observe. “You seem far too balanced.”

“Balanced is good, but too balanced? Hmmm, maybe not,” he replies.

“You probably need a few demons,” I suggest.

“Yeah.”

“Perhaps you should play more golf.”

“That would do it,” he says, smiling.

Marin Cilic will compete against Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick in the AEGON championships at The Queen's Club, starting tomorrow. The tournament will be shown live, every day, on the BBC and Eurosport.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ … 144888.ece

The Last Word: ATP No. 14, Marin Cilic


Cilic peaked at the Australian Open,
where he reached his first Grand Slam semifinal.

Best of 2010
Cilic began the year looking like the breakthrough player of 2010. In Melbourne, he won back-to-back five-setters over Juan Martin del Potro and Andy Roddick to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal. It would be his last breakthrough of the season.

Worst of 2010
The first sign of weakness, or potential exhaustion, after Australia came in Cilic’s horrid first-round loss to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in Indian Wells in March. He struggled to hit two straight balls in the court and lost the second set at love.

Year in Review
Judging from his 2010 results overall, you’d have to say Cilic had burned himself out by the first week in February. By that time, he’d already played 16 matches, won two tournaments, and reached the semis of a major. He paid for all that court time in the second half of the year. Cilic failed to get past the second round in his last nine events.

See for Yourself
Cilic didn’t save his best stuff for last. Here he begins the year by beating Juan Martin del Potro in Melbourne:



The Last Word
As of March, Cilic seemed ready to his place as the next Del Potro, possibly the next Slam winner. Now he seems like a guy who may be built for the long haul. While he ended the year a respectable No. 14, this season feels like a step back. Recommended: Pace yourself.

—Steve Tignor

http://www.tennis.com/articles/template … 3&zoneid=9

AO 2011 - wywiad po porażce w 4 rundzie

Q. How was it psychologically going into the match knowing you had this 1 0 advantage over Nadal, but also knowing he hasn't lost a match since the last Australian Open at a Grand Slam?
MARIN CILIC: Well, I mean, didn't make too big a difference as we played year and a half ago, and it was a time when he was also coming back from an injury. I mean, completely different match this one was.

I came into the match, of course, with a belief that I could do well. But I'd say it was really tough conditions to play, pretty cold. It wasn't as quick as the other days that I played. So it was a little bit of a change up for me. Didn't found my way on the court.

Q. How would you compare Rafa's level now with what he was doing last year?

MARIN CILIC: I mean, it's tough to say. From this match, I didn't push him too much. You couldn't see how much does he have in the tank and, I mean, especially as I didn't play great. So it's tough to say.

But definitely he's got good confidence. I think conditions this year are a little bit slower this year and could suit him a little bit more.

Q. Were you tired after the match with John Isner?

MARIN CILIC: Not really. I didn't feel too much lacking in physical abilities. I felt all right. Just as I said, it's more the conditions that were suiting him a little more than me as the ball wasn't flying through the air as much, and it was really tough to put an aggressive play into the game.

Q. When you say 'the conditions,' you mean the weather or something different with the court?

MARIN CILIC: The weather mostly. I mean, it was pretty cold last few days. Tonight was also pretty cold. The ball wasn't as bouncing as much as when I played my last match. So it was a little bit different and more rallies were coming into the play. That, of course, suits him.

Q. I know you were not a member of the winning team in 2005 of the Davis Cup, but do you still feel the benefits of that victory for Croatia?

MARIN CILIC: Yes and no. Yes, those first couple years big attention came also to the Federation and everything else, to the juniors as well, of course. I benefited from that.

But this time not really. I mean, the tennis has maybe even a little cooled down. In past years we had some good successes in Davis Cup for past years. But not as big as that year. It didn't make too big a difference.

Q. What are your plans for 2011? What are your hopes? What do you hope to achieve?

MARIN CILIC: Well, hoping that I'm gonna come back closer to top 10. With this loss here, I'm going to drop a little bit in my ranking. I was defending semis over here. So, I mean, it's not easy for sure. But just hoping to get my good form back.

This was my first tournament in a while that I won two, three matches in a row, so I'm pretty pleased with that. I can take these positives out of here and push myself a little more for next tournaments.

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/new … 18942.html