Cilic on drawing Alcaraz, savouring success after injury woes

Marin Cilic has been around long enough to know that life on the ATP Tour is anything but predictable.

After missing January due to a knee injury, the former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings arrived in Doha this week ready to begin his 2025 season at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, which this year will be held as an ATP 500 for the first time. Cilic was one of the players to attend Saturday’s draw ceremony at the event, so he was on hand to learn he will face top seed Carlos Alcaraz.

“An interesting setup, how the pieces fall into their spaces. What a way to start the year for me,” Cilic told ATPTour.com following the Doha draw. “The first match of the year to play Carlos. What a way to set the tone for the year and hopefully I can play many more against the top guys on the Tour. It's always great fun, a great challenge.

“I played Carlos a few times. We played last at the 2022 US Open, when he became No. 1 after winning the title. Obviously, he improved so much in these last couple of seasons, he has had an incredible trajectory up. I love to watch him, also as a spectator, but it's going be great fun for me to play him and to start the season like this.”

_{^{Carlos Alcaraz and Marin Cilic last played each other at the 2022 US Open. Photo Credit: MIke Stobe/Getty Images}}

Cilic pushed a then-19-year-old Alcaraz to five sets in that fourth-round clash in New York two-and-a-half years ago. The two players have been on starkly contrasting paths since: Alcaraz has firmly established himself as one of sport’s biggest stars, while Cilic has endured an on-and-off-again battle with a right knee injury, including two surgeries, which caused him to miss almost all of 2023 and six months in 2024. Those struggles did not stop him admiring Alcaraz’s rise.

“Obviously I’ve been watching quite a few of his matches in these past two, two and a half seasons, and he has had incredible success, now also winning Rotterdam [two weeks ago],” said Cilic, who trails 1-3 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series. “We know everything about Carlos, nothing to add there. We know how creative, how fantastic a player he is, and that he is one of the best, one of the ones that is going to be leading the Tour in years to come. So I definitely need to be at the top of my game to compete.”

A former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings and US Open champion himself, Cilic was nominated for Comeback Player of the Year in the 2024 ATP Awards after hauling himself back inside the Top 200 despite playing just 11 tournaments across all levels in the season. The highlight of his year was lifting the trophy in his first tour-level event for seven months at September's Hangzhou Open.

With his run at the Chinese ATP 250, Cilic became a 21-time tour-level titlist. Yet even for a player so accustomed to standing in the winner’s circle, the 36-year-old recalled that his first post-injury title run came with a little extra emotion.

“It did feel different. It was such a long, troubled way to that title, such a huge gap where I hadn't had continuous tournaments to play,” said Cilic. “I tried on a couple of occasions to come back, and it wasn’t working. For me, the overall feeling was great joy for my team, because they were with me, supporting, working with me, going through this process while not knowing if it's going to be good enough, if my knee is going to be well again and that I can play back on the Tour competitively.

“When you come back in such a way, especially to win the title, it's just a huge confidence boost. I've been many years on the Tour, and I want to say that I got used to playing in these later stages of tournaments, but this one felt extremely special for the team.”

_{^{Physio Tomislav Bucanac and coach Vilim Visak celebrate with Cilic after his title run in Hangzhou. Photo courtesy of Vilim Visak}}

Cilic’s coach since 2020, Vilim Visak, last year recalled how he had tried to help his charge remember how much he loved the game and to stay connected to it during his frustrating injury battles. Looking back, Cilic acknowledged that it was an up-and-down process.

“On most occasions it was quite easy, but there are occasions where you start to question yourself and ask, ‘Is this really worth it, is there any chance for me to come back?’”, said Cilic. “You try for months, then it doesn't work. Then try again and it doesn't work. Try again. It doesn't work. You sort of lift your hopes and it doesn't work. It was a little bit of a battle with those kinds of things.

“But overall, my feeling was that I would love to come back, give myself another shot to play a couple more seasons, as I feel that I can be competitive again. I love to train. I love this process of improving and getting better day by day, being diligent with your routines, with training. Trying to get better in everything. So it was, in one way, a challenging part, but also a fun thing to experience.”

In the twilight of his career, Cilic is determined to make the most of his opportunities to compete at the top level, starting on Monday against Alcaraz in Doha. Having turned pro in 2005, the Croatian is motivated by the recent retirements of a host of his long-time peers including Juan Martin del Potro, for whom he shared an emotional farewell note on X in December.

“When you look at these past couple of years, with Juan Martin, Roger [Federer], Rafa [Nadal], Andy [Murray], sometimes it comes down to the thing where you never know when it's going to be the end,” said Cilic. “With Roger, we thought he's going to play another five years, and it came so sudden. With Rafa, he had some injuries during his career, obviously, some bigger, some not that big, but in the end, also it came as a little bit of a surprise that he went that quick.

“You always try to feel as a player, as an athlete, that you're going to move gradually into retirement. But unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. It gives you the feeling of: ‘Today's the best I can do. Today is the best I can enjoy and to use this opportunity. You never know how many more you're going to have.’”