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CHINA OPENSeptember 29, 2014Marin CilicBEIJING, CHINA M. CILIC/Y. Bai THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. So your last two service games were incredibly dominant. Was there something that clicked in your head as you got close to the end of the match? MARIN CILIC: Yeah, I felt that I was playing little bit better and better after the beginning. Was still a little bit rusty after few weeks. Just to start the match, it was a bit different, different conditions. So I felt in the end of the match my serve was really, really good, and felt that it was really in the right spot. So it was a good way to finish it like that, not to make it complicated. Q. Starting the match, he took you to breakpoint on your first two service games. Were you expecting him to play well at the beginning? MARIN CILIC: I know Bai Yan from already few years back. I know he played pretty well once in Shanghai, beat Stepanek. So I know he could play well. I know him well. We are good friends. I didn't see him for few years and I didn't know what to expect on the court. So it was just adjustment time at the beginning. As I mentioned, a bit rusty in the first set. So it was just good to get this nervousness out of my system. I felt I played better in the second set. Q. Obviously it feels a little bit different coming into a tournament as a Grand Slam champion. Can you talk about the different feeling you have now, a lot of attention on you, more expectations on you. MARIN CILIC: Yeah, it's absolutely more attention. That's actually where I want to be. I mean, most of the guys at the top are dealing with that already for few years. It's a bit new thing for me, so I'm learning day to day. It's going to be a process for me, for sure, on all the tournaments to keep my level of the game at the high point where I want it to be. I have been dealing little bit with this in the past. I learned couple of lessons. Most important for myself is also not to put too many expectations on my own shoulders from my own side, not to ask too much out of myself. That can be dangerous in a process if things are not working the best I want them to. I know it's always difficult to start tournaments. You know, players are always looking at you much more. I think it's important for me to keep focusing on improvement of my game and try to, of course, recreate the game I was playing in the US Open. Q. It looked like you had a pretty good time back home in Croatia celebrating the US Open title. Did you also have an opportunity to sit quietly and reflect, or was it just a whirlwind couple of weeks since Davis Cup? MARIN CILIC: It was not enough time to sit. No, in Croatia it was extremely special. When I came back after Davis Cup, the country, everybody was very, very happy. You could see whoever I met, they were really happy for me and also proud because Croatia is really small country. In the tennis world, everybody knows everybody. Especially now they follow me already since the beginning of my career. So everybody was just excited about this success. When I was in my hometown, it was just amazing memory. Huge amount of people. It was, I don't know, 30,000, 40,000 people on a square. Just was very special. I didn't expect that, absolutely (smiling). Q. You had four birthday cakes yesterday. You celebrated very late. You were still awake at midnight. A birthday is always nice, but do you have to remind yourself that you have a very important tournament to play and focus? MARIN CILIC: That's true. I got four cakes yesterday, the most I received on my birthday. I feel I'm more relaxed than before. Okay, I was also relaxed last few months. But I still keep my things what I have to focus on. But also in the free time, I'm trying to be relaxed, trying to do something that is going to fulfill me, that I'm not stressed about tennis, that I'm not stressed about the things that I have to do on the court. It's, of course, a part of it. But when I am turning my mind into tennis, all the time it's there with the full focus. So it was for sure relax day, but at the end of the evening and since this morning I was very focused for the tournament. Q. Winning a Grand Slam changes people regardless of whether they want it to or not. In what ways do you want it to change you and in what ways do you not want it to change you? MARIN CILIC: Well, I mean, I'm going to think about things differently. I would like that winning Grand Slam would change my approach to Grand Slams; when I'm going to go there, that I know I'm able to win it, that I know I'm able to be a part of the small group of players who are always at the end of those tournaments. To be, of course, very motivated in that part, that I'm not feeling, okay, a good result for me is being in the last eight or things like that. I don't want it to change me in my understanding of tennis and in my play so far because I reached my biggest success with enjoyment in the game, having fun on the court, and still being a person as I am. So I don't want to change that. Q. One week ago you came to Beijing. Over the past week what did you do in Beijing? MARIN CILIC: Well, I arrived last Tuesday. I had some things to do also for my sponsors, for Li Ning, because I have close relationship with Li Ning and of course with Chinese fans. It took me also couple days to adjust to change in difference of time and to, of course, prepare. After this huge success, I also want to keep my focus and to do all the things I need to do like few days already in advance before the tournament. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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