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WIMBLEDON

July 4, 2016

Marin Cilic

London, England

M. CILIC/K. Nishikori
6‑1, 5‑1 [Ret.]

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Congratulations. Novak is out of the tournament. Is this your year?
MARIN CILIC: Maybe it's the year for all the other ones (smiling). We'll see. We'll see. It's still too early, and, you know, I'm more relieved definitely to see that I'm not playing Novak, yeah. A bit easier.

Q. You are playing Roger, though.
MARIN CILIC: Yeah.

Q. What do you recall about the 2014 US Open victory? What can you use from that going forward here?
MARIN CILIC: Well, that was definitely one of my best matches in the career. You know, we haven't played since then.
That could be another good thing, you know, for me that I can just look back at that match and know what things I was doing really well. I definitely am playing well at the moment. I went through the draw pretty comfortably. I didn't have too many ups and downs with my game, so that's also another thing that's going to give me a lot of confidence. You know, it's quarters again, and hopefully I can come off with great tennis.

Q. But tactically what do you recall? What worked for you there?
MARIN CILIC: Well, I remember that I was playing great at the US Open. I served really well. Most of the shots that I was going for, you know, they were pretty aggressive. You know, I was not definitely letting him to control as much as possible. You know, that's I guess what is always the key for me against the best players.

Q. Do you have that sort of same feeling at Wimbledon now that you had then in US Open 2014?
MARIN CILIC: It's too difficult to compare, you know. I'm definitely playing well. That's what I feel on the court.
I'm hitting the ball really nicely, serving well. It's also a matter of playing day after day and putting that in the matches.
You can just rely on your feeling at the moment, and, you know, feel that you're gonna play in two days the same way.
So I'm going to have to be definitely very focused, very careful, you know, when I go on that match and go full on from the beginning.

Q. Did you know before today he was not 100%? Was it difficult to focus on you?
MARIN CILIC: Well, I didn't know actually until we came on the court. When he started to hit some serves, I noticed that he's not hitting them at all. Then, you know, just in first couple games I was, you know, trying to see where he's not comfortable at all to try to play that obviously.
It's obviously not easy to play that kind of a player where you don't know what to expect. But, you know, it was definitely a tough situation for him. Really sorry for that.

Q. You talked about Novak earlier. How is it in the locker room? Is it like, Wow, this is a chance finally, he's not there? Are you trying just to not think about it?
MARIN CILIC: Not at all. I mean, definitely he won the last four majors and he's the guy to beat, but I'm not feeling that kind of a thing. In any match I would go against him, I would still feel that I'm, you know, going to go win.
It's not that now he's out of the tournament there is a chance. Every tournament is a chance. That's another thing, and you have to just keep focused on yourself and play well.

Q. Do you feel, as a Grand Slam champion, you have already won one, you are a bit more under the radar than others in the draw? If that's the case, does that help you in a way?
MARIN CILIC: Yes and no (smiling). I mean, if you're playing well, it helps. If you're not playing well, it doesn't help.
Obviously the guys at the top are gonna be more on stage and that's obvious because of the obvious reasons. You know, for me I have had a little bit ups and downs in these last 12 to 18 months. I have to just get back to the position where I am playing great tennis and keep that for a longer period of time.

Q. Third straight year you're in the quarters here. Is this one of the tournaments you feel most comfortable at? Does the fact that you have Goran around here make any difference?
MARIN CILIC: Yeah, you know, definitely since I'm working with Goran, we made, you know, three quarters in a row, which I have never done before. Definitely, you know, just a sign that we are working well.
You know, this year I feel that I'm playing the best out of all these years in the past, and, you know, it's another good, positive sign. Definitely here the Wimbledon courts are suiting for my game and I like to play here, enjoy. It's amazing tournament where you want to do your best absolutely.

Q. You have had a very successful career and you're a very successful player. At some point you get in a slump or you have tough year or tough time. In terms of maximizing your resources, mentally and physically, is there any specific behavior that you do to overcome that?
MARIN CILIC: Well, I was a bit, I would say, unlucky in these last two years with a little bit of stepping back with injury time at the beginning of 2015.
So I needed some time to get back. Obviously when you lose that momentum, it's really tough to get it back. Most of the players, you know, during their careers had similar things. Some guys overcome that a bit easier than the other ones.
You know, also this year I felt that I was also playing well, had some good results, and, you know, just I was missing that, you know, bigger result that is going to open the door for me to feel great on the court and to, you know, keep on going with that.
The most important, I would say, that you definitely believe in yourself and your team that you are doing the right things and that, you know, you're not backing off and that you are sort of pushing yourself day after day even though if you have some tough times or not.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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