	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

DAVIS CUP QUARTERFINAL: USA VS CROATIA

July 17, 2016

Marin Cilic

Portland, Oregon

M. CILIC/J. Isner

7-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Late in the first set you had Love-30 twice at 4-5 and 5-6, and then you rolled four straight points each time. Do you play a little differently at that point? How do you remain calm those situations with the first set on the line?
MARIN CILIC: I felt from the beginning of the match that John start extremely well; he was not missing much; he was very aggressive; making a lot of returns back.

He was covering most of the court. I was, in my service games, in trouble for a lot of times in that first set. I felt that I had to be every point very focused, very aggressive as much as I can to stay in there, not to have any loose points.

I was just hoping that I'm going to get to the tiebreak to give myself a chance there to try to do something.

During the first set I didn't have any opportunities on his serve, and I felt that he played probably the best set in all of our encounters from the past. That was definitely a tough task, but I stayed in there mentally. I was very, very focused.

Luckily, I managed to win that tight, tight tiebreak.

Q. After yesterday's doubles win, did you feel that your confidence from that carried you through today?
MARIN CILIC: I just took some positives out of that match. I was very emotionally involved yesterday. I was very motivated. When you are losing that kind of match like I did on Friday, things can go negatively and you can go down.

I tried to just lift myself up with the team. I was very much emotionally focused to be positive throughout yesterday's match, and also today I felt it helped me to lift my game in critical situations.

Especially when you play three days in a row you can get a little bit tired also towards the end and you can miss some balls that you are not regularly missing.

So I was trying to be very focused with those emotions to stay in there throughout all the match.

Q. Since the end of the match have you talked to Borna at all? Given him any advice?
MARIN CILIC: No, not now. We just spoke briefly yesterday. He watched the first match between me and Jack. Obviously he played Jack before so he knows more or less roughly what he needs to do.

Yeah, in these kind of situations I think the most important is to focus on yourself, especially in these tight matches.

Q. You're 6-0 against John. Is that coincidence or is there anything in particular you feel like you have an advantage over him?
MARIN CILIC: Well, you know, most of those matches were going the distance. We played twice in the Grand Slams. The matches went to 9-7 or 10-8 in the fifth, so that's extremely difficult.

I felt that for today it's going to be a tough, tough match as well playing again best-of-five sets.

Yeah, with John and players like him, Karlovic, you have to be mentally in there throughout all the match. It can be that you have to wait for your chances a set or even two sets. You just have to wait for the right opportunities and you have to be ready for them.

Q. What's it like for you to have that many Croatian fans in the stands in a tournament like this on the road?
MARIN CILIC: As I mentioned, it just lifts my game, I feel. I really enjoy to play in Davis Cup. That's one of my favorite parts of the tour, even though it's a lot of times very challenging, even mentally and physically as well to play, like these matches and especially carrying the responsibility to try to win every match you play.

It's also very demanding, but I enjoy it. I really enjoy my time and the atmosphere on the court. I like to see myself in these kind of situations, how I'm going to play in these difficult situations when I'm playing away against great team.

So that's something I'm always taking as something positive. Definitely Croatian fans are always a big, big support, yeah.

Q. Also, I notice that you seem to really enjoy signing for kids and you've taken pictures, even two days ago after a tough loss. Have you learned to just enjoy your career even more at this point in your life here?
MARIN CILIC: I'm kind of that guy since the beginning, so I really appreciate the fans coming, and especially kids. For me, it's just a couple seconds; for them it's nice memory to have.

So it's great, if you can, to just give a little bit of your time to the fans. Yeah, absolutely I really enjoy it. I love to be in big stages, Grand Slams, events like this where a lot of fans are there and they appreciate your tennis and the game.

Q. Friday night, what was the mood? Did it feel desperate at that point, or did you feel confident that you had a bad day but still two pretty good days left ahead of you?
MARIN CILIC: Well, we didn't feel too disappointed obviously with my loss. We were expecting that I might win in that first day and that we going to have at least one point.

But we were not too disappointed. We took that as something -- I had chances in my match; I didn't take them. That fifth set could have go either way.

So matches like this can happen, and we just went full on for Saturday. Tried to give our best and see what is going to happen. We managed to turn it around.

I feel that the team was there from the beginning and really pushing us and really bringing the good atmosphere. We just enjoy these all three days playing here.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297