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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2018

Marin Cilic

Wimbledon, London, England

G. PELLA/M. Cilic

3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you explain what happened? Yesterday you were dominating, today completely different.
MARIN CILIC: Yeah, yesterday I played really good. Played great two sets. It was a little bit unfortunate to stop last night when I was break down. And also when we came back the court was also very slippery. I lost there my serve.

Today obviously he won that third set. In the fourth, I just was struggling a little bit to find the rhythm off the ground. I was missing some balls. We exchanged two breaks during the set. I had even a mini break in the tiebreak, 2-Love, lost it.

Yeah, third set had a couple breakpoints in the beginning at 2-All, but just didn't feel so good. I was not as accurate as yesterday. I was just missing some balls, giving him chance to keep playing.

Q. Can you explain last night with the delay, when you came back, it was a really long time before you actually started play. What was going on with the officials? Were you happy to play at that point?
MARIN CILIC: We were waiting over there, just behind the court. When we came back, it was not raining. When we warmed up, it started to rain again. The court was not as dry. We were talking with the referees. They said if we want to keep on, just to try to see how it goes, we can. We decided, both of us, to give it a try.

But, you know, the court was still quite slippery. It was just a little bit unfortunate to finish the day like that.

Q. You weren't unhappy?
MARIN CILIC: We had the choice. We were speaking with them. We just gave it a try to go for it.

Q. Do you think nerves and pressure have played a part of today? We keep saying you're one of the maybe two favorites to win the title. You made it to the final last year. Can it play a part at some point because you can play much better than what you did today?
MARIN CILIC: Well, I don't know. I mean, I was still focusing on my game. It was nothing in my mind that I have to go far or that I'm obliged to do that. For me, yesterday it didn't matter. Just today when we came back, obviously he served two good service games in that third set. Came back two sets to one. Obviously a little bit different situation.

I was just not feeling as comfortable as yesterday with hitting. I was not as accurate. I was just missing some balls, some easy balls, giving him a chance to come back. That was playing the part. It was not just the pressure. It was me not executing on the court well.

Q. Will you get over this one easily or is this a case of, I don't want to see the racquet for a long time?
MARIN CILIC: I don't know. It's still obviously big disappointment to lose in second round. Obviously I played really well in these last few weeks. Yeah, definitely disappointment. But I'll see with my team. We keep going.

Q. You obviously play well on grass. Do you think it's the surface that is the most dangerous, where big upsets can happen?
MARIN CILIC: Yeah, I would agree. I mean, you can have some matches against guys that are serving really good, or it's just not your day. You're missing few balls more than usual. You can end up losing your serve and losing the set.

Yeah, definitely very tricky. But still I felt that I was not at the right level that I needed to be.

Q. Did Guido seem fresher today, more energetic?
MARIN CILIC: I think he played solid. Obviously he played much better today than yesterday. But I felt I had two different levels from yesterday and today. Even at some points, a lot of actually points that I had some short balls, and I was not executing them well. That was probably the decisive thing at the end.

Q. Last night when you slipped on the court and fell over, were there any problems from that?
MARIN CILIC: No, no, I didn't. I mean, it was just the last point that we played yesterday. I didn't feel any problems. Yeah, it was just a little bit unfortunate that the rain was on and off.

Q. Didn't affect you today?
MARIN CILIC: No.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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