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ATP CUP

January 4, 2020

Marin Cilic

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

M. CILIC/D. Novak

6-7, 6-4, 6-4

Team Croatia - 1

Team Austria - 0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. First match of the year, first match of the ATP Cup for you guys. How excited are you to be able to get through the match?
MARIN CILIC: Very. Very excited. It was absolutely very difficult. Dennis played a great level. It was our first meeting, and it was absolutely a thriller and difficult match, difficult and also a great match to start the year.

I think the level was really, really good. First set especially. Tiebreak was decided by one unbelievable passing shot from his side.

And then second and third set was cat-and-mouse play. I was just staying mentally in the court, in the match, and sort of digging in and got my chance and opening towards the end of the second set where I played two, three great games. And then third set was not easy also to finish it up.

But just really pleased with the level. It was difficult conditions. Very hot today, so not easy to deal with that.

The crowd was amazing, was really packed and a lot of Croatian people. I was just excited to play, and it was really a lot of fun.

Q. This isn't to say Dennis hasn't shown before that he could play at this level, but do you think there is something about an event like this where Dennis and guys, even yesterday, as well, really raise their level under the spotlight?
MARIN CILIC: Yeah, absolutely. I think everyone is going to be, you know, who can deal with the nerves, everyone is going to be playing, you know, their better selves on the court.

You have your team captain behind you. You have your teammates. They can definitely give you big support. You are feeling that responsibility on the court as well that you want to push, you want to fight even when you are in some difficult situations. Something for me like today when I was set down, they were encouraging me, and then you also don't want to disappoint them.

I think for everyone and for tennis in general, I think that the matches are real good, real good quality, and, you know, for the crowd especially. They can enjoy it as much.

Q. Did you do sort of a double-take or something when, during the changeovers or after the set, like, you have your team right there with you through it all?
MARIN CILIC: How do you mean?

Q. Like that's not something that you have at other stops on the tour, so was that something you really enjoy?
MARIN CILIC: Yeah, yeah, I do. I do. I think it's just on that motivation level it just pushes you a little bit more. You're there. You can share with them some difficulties that are going through your mind during the match, and they can give you good feedback, just some positivity to pump you up, to light a fire under you and just I think it helps out and I enjoy that. I really enjoy this team atmosphere.

We have a really good team. We all get along well, and hopefully we are going to be playing quite good.

Q. It seemed like in the start of the second set you started to attack more and try and hit more lines, try and push the envelope I suppose a bit more. Was that what you were thinking after the first set where you got in a few sort of longer rallies there?
MARIN CILIC: Yeah, yeah, like in the first set, ball was just flying a little bit off my racquet, and I didn't control it. He was playing definitely great. Like quite a few times when I would press him, he would defend well, play quite flat, low. Then the ball was just coming off my racquet. On certain occasions I had couple break points, some critical points where I just couldn't let myself go to go after the shot.

Just in the second set I got tighter tension and just started to swing a bit more looser and that helped out. That played an important role towards the end of the second set where I made those three, four, five great winners from the forehand side and just opened up the match.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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