ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 7, 2022

Marin Cilic

Press Conference

M. CILIC/L. Djere

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: How did you feel out there?

MARIN CILIC: Felt very good. The match was very solid from start to finish. Served really well. Courts here are quite quick. I mean, generally in Australia the courts play quite quick. That's good. I feel that's good for my game.

Overall controlled well from the back of the court. Didn't feel any part of the game uncomfortable or anything. That's a great part to it.

Second match without losing a serve, another great thing. Pleased about more or less everything.

THE MODERATOR: The change in weather, a bit colder today, does that change things a lot for you in the game?

MARIN CILIC: Well, it doesn't change much in the game, just the courts play a bit differently. I would say slightly slower, even though they are still quite quick. First few days when we got here was 37, 39. It was the fastest conditions I've played on.

Definitely plays a part to it, but overall you still have to do the things well that you are executing anyway on the court no matter the surface.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You recently had a great milestone win, your 550th tour win. Do these milestones mean a lot to you? You're the seventh active player to reach that many victories.

MARIN CILIC: Yes and no. No in a way that I'm not looking into them that they actually motivate me to win, but they are a great sign of how long I've been playing really good, on a high level.

Obviously that's incredible achievement in itself. Being on the tour, I don't know, last 15 years and more or less, had very consistent seasons throughout all of them.

Our next one is 600, so that's going to be a big milestone. Hopefully I can reach it. I feel I definitely have a few more years in me.

Regards to everything, I feel that I still have to keep myself motivated, pushing, looking for ways how to improve my game. At the end of the day that's most important.

Q. The world No. 1, Novak Djokovic, trying to enter the country, play the tournament, unable to do so. What are your thoughts?

MARIN CILIC: For me personally, it's difficult to judge anything because I don't have the full -- we all don't have the full information about his case. It's difficult to constructively say something objectively. The Australian government should have or should have not decided this earlier or not. That's on their own decision.

But looking at the situation, it's definitely incredible that this happened the way it did, especially to Novak, that he got here, that this is still going on.

Definitely feeling very sorry for him. Hope that this is going to be resolved very soon.

Q. What's going on the past day or so, how damaging is it to the sport of tennis? There seems a mass confusion. No one seems to know what's right or wrong. Doesn't portray tennis in a positive way. Do you think this will disappear or will there be lasting damage?

MARIN CILIC: It's tough to say. Definitely it's not great picture for tennis, to have something like this involved. It's transferred to the whole world because we are in this kind of a time where we are expecting when is this COVID going to stop, and we are still keep going at it, keep going.

But in general most important for tennis is what happens on the court, on the tennis court. We had such a great success in these last 10, 15 years on the men's tour, also WTA Tour, so tennis evolved incredibly.

Now with the new generation, new guys getting in, and Roger, Rafa, Novak in this battle, who is going to get 21st Grand Slam or if they. I think it's an incredible time for tennis.

I believe in the end tennis is still going to stay strong and be positive with everything.

Q. In relation to the Adelaide International, your key focus this month is the Australian Open. The ATP 250 is a big tournament. Do you keep something back for the Open or do you go flat out playing this tournament?

MARIN CILIC: Generally my understanding was that when I was having enough matches and having good success on these smaller tournaments - don't want to call it smaller, but sort of more like a preparation for Australian Open or Grand Slams - if I played well on them, it usually transferred well onto my form and I performed well in the Grand Slams.

That's one of the aspects I'm focused in these two weeks, to try to play really well, to go full flat out to see where my game is at, do I need to tweak things out, how do I need to add some things in practices or maybe in the matches as well.

For me these matches are incredibly valuable. Hoping that I'm going to keep going with wins. Definitely it can grow into my confidence.