DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 23, 2022

Vedran Martic

Marin Cilic

Team Croatia

Press Conference

M. CILIC/P. Carreno Busta

5-7, 6-3, 7-6

Team Croatia - 2

Team Spain - 0

THE MODERATOR: English questions, please.

Q. Marin, twice a break up in that final set. It was an absolute see-saw battle with an incredible atmosphere. Just tell us what you were experiencing, especially in that final set.

MARIN CILIC: Yeah, I was feeling I was just a little bit ahead with the game, you know, against Pablo, just towards the end of the second set, start of the third. I was constantly putting pressure on him. Break, he broke me back, another break.

Then obviously I had a little bit of trouble on my own service games just to, you know, keep everything together. You know, I was double-faulting quite a lot and had quite a lot of troubles with that.

But overall, you know, kept my cool. It was not easy. You know, 4-2, coming back, 4-All, getting up to 5-4, and then it was also quite difficult game 5-4 just to hold there and get myself into the tiebreak.

Overall, you know, summarizing a lot of matches of my career in this end of the third set, so it was incredible battle.

Q. Australia now in the semifinals. For both of you, your thoughts, Marin, you first, and then you will be playing Alex de Minaur as well. You have a 2-1 record on him.

MARIN CILIC: Yeah, fantastic effort for them to get through also a Dutch team who proved to be extremely strong. They got through that group in Glasgow, so that's a fantastic win for them.

They are always extremely spirited, a great young team, and always fired up. We had, you know, a tough battle with them last year?

CAPTAIN MARTIC: Last year in the group.

MARIN CILIC: Last year, yeah, in Torino was a tough battle. So just try to get our energy back and, you know, focus for that. It's going to be a great battle for sure.

Q. Vedran, congratulations. You must be proud of your boys today. Can you sum up your thoughts on the day's play?

CAPTAIN MARTIC: I knew it would be a really difficult match. To play Spain at home is a really tough, tough opponent. My players fought really well and fight was there on the court.

Carreno Busta is a great player. Bautista Agut is a great player. Yeah, very happy that we are in the semis.

Q. Last year Borna wasn't able to play. He's come back. Can you maybe speak about him today?

CAPTAIN MARTIC: Yes, Borna is happy to be healthy again. He's playing really great season. He achieved some unbelievable results this year, and in Davis Cup all our players are fighting really till the end.

And in doubles, too. When we played group, Mate and Mektic, they played really well. I'm happy to have players a lot like this, Borna, Marin, another Borna who is coming on the court, they give everything. I'm really proud how we performed today.

Q. Marin, honestly what do you think would have been different with Carlos and Rafa here today?

MARIN CILIC: Yeah, you know, it would be much different, because I would say, you know, both of them are -- you know, Rafa, you know, has been during all his career, you know, a leader of the team and, you know, with his own results and always enjoyed this, like, team atmosphere.

And, you know, playing singles, doubles, he's one of the, if not the best, Davis Cup players ever, you know, in that sense.

And then with Carlos, fantastic season for him. Such a pity for him to get injury at Paris-Bercy, not to be able to play also the Masters in Torino, and then also this one at home. So it's very difficult for both of them. Yeah, but a lot to look ahead for Team Spain in the following years, for sure.

Q. Vedran, a question for you. What did you say in the crucial moment of the matches to your players to help them maybe calm down or be more aggressive on the game? Just a couple of words or do you have any secrets?

CAPTAIN MARTIC: So many different situations in the match. So many things happened. But you try always to find a way how to win the match. So that is crucial.

Today they found a way how to win and was really a tough battle. Is different how match proceed from the start, who is going up some breaks, who is winning first set and how is going, everything, you know.

Marin maybe first set he tried to find his game. After he found his game, and he was I think dominating only happened, unlucky happened some these breaks, a break and was really tough match. But I think he was controlling.

And in the second set, first game he had breakpoint and then again breakpoint next game. Then he broke. So I think everything was fine.

But, you know, every match is different story, and we are looking how it's going. But I felt that they are ready to win, and they can win and they play better. But you never know.

Q. How hard was it to focus with such a noisy crowd?

MARIN CILIC: I mean, I'm quite experienced with many matches, and I was expecting, of course, Team Spain down 1-0, you know, Pablo also, you know, great player, and then, you know, he was in the third set coming back, playing some unbelievable points.

Of course the crowd is going to get into it. Overall, I felt that, you know, obviously between the points, they always, you know, push a little bit with the cheering. It's not easy to focus on the serve, because it's like a long breaks and stuff sometimes between first and second.

But overall, it was quite okay. I mean, most important that, you know, nobody's whistling when you're about to serve. So that was definitely quite okay. Overall, I think they were very fair, you know, cheered on Team Spain, and we had our own supporters.

So overall was just a great atmosphere and fantastic to play.