Cilic Caps Return From Drug Ban With 1st U.S. Open Tennis Title

Marin Cilic more than made up for lost time, winning his first Grand Slam tennis title at the U.S. Open a year after not being allowed to participate. Cilic, who missed the 2013 tournament while serving a doping suspension for inadvertently taking a banned stimulant, said last night that he watched his peers compete on television last year but never thought about someday winning the title. “I was hoping just to come back on the tour and that would be the biggest joy in my life,” Cilic said of his mindset a year ago, underestimating how much joy there was to come. The 25-year-old Croatian, who upset Roger Federer in the semifinals by playing what he called the best tennis of his life, beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 last night in Arthur Ashe Stadium at New York’s National Tennis Centre. The win made Cilic, seeded 14th, the lowest-ranked men’s player in more than a decade to win a major tennis championship, and the first Croatian to claim a Grand Slam since Goran Ivanisevic, his coach, won Wimbledon in 2001. “It seems completely unreal to be called Grand Slam champion,” Cilic said at a news conference. “I was dreaming about this all my life, and suddenly the last four, five days everything started to change. And with my tennis especially.” Cilic won his last 10 sets in the two-week tournament, sweeping sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Federer, the record 17-time Grand Slam champion from Switzerland, in the semifinals. Quick Match He completed the win over Nishikori in 1 hour, 54 minutes. It was the first three-set men’s final at the U.S. Open since Federer topped Andy Murray in 2008, and also the shortest since then. The previous five men’s finals in New York averaged 4 hours, 3 minutes. Cilic dominated the 24-year-old Nishikori in just about every statistical category. He hit 17 aces to Nishikori’s two and won 80 percent of his first-serve points, while Nishikori won 55 percent. The Croatian had 38 winners, twice as many as his opponent. Cilic also converted five of 11 break-point chances, while Nishikori, the first man from Asia to play in a Grand Slam final, managed just one of nine. After double-faulting on his first match point, Cilic finished off Nishikori with his second, hitting a backhand winner before sprawling on his back, the arms and legs of his 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) body spread wide on the court. Cilic then stood up and climbed into the stands, seeking out Ivanisevic and other supporters for a celebratory hug. Prize Money Cilic earned $3 million for the win, more than a quarter of his $10.7 million career prize money since turning pro in 2005. He’s won three ATP Tour titles in 2014, a career high. Nishikori, who received $1.45 million as runner-up, beat top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia, third-seeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland and No. 5 seed Milos Raonic of Canada en route to the final. He said after the match that playing five-setters against Raonic and Wawrinka, mixed with the pressure of his first Grand Slam final, contributed to what he called one of his worst performances. “I was a little bit tight and nervous, playing first final,” Nishikori said at a news conference. “But to get this experience is going to help for this season and next.” Cilic was the biggest longshot to win one of tennis’ four major tournaments since unseeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina won the 2004 French Open. A resident of Monaco, Cilic missed the last U.S. Open while serving a drug suspension after testing positive for a banned stimulant at the BMW Open in May 2013. The International Tennis Federation accepted his explanation that he inadvertently ingested it while taking glucose tablets bought at a pharmacy, in September 2013 giving him a nine-month ban and backdating it so he was able to resume playing this January. [eap_ad_1] New Blood It was the first Grand Slam final since 2005 not to include 17-time champion Federer, 14-time champion Rafael Nadal, top-ranked Djokovic or 2012 U.S. Open champion Murray. The lack of big names led to a decrease in resale ticket prices, and had one media analyst predicting a television ratings drop of about 33 percent. Both Nishikori and Cilic entered the U.S. Open with 66-1 odds to win it, according to U.K. bookmaker William Hill Plc. (WMH) The odds on the two meeting in the final would have been 1,000-1. Before this week, Cilic’s best finish at a Grand Slam was his run to the semifinals at the 2010 Australian Open, where he lost to Murray in four sets. In 28 Grand Slam tournaments before this year’s U.S. Open, he had advanced past the fourth round four times. “For other players that are working hard, this is a big sign that things are going to pay off,” he said during the trophy presentation. Cilic credited much of his improvement this year to Ivanisevic, who he said taught him to enjoy the game more. Cilic’s serve -- a strong suit of Ivanisevic’s game as well -- has improved, as has his movement on court. Asked about where he was when Ivanisevic beat Patrick Rafter to claim Wimbledon, he said he was at a camp, glued to a television. “It’s most common question in Croatia, probably,” Cilic said, perhaps signaling the significance of his own win in his homeland. “It’s just that any Croatian knows where he was at that time because it was such a huge moment. (Bloomberg) [eap_ad_4]

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