"He built a tennis court in our backyard" - Cilic details tennis beginnings
Marin Cilic fell in love with tennis at the age of 7 after his parents suggested to him the sport that became popular overnight among Croatians when Goran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon.
Cilic was born in the small town of Medjugorje in Bosnia Herzegovina, not far from the border with Croatia. He grew up in a working family with very little means to play a fairly expensive sport. Speaking to ATP he detailed how it came to be:
"Medjugorje has a population of less than 4,000, and it is known for Saint Mary appearances, not sporting success. The town’s first tennis court was built just a couple of years before I got into the sport, which became more popular with Goran Ivanisevic’s rise. My parents gave me a little push to get into tennis, especially because my uncle and cousin, who lived in Germany at the time, played. When I was seven, they visited our home, and that is when I started playing tennis."
The courts were in rough shape and you could not really play that much on them. But Cilic's father, who started working in the fields as a 14-year old, was not one to give up easily:
"That is where my father’s love of construction came into play. He had never played tennis, only watched it on television. When I was eight years old, my father decided to build a tennis court in our backyard. My grandparents told my father that his idea was completely crazy. It really was insane. But my father had a vision, and he wanted to give me the best opportunity to succeed in life."
It was a tricky time for Cilic because Medjugorje is one of the hottest parts of the Balkans during the summer. Cilic recalled what that meant in the summer:
"I still remember how we would need almost two hours to fully water
the court during the summer because the water pipe connected to our
garden hose wasn’t very big. We often spent more time watering the court
than we did playing! But I knew I was lucky just to have that court."
Eventually Cilic and his talent made it to Zagreb, Croatias capital where his joruney continued:
"I knew it would be very tough to leave my family, which has always meant everything to me. But with their full support, I decided to make the move. There were quite a few difficult days. Luckily, Zagreb was close enough to home that I was able to visit home. It was quite unlikely, I have to say, but I was giving it my best shot."
All those experienced drove him to do some things off the court as well:
"It is incredible that I became a professional in the first place. I’ve fulfilled so many dreams I never thought I could make a reality, and I’ve long thought about how I could help others do the same. At first, I was not actually sure how. I always wanted to give back to the community and I always wanted to do more. But I knew it would be important to do so systematically.That was the idea behind launching the Marin Cilic Foundation in 2016. We do everything in our power to help kids in need, whether through scholarships, motivational speeches or by providing proper guidance to point them in the right direction."
Today he will play for his maiden Roland Garros final. He played in the final of all three of the others winning the US Open.
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