Marin Cilic is not with his compatriots at the 2022 Davis Cup, but he's still part of the team, and they found inspiration in the 'winning spirit' of Marin Cilic.
After having one of his best seasons on the ATP Tour in a few years, Marin Cilic was not able to help his country in the 2022 Davis Cup Finals group stage, in which Croatia faces Italy, Sweden, and Argentina, in Unipol Arena in Bologna, Italy.
Therefore, the country had to rely on other talented players from their country. First, they lost to the hosts Italy 3-0, but with two more ties to go, they could still make it to the knockout stages of the 2022 Davis Cup Finals.
First, Croatia played a very close tie against Sweden 2-1, and then, it was a showdown against Argentina for the last spot in the knockout stages, as Italy proved to be better than everyone else in their group, supported by the home crowd.
Borna Gojo secured a huge win for his nation that was important in the win over Argentina, and the Croatian paid tribute to Marin Cilic. The team elected to have his photo on the bench with them in order to bring the 'winning spirit of Marin Cilic' to them.
It worked, and the team has been playing much better since then. Gojo even sealed the win by kissing the picture of Cilic. After his win, Borna Coric followed up by beating Francisco Cerundolo, and after Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic beat Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos, it was clear that Croatia would advance after beating Argentina 3-0. Speak about Cilic's spirit, Gojo said:
"I was in Madrid in 2019 when Marin wasn't there, and I lost all of my matches, and the team lost all of the matches 3-0. So we tried to say after the first day and after we lost to Italy 3-0 and after we were down to Sweden 1-0, we said 'let's try to bring his spirit together with us so maybe something changes' and I guess it's working."
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