Marin Cilic was born in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina (formerly Yugoslavia) on September 28, 1988. His parents are Zdenko and Koviljka Cilic, who supported his tennis interest from a young age. Zdenko and Koviljka even built a tennis garden for Cilic and his three brothers in their backyard.
Cilic started playing tennis at age eight and played often with his cousin, Tanja. The young Croatian had such ability that former Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanesevic recommended that Cilic move to San Remo, Italy, aged 15. Here, Cilic would develop under Ivanisevic’s former coach, Bob Brett.
In 2004, Cilic played on the ITF junior tour and reached the second round of the Boys' US Open that season. However, Cilic had a particularly strong 2005, winning the Boys' Roland Garros, and he finished the season as the second-best ranked junior.
At the youth level, Cilic represented Bosnia and Herzegovina before switching to play under the Croatian flag. Between 2005 and 2006, Cilic jumped between ITF-level tournaments and Challenger events. In 2007, he caught the attention of the men’s tennis world with two Challenger titles in Casablanca and Rijeka.
The Croatian also reached the Queen’s quarter-finals and reached 101st in the rankings. 2008 was a breakthrough season, and Cilic started the campaign with a fourth-round run at the Australian Open. He then progressed to the same stage at Wimbledon before reaching his first ATP final at the Pilot Pen Tennis competition. Here, Cilic held his nerve in the final to defeat Mardy Fish.
Cilic reached four more ATP Tour finals in 2009. Victories at the Chennai Open and PBZ Zagreb Indoors added more titles to the Croatian’s trophy cabinet. However, he fell short in the Vienna Open and China Open. Cilic also performed well at the 2009 Grand Slams, particularly at the US Open, where he made it to the quarter-finals before losing to Mikhail Youzhny.
The Croatian made another strong start in 2010 and made the semi-finals at the Australian Open. He also defended his titles at the Chennai Open and PBZ Zagreb Indoors. Such success saw Cilic break into the Top 10 for the first team in his career.
Cilic continued to perform consistently in the following seasons and kept adding titles to his list of ATP accolades. In 2011, the Croatian won the St Petersburg Open before winning the Croatia Open in Umag and Queen’s in 2012.
However, he struggled to progress to the latter stages of Grand Slams in this period, with his best run a quarter-final push at the 2012 US Open. Cilic won the PBZ Zagreb Indoors for a third time in 2013. However, his season was disrupted when he was handed a backdated nine-month ban after testing positive for nikethamide. However, his ban length was reduced following a successful appeal.
The Croatian returned in 2014 with sheer determination and produced one of his most successful seasons. He claimed titles at the Delray Beach Open and in Zagreb before his biggest career win to date at the US Open. Despite entering as the 14th seed, Cilic won the Grand Slam and beat Roger Federer in the final. To cap a trophy-laden season, Cilic won the Kremlin Cup.
Cilic’s success rate slowed in 2015 and 2016. He continued to perform at a consistently high level, though, reaching the 2015 Wimbledon quarter-final and US Open semi-finals. Moreover, Cilic defended his Kremlin Cup title in 2015. In 2016, the Croatian won his first Masters 1000 title at the Cincinnati Open and also won the Swiss Indoors.
The next two seasons saw Cilic go close again at the Grand Slams. He made it to his second major final at Wimbledon in 2017, only to lose the last match against Federer. Then he progressed to the Australian Open final in 2018 but fell short against Federer again. He made history at Melbourne Park that year, becoming the first Croatian to reach the Australian Open final.
In addition, the Croatian sealed his 17th and 18th titles at the Istanbul Open and Queen’s. 2020 was a tougher year for the usually consistent Cilic. He failed to win any titles for the first time since 2008 and couldn’t progress to any ATP competition finals.
The Croatian also struggled in the majors, as his best performance of the season came at the Australian and US Opens, where he reached the fourth round. Success returned in 2021 as Cilic clinched titles at the St Petersburg Open and the Stuttgart Open.
Cilic’s win in St Petersburg was his 20th career title to date. However, the Croatian couldn’t progress deep at the Grand Slams again, only reaching round three at Wimbledon. In 2022, Cilic was back in form at the Grand Slams and reached round four of the Australian Open.
He then produced one of his best career performances at the Roland Garros and progressed to the semi-finals. However, he lost to Casper Ruud in the final four. Cilic also reached the Tel Aviv Open final before losing to Novak Djokovic and returned to the ATP’s Top 15. A significant knee injury at the 2023 Tata Open Maharashtra ruled Cilic out for most of the season. He returned early in the 2024 season but struggled with fitness and consistency.
