{"id":467609,"date":"2026-02-11T08:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T08:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/467609\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T08:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T08:03:08","slug":"marin-cilic-on-unreal-level-against-roger-federer-unforgettable-first-atp-match-atp-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/467609\/","title":{"rendered":"Marin Cilic on ‘unreal level’ against Roger Federer, unforgettable first ATP match | ATP Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

It All Adds Up
\n Cilic on ‘unreal level’ against Federer, unforgettable first ATP match<\/p>\n

Croatian speaks to ATPTour.com after claiming his 600th tour-level victory<\/p>\n

February 11, 2026<\/p>\n

\"Marin<\/p>\n

Andrew Eichenholz\/ATP Tour<\/p>\n

Marin Cilic owns more wins than any other Croatian man in history.
\n By Andrew Eichenholz<\/p>\n

Marin Cilic<\/a> celebrated his 600th tour-level win Tuesday at the Nexo Dallas Open<\/a>, becoming just the second active player behind Novak Djokovic<\/a> to reach the milestone.<\/p>\n

In which victory did the former No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings play his best tennis?<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to say, playing Roger [Federer] in the semis of the US Open<\/a> was an unreal level. Also, Rafa [Nadal] at the Australian Open<\/a>,\u201d Cilic said. \u201cA few of those matches were just something at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cilic earned one of his two Lexus ATP Head2Head triumphs against Rafael Nadal<\/a> in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Australian Open<\/a>. But the match the 21-time tour-level champion referenced first was his famous 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Roger Federer<\/a> in the last four of the 2014 US Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not only did Cilic never beat Federer again, but he took advantage of the opportunity he earned by beating Kei Nishikori<\/a> for his lone major title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that was one of the best connections I had in terms of both my skills, playing on the court, feeling the ball, feeling the conditions,\u201d Cilic said. \u201cAnd just also playing by instinct, being free, playing by the instinct and everything is flowing beautifully. That was just pure \u2014 just absolutely pure, pure tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

You May Also Like: Cilic joins Djokovic as only active players with 600 wins<\/a><\/p>\n

Ironically, the match after Cilic\u2019s victory against Learner Tien<\/a> Tuesday in Dallas was between Alex Michelsen<\/a> and Grigor Dimitrov<\/a>. Michelsen\u2019s coach, Kristof Vliegen<\/a>, was Cilic\u2019s opponent in his first ATP Tour match more than 20 years ago. Vliegen defeated Cilic 7-5, 6-2 in 2005 in Umag.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember that I was feeling relaxed before the match. Everything was fine. And just preparing for the match, no nerves,\u201d Cilic said. \u201cBut when we started the warm-up during the match and the announcer announced me in front of a packed stadium in Croatia, I got such a great welcome and a great applause there. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy legs were gone. I wasn’t feeling my legs anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cATP\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Cilic vividly remembers the conditions that day in his home country, where he competed on the ATP Tour aged 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were playing in the brutal heat of Umag and I still remember that it was one of the most difficult days as a youngster,\u201d Cilic said. \u201cFinishing the first set, I was looking to the referee to get the medical and I couldn’t see him.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was black, so it was an interesting experience, but it was a beautiful one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now 37, Cilic stands alone with Djokovic (1,168 wins) as the only active men with 600 tour-level wins. With the amount of respect he has for the Serbian, it makes the accomplishment even more special.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely, but he is too far ahead,\u201d Cilic said, cracking a laugh. \u201cIt’s such a credit to the longevity we had in our careers and so many years on the Tour. We have had some great seasons. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have some difficult moments, going through many things. But the passion, the drive, the grit stays and that definitely has helped me to reach this milestone.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It All Adds Up Cilic on ‘unreal level’ against Federer, unforgettable first ATP match Croatian speaks to ATPTour.com…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-467609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}