{"id":198319,"date":"2025-06-19T22:58:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/198319\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T22:58:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:58:14","slug":"marin-cilic-explains-the-change-tennis-made-in-2019-which-massively-favors-carlos-alcaraz-and-jannik-sinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/198319\/","title":{"rendered":"Marin Cilic explains the change tennis made in 2019 which massively favors Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marin Cilic was a mainstay in the top ten for several years, but has dropped off recently.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Croatian star won his first and only Grand Slam title at the US Open<\/a> in 2014, beating Kei Nishikori in the final.<\/p>\n

He reached two more Major finals, at Wimbledon in 2017 and at the Australian Open in 2018, losing out to Roger Federer<\/a> on both occasions.<\/p>\n

\"MarinPhoto by Michael Dodge\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

From 2019 onwards, Cilic\u2019s<\/a> form began to tail off, dropping out of the world\u2019s top ten, as he struggled with injuries.<\/p>\n

Speaking today, Cilic explained the \u2018shift\u2019 that happened on the ATP Tour<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n

Marin Cilic says the ATP Tour balls changed in 2019 sparking the rise of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner<\/p>\n

Appearing on the Tennis Channel, Cilic reflected on how tennis has changed over the last five to six years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a certain shift somewhere around 2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a shift in the balls that I felt personally. I have quite a good feel about the game. I feel at that moment, the balls became a touch harder, it was tough to play this touch tennis, smooth the ball around, it became a bit more hit and go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cilic believes the change in balls favored two players in particular, who are now ranked number one and two in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou speed forward six or seven years, the top two guys are the big hitters, Jannik [Sinner]<\/a> and Carlos [Alcaraz],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys who can hit through the court, who move incredibly well, and are equipped with lots of weapons, forehand, backhand, and serve well.<\/p>\n

\"JannikPhoto by Foto Olimpik\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cCarlos has got lots of creativity, but I think for them at the top of the game, they show incredible physical abilities combined with being able to hurt the opponent with lots of weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2014 US Open champion suggested it\u2019s \u2018really difficult\u2019 to win on the ATP Tour today if you aren\u2019t a big hitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the way the game has shifted, it\u2019s really difficult at the moment to play around, smooth the ball around, play with the opponent\u2019s speed, use the tactics,\u201d said Cilic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t hit through the court, it\u2019s really difficult to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was then asked whether he thinks the level in men\u2019s tennis is higher now than it was five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think overall the level has increased, I think there are more and more guys playing at a great level,\u201d said Cilic.<\/p>\n

\"MarinPhoto by Yu Chun Christopher Wong\/Eurasia Sport Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end, for the guys who don\u2019t make it and the guys who do, it\u2019s small differences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it comes down to hitting the ball or playing matches, it comes down to many different aspects, from scheduling, training, the way they take care of their body, nutrition, which court surfaces to choose, these small details.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the level now, playing the last several months on the Challenger Tour, the level is really high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cilic has secured several impressive results on the Challenger Tour over recent months, as he continues his rise back up the rankings.<\/p>\n\nMonth<\/strong><\/td>\nTournament<\/strong><\/td>\nSurface<\/strong><\/td>\nResult<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nMarch<\/td>\nMurcia Open <\/td>\nClay<\/td>\nLost in 1R<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nMarch<\/td>\nGirona Challenger<\/td>\nClay<\/td>\nWinner<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nApril<\/td>\nMenorca Challenger<\/td>\nClay<\/td>\nLost in 1R<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nApril<\/td>\nMadrid Challenger<\/td>\nClay<\/td>\nRunner-Up<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nApril<\/td>\nMauthausen Challenger<\/td>\nClay<\/td>\nLost in 1R<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nJune<\/td>\nIlkley Challenger<\/td>\nGrass<\/td>\nLost in 2R<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nJune <\/td>\nNottingham Challenger<\/td>\nGrass<\/td>\nQuarterfinalist*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Marin Cilic\u2019s Challenger Tour results in 2025<\/p>\n

It certainly looks like Cilic has a lot left in the tank, as he prepares for his quarterfinal match at the Nottingham Challenger event on grass.<\/p>\n

Marin Cilic reveals what motivates him to keep playing tennis<\/p>\n

At 36 years old, some players consider hanging up their rackets, but that isn\u2019t the case for Cilic, who still has plenty of motivation to keep going.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, what keeps me driving is the pure and simple, the strong will to keep competing,\u201d said Cilic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see myself in the training, I see my level, and that gives me great motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTennis is an extremely difficult game; lots of small pieces need to fall in the right spot to be able to play incredible tennis and to be able to perform on the biggest stages. I still feel like I\u2019ve got the drive, I still feel that I can compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now ranked 98th in the world (live rankings), Cilic can directly qualify for the main draw of Grand Slam events, something he will take full advantage of at Wimbledon later this month.<\/p>\n\nRank<\/strong><\/td>\nName<\/strong><\/td>\nCountry<\/strong><\/td>\nAge <\/strong><\/td>\nPoints<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n96th<\/td>\nAlexander Shevchenko<\/td>\nKazakhtsan<\/td>\n24<\/td>\n635<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n97th<\/td>\nOtto Virtanen<\/td>\nFinland<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n623<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n98th<\/td>\nMarin Cilic<\/td>\nCroatia<\/td>\n36<\/td>\n613<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n99th<\/td>\nNishesh Basavareddy<\/td>\nUSA<\/td>\n20<\/td>\n582<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n100th<\/td>\nBrandon Holt<\/td>\nUSA<\/td>\n27<\/td>\n568<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Snapshot of the Live ATP Rankings<\/p>\n

A former finalist at Wimbledon, Cilic will no doubt hope to produce another stellar display at the All England Club in 2025.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Wimbledon tournament is scheduled to begin on Monday, June 30.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marin Cilic was a mainstay in the top ten for several years, but has dropped off recently. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[4294,6359,4718,80389,79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-198319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-carlos-alcaraz","10":"tag-jannik-sinner","11":"tag-marin-cilic","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114712510812149514","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}