World No. 7 Marin Cilic joined Stan Wawrinka as the only two players outside the Big Four to have won a Grand Slam singles title and an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title with his triumph at the 2016 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Here, he discusses his greatest Masters 1000 memories.
What is your favourite Masters 1000 tournament, host city and why?
Probably Cincinnati as I won it there. I had a great time in 2016. I loved it and it was definitely a great time, playing-wise. I definitely enjoy most of them, they’re always at the top of our tennis. I also enjoy Indian Wells, always sunny, always quite nice weather when in Europe it’s quite cold.
Favourite off-court memory from a Masters 1000?
Cincinnati, having that great ice cream over there. They have unbelievable ice cream.
Do you remember your Masters 1000 debut, when was it and where?
My debut was probably in 2008 at Indian Wells. I don’t know if I lost to, maybe Ivan Ljubibic [losing 7-6(7), 7-5].
Best Masters 1000 win?
There are two. Andy Murray in Cincinnati [6-4, 7-5] and Novak [Djokovic, 6-4, 7-6(2)] as well in Paris Bercy [the Rolex Paris Masters in 2016].
Toughest match you’ve played at a Masters 1000?
I don’t know. Maybe I would put a match with Rafa last year in Shanghai [lost 7-5, 7-6(3)] as maybe one of the toughest ones.
Toughest aspect of playing a Masters 1000?
I think as the draw is always so crowded, every match is a tough one, so you have to be ready from the first point. You can have very, very tough opponents from the first round and matches are best-of-three sets, so everything can happen in those kind of conditions and definitely it’s very difficult to win those.
Dream Masters 1000, opponent and stage?
Any Masters 1000, to win a final against the top guys, either Rafa, Roger, Novak, Andy. It doesn’t matter.
Greatest match you’ve ever seen at a Masters 1000?
I would say maybe Rafa and Roger on clay either Monte Carlo [the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters] or Rome [the Internazionali BNL d’Italia]. They were [epic] especially at a younger age, Rafa was just relentless on clay. He played such amazing tennis and always had great runs on clay and those matches with Federer were always extremely entertaining and very exciting to watch.
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