Cilic attends the "Rising Star" tennis training camp Photo: Zhao Bo
International Online News (Reporters Yu Xi and Zhao Bo): On September 28, Croatian tennis star Marin Cilic once again spent his birthday in Beijing, this time with the children of the "Rising Star" tennis training camp. When the music of "Happy Birthday to You" in the stadium sounded, a tennis court-shaped birthday cake was pushed to the center of the venue, and a golden yellow "cream US Open trophy" on the cake was particularly eye-catching, "every year I take away very beautiful memories from China, these memories are enough for me to cherish for a lifetime."
Since birthdays happen to be at the end of September, Cilic's "Chinese birthdays" have become almost the norm over the past few years. And this time, for reasons that are well known, something is different:
"This birthday, especially happy! I'm definitely remembering this birthday, it's the first time I've had a birthday with a Grand Slam title, so it really feels great. And I'm in China again, and here I feel like I'm at home, and I'm very warmly welcomed every time, which is a special feeling," Cilic is still immersed in the excitement of winning the US Open.
Due to the large number of sponsorship contracts and cooperation projects, in fact, Cilic does not have only one "birthday party" on this day in China every year, often rushing to different locations within a day to celebrate his birthday with different partners on various occasions. On this day of the year, Cilic had four birthdays and received four birthday cakes. But he said that each one is a memory worth cherishing: "Every year I spend my birthday here, I receive more than one very large birthday cake every year, and every year I come home with very beautiful memories, these wonderful memories are enough for me to cherish for the rest of my life, and the memories of Beijing and China in my mind have always been vivid." 」 ”
"The Grand Slam title allows me to enjoy 'positive' pressure at the Mid-Nets with a goal of finishing in the top five by the end of the year."
He has played in the China Open since 2007 and in seven years Cilic reached the final twice in 2009 and 2011 and finished second. And this year, with the title of Grand Slam to the Chinese Open, as the focus of the audience and the media attention and the opponents that the players pay special attention to, the pressure can be imagined. In fact, sirich says, this "positive" pressure has been looking forward to for a long time: "There is definitely pressure, and I certainly hope that the pressure will be a little less so that we can create good results." But this pressure is also a positive pressure, and I used to want to be under this pressure, because it's also wonderful. I think the most important thing is to focus on your own game and the results. Maybe there will be good results, but I am sure that if I can play well, I will have very good results. ”
After winning the US Open title, Cilic said in an interview with Croatian media: "All the efforts I have done over the years have been worth it, and in the last few months I have finally started to harvest, which makes me very happy." After winning the Grand Slam title, Cilic set himself a goal for this year: "By the end of the year, I want to try to break into the top five in the world rankings, I think there is a chance, I am now 600 points away from the fifth place, I hope I can succeed." 」 After that, I hope to win a certain Grand Slam tournament, and now that I've won the first one, of course, the road ahead won't be any easier because of this first trophy. There are a lot of good players in tennis today, and they all play very well, so it's going to be tough. But I believe that if we go in the current direction and continue to play so well, I can create opportunities. ”
"Ivanisevich brought me a lot and he taught me to enjoy tennis"
Croatia, a country of just over 4 million people, has seen two men's singles Grand Slam winners emerge in recent years. Before Cilic, Goran Ivanisevic won the Wimbledon title in 2001, which still makes the small Adriatic seaside country proud today. Cilic said that this US Open trophy is the best proof of the effectiveness of their work: "Since working together, we have really created a lot of good things together, Golan has helped me a lot, injected a lot of different content into my game, and then we won the US Open title, which can definitely see the results of our work together." 」 ”
Now, following in the footsteps of the former Grand Slam champion, Cilic has also led all the way to his own trophy: "He brought me a lot, Golan told me what kind of way to practice, play, tell me how to achieve good results." 」 He made me enjoy tennis and there were a lot of very, very important things, I think, the most important thing was that he told me how he trained and how he created great success. ”
"Croatia-China Youth Tennis Cooperation, I will also do something for the young players in China"
Croatia has a small population, but in addition to Siric and Ivanisević, it has also sent such people to the world tennis world such as Kalović, Dodig, Ivan Lyubicic, who was once the third in the world, as well as women's singles Eva Majoli, Dana Wikicchi, who has been rising in the world tennis rankings since she was only 18 years old, and so on. Natural athletic talent and excellent tennis foundation make it a country that cannot be ignored in the world tennis world.
In recent years, the cooperation between China and Croatian tennis has been continuously strengthened. At the end of 2012, André Torneitz, the head coach of the Croatian national tennis team and former coach of Cilic, came to China to mentor the children of the training camp. In 2013, during a visit to Croatia at the Rising Stars Youth Tennis Camp, he was also received by Croatian President Ivo Josipović. As the current leader of Croatian tennis, Cilic also said that he very much hopes to help promote the development of tennis cooperation between the two countries: "When they visited Croatia, I was in Zagreb, and I went to their training camp, and I also took a photo with them, which was also a very good memory, I am very happy that Croatia can have such cooperation with the Chinese Tennis Association, which is fantastic." In the future, I believe that I will also do something for these Chinese children, and I will definitely participate in the cooperation between the two countries in tennis. ”
Although cilic does not have much spare time to personally participate in many activities as a professional player, he also started playing tennis from an early age, and also put forward his own advice for Young Players in China: "Always do your best!" This is always the most important thing in sports. There's also the need to enjoy the project every day, to work hard while enjoying it, to play against yourself every day, to try to get better every day – this is not only the goal of sports, but also the goal of life. ”
Cilic blows out the birthday candle Photo: Zhao Bo
Cilic shares a birthday cake with young players Photo: Zhao Bo
Cilic communicates tennis techniques with young players Photo: Zhao Bo
Cilic was interviewed by an international reporter Photo: Zhao Bo