Photo: World Tennis Magazine
The first Grand Slam of the year kicks off from Melbourne on Monday, but what should we expect from the Croatians this time around at the Australian Open? Besides Croatia’s 2005 Davis Cup title, Marin Čilić’s 2010 Australian Open semifinal appearance and Ivan Ljubičić’s 2010 BNP Paribas Open championship, Croatian tennis has been dormant, to say the least, since Goran Ivanišević’s epic wild card win at Wimbledon in 2001.
Is it lack of talent or playing with the cream of the crop that contributes to this tennis famine? We can very well be witnessing the greatest past decade of tennis in the game’s history. We all know the legacies Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djoković have built for themselves, but before anyone can battle these legends in any given Grand Slam, top-notch players such as Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro and David Ferrer have to be dealt with first. So how long does Croatia have to wait to crown one of their own a Grand Slam champion?
Photo: Reuters
Marin Čilić can play with the best of them. But he plays so many four and five set matches early in these Grand Slam tournaments that by the time he encounters one of the big boys later in the draw, he’s completely fatigued. The 24 year-old Čilić, from Međugorje, can hit a mean forehand and uses his 6′ 6″ frame to get plenty behind his serves. His best finish at a Grand Slam was losing to Andy Murray in four sets of the 2010 Australian Open semifinals. In his last go under the big lights, Čilić lost to eventual champion Andy Murray in four sets at the 2012 US Open quarterfinals. Čilić will open up against Australian-born Croatian Marinko Matosevic. He has a favorable draw with an encounter against Argentine Juan Martin del Potro looming in the fourth round.
Photo: @ivokarlovic Twitter
The doctor is in! But for how long? 6′ 10″ Ivo Karlović will open up against a qualifier who has yet to be determined. Should he win his opening round match, Karlović would most likely face tournament #4 David Ferrer in the second round. Karlović is a one-dimensional player and is pretty easy to figure out: he’s ALL serve. The man towers over his competition and sends missiles their way during play. But if you can return his serve, the rest of the point is usually a cakewalk. As Karlović usually wins games he serves in but loses almost everything else, most sets involving him end in a tiebreak. Don’t look for Dr. Ivo past the second round at this year’s Aussie Open.
Karlović threw the above picture on his Twitter feed earlier this week with the caption: “Jugoslavija on Rod Laver arena. uf al nas ima..”
Photo: Telegraph.co.uk
We have seen glimmers of greatness from 28 year-old Ivan Dodig, but the man doesn’t have enough gas in the tank to take down a giant and make a run at a Grand Slam. Dodig will open up against Chinese wild card Wu Di, and should he win, would then play the winner of #19 Tommy Haas/Jarkko Nieminen in the second round. One of Dodig’s greatest achievements to date is his four-set loss to eventual Australian Open champion Novak Djoković in 2011. It was the only set Novak lost the entire tournament.
On the women’s side of the draw, three Croatians will take part in the Australian Open. 21 year-old Petra Martić will take on Japanese contender Misaki Doi, with the winner looking to face world #2 Maria Sharapova in the second round. 16 year-old Donna Vekić, from Osijek, will make her Grand Slam debut versus Czech Republic’s Andrea Hlaváčková. The winner could meet former world #1 Caroline Wozniacki in the second round.
After reaching the third round of Wimbledon in 2012 as a qualifier, Mirjana Lučić will test #17 Lucie Šafářová in the first round of this year’s Aussie. Lučić defeated #9 Marion Bartoli on the grass courts of Wimbledon last year.
If Karlovic made that jugosranje comment I hope he crashes out in the 1st rd.
I’d say Ljubicic making it to number 3 shows that he maxed out his ability. If we look at that generation nobody is going to remember Ljubo as a top 5 player. He was a player that made the most of his abilities and parlayed it into a very good career. Grand Slams are the ultimate test and judgment of a player. He played to his level at the Slams. There are plenty of players like Ljubo who built nice careers by winning and performing well at smaller events to get their ranking into the top 10.
Further to the point about Ljubicic: besides the QF and SF he only made it beyond the 3rd Rd twice more (4th Rd French 08 & 11)
My point about Djokovic was that the top tier players have excellent court coverage and have an ability to dig in and not wilt easily and always compete (Federer, Nadal, Murray etc.) So what I was saying was that our players lack those attributes to be a part of the top tier. We (add Tomic as well) tend to be lanky, slow and mentally fragile. Hence a Djokovic prototype if any player is going to do REALLY well.
Ivanisevic did make a lot of his career and limited abilities but certainly did not have a good temperament. Hence a weakness.
Ljubicic, I disagree completely. Went as high as No.3, played unbelievably in Davis Cup, did really well in Masters tournaments but flunked it in Slams. He’s only real good performance was QF in the Aust. Open. The French SF was the result of a fortunate draw and only 3rd Rds at the US and Wimb. Maybe he shouldn’t have won any majors but for No.3 should’ve gone deeper into tournaments more often given his performance in other formats.
Respectfully Frane.
Djokovic is once in a lifetime type of player…….You cant use him to compare and contrast how a player should constructed.
Ivanisevic made the most of his ability. He was never a skilled player. What he was is a player with maybe the greatest serve in the game and that helped him reach 4 Grand Slam finals (all on grass where a great serve can really carry you far) at Wimbledon. What lese did Goran do that was above average…..nothing. He was OK in all other parts of his game, but nothing that was dominant, other than his serve.
Same goes with Ljubicic. Ljubicic overachieved in his career.
Croatian tennis players tend to have a couple of problems:
1. mental fragilty
2. lack athleticism
Cilic can somewhat compensate for his lax court coverage with his stroke play. On the few occasions I’ve seen him he flows in and out of matches and doesn’t have the hard ruthless edge needed to win a Slam.
Ljubicic was too passive and Ivanisevic too angry. Djokovic is the prototype that is absent from our tennis.
We missed you Raptore.
Welcome back!
Your right Ziva, Tomic is immature but I gotta give a shout out to him for pissing off the australians,
they never pronounce his name right, im sick of seeing posters in the crowd reading ” He’s Bionic, He’s Supersonic, He’s Bernard Tomic ” when will stupid australians realise those words don’t rhyme with his name unless your partially retarded or something
@Colin,
““If Cilic ever wins a grand slam I’ll reveal my identity.” Ziva, Sept 9, 2012.”
Federer has another year or two. Nadal is banged up. All we need is Djoko and Murray to get injured and we have a 10% chance.
Oh man. She’s only 16… Don’t I feel like a dirty old man after looking her up!
Donna Vekić is an up-and-comer. She might end up being a top female tennis player.
She’s also very cute for a female athlete. She can always go the Russian female athlete route and cash in on her looks once she wins a couple of minor tournaments.
“If Cilic ever wins a grand slam I’ll reveal my identity.” Ziva, Sept 9, 2012.
Let’s go Cilic!
Tomic is an above average player. He plays some funky tennis. I refer to it as junk tennis. Very immature kid.
CIlic should make the fourth round against del potro and the he should flame out.
The best chance we have is Marin Cilic. Only problem is everytime he faces a top player he starts to shit the bed in the later sets. The only other hope is possibly the up and coming young Australian Croat Bernard Tomic as he has a lot of potential.