2009 was a breakthrough year for Marin Cilic in more ways than one. The 21-year-old Croat started by beating home favourite Somdev Devvarman to win the Chennai Open and continued in the same vein to win another title in Zagreb.
Fourth round appearances at the Australian and French Opens were followed by a quarter-final showing at the US Open, the year's final major. He beat Andy Murray en route to what was his first last eight appearance in a major.
Cilic, after a mid-year slump, ended the year on a high, reaching the finals at both Beijing and Vienna.
In Chennai again to defend his title, the second-seeded Cilic talks to Special Correspondent Bikash Mohapatra about his career, his relationship with coach Bob Brett and the path to Grand Slam glory.
To begin with, is there any pressure of coming back to the Chennai Open as the defending champion?
No, there is absolutely no pressure. In fact, coming into the tournament for the first time as the defending champion feels good.
I have come here well ahead of the tournament as a routine and have been practising on the courts, trying to adjust to the heat and humidity.
The conditions here so far have been good. And I think I will be completely ready as the tournament gets going. I think I'm ready to deliver an encore.
Your thoughts on the draw and your prospects in the tournament?
It is too far to look beyond the first match. We have seen some upsets in the first few rounds here each year the tournament has been played.
Last year, Somdev played very well to reach the final. The year before that also there were a few upsets. So you have to be very careful.
So I hope to play match by match, and take it like that.
You are playing in Chennai for the third straight year
It feels good to play here. I played good tennis here in 2008 (semi-finals) and 2009 (champion). So there is something new that you feel every time you come here.
The crowd is always good. I felt last year they gave enough support to Somdev and were happy that a home player had come this far (to the final).
Of course, I enjoy the atmosphere, the tournament and its organisation.
Talking of Somdev, how do you rate him?
We are sort of good friends on the Tour, joking around when we have the time.
Professionally, I think he is going to take a step forward this year. He played the final here early last year and it would be interesting to see what this year has in store for him.
I think he is a good prospect to reach the top 100, but from there it is tough to say.
In retrospect, how do you assess your performances in 2009? What are you looking to achieve in 2010?
In 2009, I think I had two periods when I played well, the first three months - that is the beginning of the season - and the last three months.
I would say my goal for this year would be to play a little bit better in the Masters Series events (the 1000s).
And, of course, the Grand Slams are always the main goals. I always try to weave my season around the Grand Slams, giving them the top priority.
Are you happy with your performances in majors thus far?
I am definitely pleased with my performances in the Grand Slams so far in my career. In the last year I reached the quarter-finals of the US Open for the first time. Before that, I had already made it to the fourth round four to five times. Hopefully I can do well this year too.
Do you feel the need to put some extra effort to crack the Grand Slam code?
Not really. Simply because I have been doing well in all the four Grand Slams in the past few years. The things that I was doing, they were good, and I believe I was doing the right preparations.
So I am going to keep doing the same things in the years to follow.
In terms of preparations for a major, what do you think the top players do differently from the up-and-coming players, something that helps them in the latter stages when it matters?
I am not sure, because so far I have reached the last eight of a major only once and have never experienced going further.
So I can't say what preparation goes into marching further ahead.
It is tough to judge what I am going to do in case I reach such a situation, if at all.
But I think the experience of playing in those matches is completely different from that of playing in the earlier rounds.
At the US Open last year, you upset Andy Murray. How has that win worked for you?
I think it opened some doors for me. Especially, in the tournaments I played after the US Open. I beat some good players and had some good performances, especially in Beijing, where I reached the finals.
I think my game has become a little bit better than what it was. And I feel I am a little bit closer to the top guys now.
Players like Murray and Juan Martin del Potro, who are in the same age group as you are, have done better in terms of results
I would say every player has his own way of playing. And it's tough to judge who made the bigger improvement in the early stage of his career.
I think that improvement can only be seen later, in the middle stage of one's career, say between the age of 23 and 25.
Coming to Del Potro, he has had some great results last year and took a big step to break into that top-5 bracket. And I think he is doing well and deserves it.
His results are also pushing me to give more effort if I am to be his rival.
But I still have to do well in most of the tournaments, and be more consistent.
As a player, what are your biggest strengths?
Of course, I have to rely on my serve, on my baseline shots.
But I would say my all round game is pretty solid and when I am doing things right, I am very dangerous.
But in some cases I am still dropping my level and that needs to be addressed.
A couple of years back Bob Brett (Marin's coach) told me you are one player to watch out for. And you seem to be on the right track. What has been his contribution in your career?
When I started working with him I was 16, a kid so to speak. I learnt how to become a professional, how to be more disciplined. And those things in that period helped me become what I am today. I think he was working with me in a very structured way, step-by-step and always taking care of things. That helped me greatly as I was improving year-by-year and my rankings were also going up.
So I think he has been a good thing to have happened to me and I hope our association continues.
