At this time last year, Marin Cilic was at home in Croatia, serving a drug suspension he described as “unfair.” But he didn’t spend his time sulking, as he took the time to improve his tennis game, add to it, make it a springboard for this season, arguably his best as a pro.
“I used it the best I could,” he said Friday. “I matured a bit more and I was working day after day. … So I think that helped me to improve physically.”
Which has been apparent through this U.S. Open.
The 13th-seeded Cilic needed just two hours and 12 minutes to reach his second Grand Slam semifinal — he made it to the final four of the 2010 Australian Open — with a 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) upset of sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych at Arthur Ashe Stadium Thursday afternoon.
The big-serving Berdych wasn’t himself early on, losing his serve the first game of the match, and was broken five times altogether. Cilic, meanwhile, played brilliant tennis, recording more winners (46) than unforced errors (36), notching 19 aces and getting 63 percent of his first serves in, compared to just 50 percent for Berdych.
“I feel like I’m playing probably the best tennis of my career,” the 25-year-old Cilic said.
Cilic was banned for taking a substance that increased his glucose levels. He initially was given a nine-month ban that was later reduced to four months after a ruling didn’t find him completely at fault, because the substance was purchased by a member of his team.
After returning from the suspension this year, Cilic won the first tournament he played in, the Zagreb Indoors in Croatia, and reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
“When you’re against big organizations you are [a] small hand,” he said. “You can’t do much. So I just accepted it. When I came back to [the] tennis court, I erased it from my memory.”
Up a break in the third set on Thursday, Berdych appeared ready to make it a match before self-combusting. Serving up 4-2, Berdych chased down a ball that clipped the tape of the net. But chair umpire Louise Engzell ruled Berdych didn’t get it before the ball’s second bounce, which replays confirmed.
“Have you ever had a racket in your hands? It’s impossible to hit that shot if it bounces twice,” Berdych was heard saying on camera. “You never have a clue about tennis, then you call bulls— like this.”
Berdych had his serve broken and Cilic prevailed in the tiebreaker, capping a rare easy win at the Open for Cilic, who needed to rally from a set down against 26th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon in a fourth round marathon, and went to four sets against South African Kevin Anderson in the previous round.
Now, it’s on to Saturday afternoon and Arthur Ashe Stadium, against either No. 2 Roger Federer — the five-time US Open champion — or 20th-seeded Gael Monfils, with a shot at Monday’s final well within reach for Cilic, the first Croat to get this far since his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, in 1996.