Marin Cilic never lost belief he could build himself back up to another major moment

In early June, Marin Cilic prepared to step out on a grass court for the first time in three years. The excitement of returning to a surface tailor-made for his game was delayed by rain, but the veteran shrugged it off with a smile while going about training indoors to pass the time.

“The game of tennis is quite often the game of problem-solving,” Cilic told Tennis Channel at the recent Ilkley Lexus Open, an ATP Challenger Tour event.

>>> MORE ON THE ATP CHALLENGER TOUR: Click here

For much of the past two and a half seasons, Cilic has worked incredibly hard to conquer a challenge most athletes go through: coming back from injury. On Thursday, the Croatian reaped, perhaps, his biggest reward yet of this testing chapter when he knocked out fourth-ranked Jack Draper, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, in the second round of Wimbledon.

The victory is a testament of Cilic’s persistence to not give up on his body. After an encouraging 2022 campaign that saw the former US Open champion reach his first Roland Garros semifinal and give eventual title holder Carlos Alcaraz all he could handle in a five-set thriller at Flushing Meadows, the former world No 3 suffered a demoralizing setback at the start of 2023.

“I was at a tournament and the knee, something was off. Scans showed a rupture of the meniscus and also showed a broken piece of cartilage. I agreed to surgery but I didn’t reach a 100 percent level to play tennis,” he shared. “The knee was just blowing up, not reacting well. I was not able to run, basically do anything. So it was a huge doubt on if the knee was ever going to be OK.”

A year later, Cilic opted to go under the knife again with a different doctor. And this time, the outcome gave him the second chance he was hoping for.

“Since that surgery, the knee was absolutely perfect. In the end, it was a really long rehab, grueling, but I never lost belief that I might come back in those moments.”

His winning effort over Draper is the result of taking the necessary time to work his way back. And for Cilic, who was ranked outside of the Top 1,000 last August, that approach was achieved by making use of the ATP Challenger Tour.

In late March, the 36-year-old triumphed on clay in Girona to shave 25 places off his ranking. Three of his next four events ahead of Roland Garros qualifying were at the Challenger level, where Madrid yielded a runner-up finish.

By the time Ilkley rolled around, Cilic had climbed to No. 104. The following week, after getting two grass-court matches under his belt, the No. 2 seed went all the way at the Nottingham 2 Challenger crown to serve notice going into Wimbledon.

“It is absolutely necessary to go through (the) Challenger level to start to play against tougher opponents and go gradually, build up your game,” Cilic believes. “You go through these stages, you appreciate more the journey, the sacrifice. You know what it takes to achieve something big and to actually stay in the top of the rankings.”

In a way, his week at Wimbledon has brought the six-foot-six competitor full circle. By sweeping past Raphael Collignon, Cilic celebrated his first major win since the 2022 US Open. In defeating Draper, it cemented his first Top 5 win since knocking out then No. 2-ranked Daniil Medvedev in the round of 16 of his French Open run three years earlier. Thursday's effort also marked his 15th career Top 10 major victory.

With a supportive family by his side and a deeper appreciation for highs and lows life brings, Cilic is right where he wants to be.

“The absolute focus is not to be Top 5 in the world or No. 1 in the world. The focus is much more to enjoy myself. I believe that I still have an ability to possibly win big tournaments. I train for that every day.”