Marin Cilic

Nicknamed Mrnja from his uncle and family and friends call him that...Began playing at age seven with his cousin, Tanja who lived in Germany and would come over during summer to his home city and says "I liked playing from the beginning"...Parents Zdenko (father) and Koviljka (mother) are retired...Has three brothers, two older Vinko (25) and Goran (22), and one younger Mile (14), who is "most inspirational person because of his good advice".

Finished as No. 2 junior in world in 2005 (behind Donald Young) and won four international junior titles, including Roland Garros (d. Van Der Duim)...Also QF at other three junior Grand Slams...In doubles, captured three junior titles in five finals...Hobbies include playing soccer and his favorite teams are AC Milan and Croatia (admires players Kaka and Robinho)...Admires countrymen Goran Ivanisevic and Ivan Ljubicic...Enjoys playing on all surfaces but says hard and grass are best-suited for him because of his height and style of play...Considers backhand his strength...Has a 7-8 career Davis Cup record (5-5 in singles) in eight ties...Fitness trainer is Ljubo Antekolovic and coached by Aussie Bob Brett ...Practices at Bob Brett Academy in San Remo near French-Italian border.

2005 -- Made ATP debut as wild card at Umag (l. to Vliegen)...Won first Futures title in Vinkovci, Croatia (d. Lacko)...Reached two Futures doubles finals, winning one title...

2006 -- Began year as No. 1 junior in world and rose into Top 175 in ATP Rankings by end of season...As a wild card in Zagreb, posted first ATP win (d. Andreev, l. to Seppi)...Made Davis Cup debut in dead rubber against Austria (l. to Koubek) and returned for QF tie against Argentina, losing to Nalbandian in second match...

Made ATP grass court debut in 's-Hertogenbosch (l. to Robredo)...Advanced to first ATP SF in Gstaad, posting wins over Seppi, Vemic and Pavel before falling to Lopez in three sets...Made ATP doubles debut in Zagreb (w/Ljubicic)...Again teamed with Ljubicic in Davis Cup QF tie against Argentina (l. to Acasuso-Nalbandian)...Reached back-to-back Futures finals in Zagreb, claiming one title (d. Kindlmann, l. to Zverev)...

2007 -- Finished in Top 100 for first time at No. 71 with a combination of success in ATP (14-13 mark) and Challenger (16-5) level play...The second-youngest player (behind Young-18) in year-end Top 100 (at 19 years, 3 months) reached second ATP SF in St. Petersburg and QF in two other tournaments...Qualified into six ATP level events during year...In April, won title at Casablanca Challenger (d. Bolelli) and one month later captured crown at Rijeka Challenger (d. Lacko)...

On grass, advanced to QF at Queen's (d. Henman, l. to eventual winner Roddick)...In last four tournaments, won at least one round, reaching QF in Beijing (d. No. 4 Davydenko, l. to Kiefer), 2nd RD in Tokyo, Moscow and SF in St. Petersburg (d. Davydenko again, l. to Verdasco)...Went 2-1 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled marks of 5-4 on hard, 4-3 on grass, 3-2 on carpet and 2-4 on clay.

2008 -- The young Croat finished as his country's top player for first time with a year-end best No. 22 ranking...Captured his first ATP title and won a personal-high 37 matches, 23 more than previous season...Compiled a 14-15 record through mid-June before finishing 23-10 rest of season...Opened with SF in Chennai (l. to Youzhny) and advanced to Grand Slam-best 4th RD at Australian Open (d. No. 7 Gonzalez, l. to Blake)...

Did not win back-to-back matches again until May when he reached QF in Munich (l. to Mathieu)...Played well on grass with SF in Nottingham (l. to Verdasco) and followed with 4th RD at Wimbledon (l. to Clement)...In July, advanced to QF in Gstaad (l. to Andreev) and AMS Toronto (d. No. 6 Roddick, l. to Simon)...One month later, earned first ATP title in New Haven (d. Fish)...Then advanced to 3rd RD at US Open (l. to Djokovic)...

In last three weeks, went 4-3 with 3rd RD at AMS Madrid (l. to Murray) and AMS Paris (l. to Federer)...Went 2-6 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled records of 25-16 on hard, 7-3 on grass and 5-6 on clay...Ranked No. 6 in aces (558)...Earned a career-high $677,846.

2009 -- The top Croat improved his year-end ranking for a fifth straight year, finishing in Top 20 for first time at No. 14…Won a personal-high 48 matches and captured two ATP World Tour titles — Chennai (d. Devvarman) in January and Zagreb (d. Ancic) in February, and reached two other finals — Beijing (l. to Djokovic) in October and Vienna (l. to Melzer) on Nov. 1…He also helped his native country to Davis Cup SFs (l. to Czech Republic) and advanced to his first Grand Slam QF at US Open (d. No. 2 Murray, l. to eventual champ del Potro)….Posted a personal-best 4-5 mark vs. Top 10 opponents, closing season with win over No. 8 Verdasco at Masters 1000 Paris (l. to Monfils)…Compiled marks of 35-13 on hard, 11-6 on clay and 2-2 on grass…Earned a career-high $1.2 million.

2010

Began season by defending Chennai title, beating Wawrinka 76(2) 76(3) in final…Joined Moya (2004-05) as the only repeat winners in tournament history (since 1996)…Dropped one set (vs Granollers in 2nd RD) en route to fourth ATP World Tour title...Began season by defending Chennai title, beating Wawrinka 76(2) 76(3) in final… Joined Moya (2004-05) as the only repeat winners in tournament history (since 1996)…Dropped one set (vs Granollers in 2nd RD) en route to fourth ATP World Tour title…

At the Australian Open, his third appearance, produced a career-best Melbourne performance in beating Santoro, Tomic, No. 19 seed Wawrinka, No. 4 seed del Potro 57 64 75 57 63 and No. 7 seed Roddick 76(4) 63 36 26 63 for place in first career Grand Slam SF…He became the first Croatian man to reach the Australian Open semi-finals and the sixth Croat to reach a Grand Slam SF after Franulovic, Pilic, Ivanisevic, Ancic and Ljubicic…No. 5 seed Murray snapped his 10-match winning streak with a 36 64 64 62 win in SFs...Dropped to 10-16 lifetime against Top 10 opponents...On 1 February, broke into Top 10 at No. 10 for first time.

At his next tournament in February, he defended his Zagreb title over Berrer 64 67(5) 63 in final…Improved to 15-1 on year after lifting his fifth career trophy…"I would say this [title] is the [most] special one. I did not have much time to adjust after the Australian Open; it was not easy to meet people's expectations. I am proud about what I've done."