Marin Cilic believes the future of tennis is in good hands
In a recent interview, Marin Cilic reflected on the 2019 tennis season, and the former US Open champion talked in particular detail about the NextGen tennis players, suggesting that the results at the end of the year indicate that tennis will be in good hands after the Big 3 retire.
Marin Cilic has immense power in his game and it is this power that saw the Croat win his first, and so far, only Grand Slam at the 2014 US Open. Since then, he competed in 2 additional Grand Slam finals where he lost to Roger Federer on both occasions.
Over the last few years, there has been a sense of foreboding in the tennis world. With the Big 3 approaching the latter stages of their careers, many have been worried about what tennis will be like without them.
However, Cilic seemed to not share these fears, as according to him, the future of tennis is in good hands.
“In London, at the ATP Finals, we got a very clear message: the future of tennis is in good hands," Cilic said.
He was, of course, referring to the exploits of the younger tennis players in the ATP finals which saw Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, and Stefanos Tsitsipas all beat at least one member of the Big 3 during the competition.
The Croat furthered his observations by suggesting that despite Rafael Nadal claiming the year-end number 1 in London, the younger guys took the main stage at the O2 Arena. He then concluded that the end of the year is interesting to see what can happen in the following season.
“After Rafa clinched his year-end number one rankings spot above Novak Djokovic, the younger guys took the main stage at the O2 Arena.
“In the final, Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas fought like veterans and the Greek conquered his biggest career title," he said.
It is hard to disagree with the Croatian on his observations as although the NextGen did not have the breakthrough year in 2019 as some predicted, they showed in London this November that the revolution is indeed coming.