Marin Cilic: Why I can beat Federer, Nadal and Djokovic to Grand Slam titles
MARIN CILIC feels he can beat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to Grand Slam titles.
Queen’s Club: Marin Cilic defeats Cristian Garin in straight sets
For well over a decade, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have cleaned up at the majority of major tournaments.
Cilic was able to snatch a Grand Slam honour of his own at the 2009 US Open but he has since struggled to add to his collection.
A final appearance at Wimbledon in 2017 and the Australian Open a year later is the closest the Croatian has come.
At 30 years old, Cilic is not getting any younger but he still feels he is capable of pulling off a strong run at a Grand Slam event, with this summer's Wimbledon in his sights.
"Yeah [I can still win a Grand Slam]. I'm feeling that I'm still improving and definitely looking at my last few years, 2016, 2017 and 2018, I think I improved quite a lot," Cilic told CNN.
"I feel I'm a thinker. I'm a person that thinks and I cannot stop thinking.
"But I'm also aware when I'm playing aggressive tennis, when I'm playing tennis that I don't need to think, then I'm playing also great.
"I believe though that in order for me to get to the top and play the best guys and to challenge them I also need to be able to think.
"Because if you play them without a game plan, then you don't have much of a chance."
Cilic is competing at Queen's Club and he faces unknown Chilean Cristian Garin in the opening round this afternoon.
The world No 15 is the defending champion at the Fever-Tree Championships after beating Djokovic in the 2018 final.
"Well, I actually have great, great memories of the last two seasons," added Cilic.
"Going out of Wimbledon last year early was definitely disappointing and just after that, it took me a couple of weeks to get back on track and in training mode.
"It was extremely disappointing because I felt I was in incredible form and maybe played the tennis of my life.
"But definitely I'm positive in terms of looking ahead. I'm coming back to the grass court season knowing I played so well in these last two years."