We by no means wished Federer to depart, Tour might be completely different now: Cilic

Roger Federer was such an inspiration around the globe that nobody ever wished him to depart the sport and the ATP Tour is not going to really feel the identical with out the long-lasting Swiss tennis participant, world quantity 17 Marin Cilic mentioned on Monday.

Federer bid a tearful adieu to the sport in September 2022, enjoying his final sport in the course of the Laver Cup alongside his best on-court rival Rafael Nadal.

The season-opening tournaments have begun in Pune, Adelaide whereas the inaugural United Cup is being performed in Australia in three completely different cities.

Cilic, who clashed with Federer 11 instances in his profession and got here out triumphant solely as soon as when he went on to win the US Open title in 2014, mentioned the ATP Tour will now really feel completely different.

“We all never wanted Roger to leave, you know, because he’s a great guy, obviously incredible inspiration not only for us on the tour, but for many kids around the world,” Cilic mentioned at a media interplay.

“Also to many of these next-gen guys that are now at the top, he was, and probably still is an idol. So, so, definitely difficult to see him go and the tour is definitely going to be different,” the 34-year-old mentioned.

Cilic, a winner of 20 titles on the ATP tour together with the 2014 US Open, mentioned although the sport is poorer with out Federer, there are two gamers who’re protecting the audiences hooked to the game.

“But I would say that, you know, we are still lucky to have Rafa playing Novak (Djokovic) playing also and by playing they’re still keeping this enthusiasm of tennis up there. It’s not the same without Roger, but I think the guys know that the tour doesn’t feel okay.” The three gamers share 63 Grand Slam titles between them and in line with Cilic, the success of Big-3 lies of their killer intuition and that too from the very first level of the sport.

He was requested what separates a Grand Slam champion from different gamers.

“I think there is a slight difference in competing. There is mentally a difference to competing in Grand Slams, and competing on other tournaments because when you’re entering best of five matches mentality needs to be there from the first point,” he mentioned.

“I think the guys that we’ve seen now Roger, Rafa, Novak and for many years those guys played with killer instincts and unprecedented attitude. They require from you to be at the top of your game throughout the whole match you know, and so that’s I think that gives them the biggest edge,” he defined.

A brand new event has been added to the Tour, the United Cup — a blended staff occasion the place the round-robin format consists of two males’s and two ladies’s singles matches, and one blended doubles tie.

Six nations certified based mostly on the ATP rating of their primary ranked singles participant and 6 nations certified based mostly on the WTA rating of their primary ranked singles participant.

The remaining six nations certified based mostly on the mixed rating of their primary ranked ATP and WTA gamers.

Cilic is ok with the brand new addition however says ideally increasingly more gamers ought to get to play tournaments.

“In my very own sense, I believe there must be extra alternatives for guys to play for the primary week. We have event right here (Pune), event in Adelaide, and United Cup, nevertheless it doesn’t cowl sufficient spots for the highest 100 gamers to play.

“I’m definitely perfectly fine with United Cup just something a mix of sort of like a tournament like Hopman Cup but there should be a little bit more opportunities for guys, for guys to play specially in the first week of the year, and preparing for Australia (Open),” he mentioned.