Dream came true for Marin in New York ! Not only that he played his best tennis ever, but added Grand Slam title to his trophy collection, with some amazing performances against top ranked players. What the high level of play it was: last three matches Marin won in straight sets and became the first Croat to win Grand Slam singles title since his coach Goran Ivanisevic triumphed in Wimbledon in 2001.
„This is all hard work of these last several years, and especially this last year,” he said. “My team has brought something special to me, especially Goran. We’re working really hard, but most important from all the things he brought to me was enjoying tennis and I think I played the best ever in my life.”
US Open is the one Grand Slam tournament Marin played in the quarterfinals twice, but this year he went much further. After defeating Frenchman Gilles Simon in the round of 16, whom he never defeated before, he played almost perfect tennis against two Top 10 players, Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer, winning in straight sets. Then, in a meeting between two first-time Grand Slam finalists, he defeated Kei Nishikori by 6:3, 6:3, 6:3 to lift the trophy.
Marin became the fifth player in the Open Ere to win his first Grand Slam title without dropping a set in the last three rounds (QF, SF, F), the first since Federer at Wimbledon in 2003. But he also won his last four matches against opponents who held a winning record against him: Gilles Simon in round of 16 (0-4), Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinal (3-5), Federer in semifinal (0-5) and Nishikori in final (2-5).
With 2000 points for winning 12th title of his career, Marin came back to Top 10 and is now No. 9 in the ATP singles rankings. But now he is very close to qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals in London for the first time. He is now ranked as No. 5.
