Marin Cilic reveals how he is coping with clay season cancellation

Croatian tennis star Marin Cilic has revealed that he is coping with the cancellation of the clay season by watching his old pictures and past clay-court matches.

On March 12, the ATP initially suspended the Tour for six weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak but extended the Tour suspension through to June 7 just six days later. 

On April 1, the ATP called off the grass season as well as the Tour is now suspended until at least July 13. 

"In a perfect world the clay court season would be getting started right now," Cilic said in a Twitter post. "Looking at old pics and watching past matches from the safety of home are going to have to do this year. Who else misses orange dirt stains on their shoes and socks?"

Cilic, ranked at No. 37 in the world, owns a 122/74 win/loss record on clay at the ATP level. 

The Croatian, an 18-time ATP champion, won his maiden clay-court title in front of his home fans after beating Spain's Marcel Granollers Pujol in the 2012 Umag final. 

The 31-year-old lifted his second clay-court title in 2017 after defeating Canadian Milos Raonic in the Istanbul final. 

However, former world No. 3 Cilic may still get a chance to play on clay this year as the French Open was rescheduled to be held from September 20 - October 4. 

Last week, ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi revealed that if the season resumes, some other Masters clay events could also be rescheduled for a later date as the priority would be given to the biggest events.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2wSSAJy