Marin Cilic 'extremely proud' despite failing to win gold medal at Tokyo Olympics
Croatian tennis star Marin Cilic felt "extremely proud" despite failing to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Cilic and his partner Ivan Dodig lost to fellow Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the Tokyo Olympics doubles final.
Mektic and Pavic, seeded at No. 1, claimed a 6-4 3-6 10-6 win over Cilic and Dodig in the final.
“We are extremely proud to hold this medal,” Cilic said, per the iTF website. “This is something that was missing in our trophy cabinet. Me and Ivan know each other from our early days, since we started tennis, so even to be here at the pinnacle of the sport, to play in a gold medal match at the Olympics, is a dream come true.
“It wasn’t our best day of the week, but we have to congratulate Nikola and Mate. We are still super proud, even though it’s a little bit of mixed emotions of being so close and not being able to hold the gold medal, but still we are extremely happy. We can’t describe how important this is going to be in looking back on our careers when we’re much older.”
Cilic and Dodig fell just shortMektic and Pavic started the match with a break and then held on to their serve the rest of the way to win the opener.
Cilic and Dodig responded, having broken Mektic and Pavic in the sixth game of the second before serving out for a decider in the ninth game.
After winning the secnd set, Cilic and Dodig lost the opening six points of the match tie-break and there was no coming back from it.
“To have such a great result is really more than a dream come true," Mektic said. "We are delighted, and, me personally, I’m very happy to share this moment with Mate. We’re very good friends and everything is much nicer to share with a guy like him.”
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2VqzN4d
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