Marin Cilic now has 600 career wins to pick through after achieving a historic feat at the Dallas Open.
Cilic is a former US Open champion, which is one of 21 singles titles he has won in his career.
With the Croatian still playing at 37 years old, Cilic has won a match on the ATP Tour for 21 consecutive seasons.
After Cilic lost to Casper Ruud at the Australian Open, he has continued to make more history after winning his first round match in Dallas.
Marin Cilic names the two matches that are his favorite career wins
Cilic beat Australian Open quarterfinalist Learner Tien, 7-5 7-6(4), to win his first round match at the Dallas Open.
Not only was this an impressive win over world number 23 Tien, but it was also the 600th win of Cilic’s ATP career.
When speaking to Tennis Channel about his victory after the match, Cilic was asked to reflect on his 600 wins and to pick his favorites.
Who is the best ATP player never to win a Grand Slam title?
Is it Alexander Zverev, Marcelo Rios, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer or maybe even someone else?
Unsurprisingly Cilic selected his victory over Kei Nishikori in the 2014 US Open final, which he revealed was actually his 300th ATP win, as well as his first ever win in 2006.
“Yeah actually the win at the US Open, I think the final was 300th win so that’s a beautiful milestone,” said Cilic. “And another win, I don’t know there’s been so many.
“Possibly the first one, the first one that I managed to win in ’06, 20 years ago, actually could be on the same day as today, so just beautiful memories.”
Cilic won his first match at the ATP tournament in Zagreb, beating Igor Andreev in his first round match on January 30, 2006, nearly exactly 20 years before he picked up his 600th victory.
Novak Djokovic sends message to Marin Cilic after he wins 600th match
Cilic admitted he nearly retired from tennis in recent years after, which has included undergoing two surgeries on his meniscus.
The Croatian reflected on these recent struggles in his post-match interview after enjoying his 600th career win.
“It’s just a beautiful day. It’s been so difficult these last couple years,” said Cilic. “I was battling through many things and just to get this level playing this well, playing guys like Learner [Tien] who is an incredible player, he’s going to have a fantastic career.
“It’s just a joy to get this milestone. It speaks volumes about my dedication to tennis, living this sport for so many years and it’s given me so much joy and I love it, so fun to be out here still competing and I couldn’t be more happier.”
As a result of winning his 600th match, Cilic is now the only active ATP player other than Novak Djokovic to have reached this milestone.
Are you more or less confident that Novak Djokovic can win his 25th Grand Slam now?
Following Cilic’s victory over Tien, Djokovic actually sent a message to the world number 61 on Instagram.
Djokovic wrote, “Old is gold (raised hands emoji).”
The next two closest players to achieving this feat are Stan Wawrinka (586) and Gael Monfils (583), both of whom are retiring from tennis this year.
Cilic will look to obtain his 601st ATP win in his next match at the Dallas Open, which will be against either Ethan Quinn or Trevor Svajda.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
