I did not expect that coming from Kovalik: Cilic

After a largely successful 2016 during which he beat Novak Djokovic and rose to career-best rank of six, it was a shock start to the new season for Marin Cilic and he blamed his inability to return well against Jozef Kovalik after being knocked out of Chennai Open, here today.
Qualifier Kovalik, ranked outside top-100, surprised Cilic with his retrieving ability and pulled off the upset win in a nerve-wracking three setter.
"It's first match of the season, obviously you are a bit rusty, without match play. In some situations I was hesitating to go for my shots and he was making more such shots till the end," Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, said after the match.

"I had small opportunities on his serve but I was not able to convert and that was lack of concentration. It's a bit unfortunate. It's not good to start a season like this with a loss. I did not feel, I was playing bad, I was serving well, hitting shots quite well. In certain situations I was little hesitant to go little bit more for my shots," he explained his misery on the court.
Asked if it was a factor that he had not seen Kovalik's game before, Cilic said, "That was the difficulty absolutely".
"I have never played with him, never practiced with. He broke through the Tour last year but I had not seen him play. He played extremely well today, I was not expecting that coming from him."

Cilic was asked what he needs to do more as he enters the season to build on a fantastic 2016.

"Maybe just to be little more aggressive on returns game. On his service game, when I was returning I was keeping the ball in play while he had the opportunity to go for his shots. Rest of the game was good. I can't say I was not feeling my serve, my forehand, my backhands or movement. Just felt that I was setting up the points while returning was causing me the problem," he said.
Putting up a brave front, Cilic said this defeat does not affect his preparation for Australian Open but he wanted to play a couple of matches before going into the first Grand Slam of the year.

"Return is most important part of game. I am working on it."
Since winning his maiden Grand Slam trophy, Cilic has not been able to add another Major trophy to his collection. Cilic said he requires to be mentally tough to repeat his US Open success.
"I was happy with my last six months (2016), you have to be consistent at good level. That's the key part to get big results at Grand Slams, where you play for two weeks, five sets. It's difficult mentally to be consistent."
Last year, Cilic lost three big matches, including the fourth rubber of the Davis Cup final against Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro, when he was up by two sets to love but lost them.

Asked about that he said, "Two of those three against Roger and Juan Martin del Potro, great players. I did not do many wrong things in those matches. It's just unfortunate that I did not convert three match points against Roger. I have to pay more attention to concentrate more.