Marin Cilic reveals his ultimate goal after Australian Open heartbreak

He may have come up short in the Australian Open final, but Marin Cilic says the last few months have given him a lot of confidence of reaching his ultimate goal.

And that goal i to become No 1 in the world.

You wouldn’t put it past him as he has risen to a career-best third in the rankings on the back of his performance at Melbourne Park, but it is not only this year that he has upped his game.

He reached the Wimbledon final last year, where he finished runner-up to Roger Federer as well, and also made the quarter-finals of the French Open.

No wonder the 29-year-old believes he can get to the top of the rankings.

“My ultimate goal is to reach No 1. That’s my goal,” he is quoted as saying by Tennis.com. “That’s what I’m working for. Even in these last one or two years, the progress that I did is big.

“Last year, I improved a lot in different areas. Now in these last couple months, I improved even more. So that gives me big confidence.

“Beating here Rafa [Nadal] — obviously he retired — but it was great match. Then playing with Roger head-to-head, a great match. This is giving me big confidence for going forward.

“But I know as well, Novak [Djokovic] and Andy [Murray] and many other guys had a tough last season. For me it’s a great time that I am continuing to improve. Big time ahead for me.”

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