Prior to his arrival here in Chennai, Marin Cilic, in an email exchange, was asked about Stan Wawrinka’s absence from the 2017 Aircel Chennai Open.
“Stan has played the last few years here,” he said. “So I guess it is a quite popular tournament. It often comes in people’s minds when Stan was doing so well in Australia. He would start his season in Chennai and that sent a message.”
For a fact, Wawrinka, at least in the last three years when he was the champion here, repeatedly said that Chennai was his “lucky charm.” And in each of those years he went on to win a Grand Slam tournament.
It would be a bit of stretch to conclude that Cilic came here hoping to ride that “lucky charm.” But more often than not, tennis players are tradition-loving and their habits border on superstition. Funnily, Cilic himself, and his coach Goran Ivanisevic, chose not to shave during his victorious US Open run in 2014.
Come next Sunday, one can even imagine Cilic, holding the trophy up, draped in a traditional shawl and saying Chennai is his “lucky charm”, for it is the site of his second and fourth ATP 250 titles in 2009 and 2010 respectively. A third one will make it a championship he would have won most times apart from his home event in Zagreb.
The draw gives him a fair chance for doing it. The halo around him is shining brighter than ever too, for the fall of 2016, leading to this season, has been more than kind. He won the Basel indoor title, earned his first-ever Masters crown in Cincinnati, got to a career-best ranking of No. 6, made the ATP World Tour finals and agonisingly lost out on a Davis Cup Trophy.
The highest seed in his half is Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Borna Coric, his compatriot, last year’s finalist and widely acclaimed to be the next big thing, is there too. But in the last five matches he has met them — three against Ramos-Vinolas and two against Coric — he hasn’t lost a set.
Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, who too achieved his career-best ranking of 13, leads the other half. The 2013 finalist, has two titles this year and a famous win over Novak Djokovic, part of a run in Shanghai which culminated in a first-ever Masters final.
On the prowl on his side are the erratic Frenchman Benoit Paire, Brit Aljaz Bedene, fourth seed Martin Klizan and Russian Mikhail Youzhny. But Agut should fancy his chances against most.
He also has for company the three Indians — Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Yuki Bhambri. While it is main draw debut for Myneni, for Ramkumar, who reached the quarterfinals last year, it presents yet another chance to utilise it as a springboard for future successes. The 22-year-old’s opening match will be against the returning Bhambri, who made it through after two rounds of qualifying.
On Sunday evening top seed Cilic had his first practise session on the outside courts, hoping to erase any sign of rustiness which the off-season is known to induce. Those were the same courts on which he lost in the final round of the qualifying in 2007. For the fans in Chennai however the connect established then, waiting to be renewed this week.
