Cilic Discusses the Big 3: "Playing Against Them Made All of Us Better"

Winner of the US Open in 2014, Marin Cilic played for the majority of his career during the famous Big 3 era which dominated tennis for twenty years. The Croatian discussed what it took to exist and make a name for oneself at the same time as Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

By Adrien Guyot

le 22/11/2025 à 13h38

Cilic Djokovic Federer Nadal

Still in the top 100 at 37 years old, Marin Cilic has 21 titles to his very impressive record, including a Davis Cup in 2018, a Grand Slam (the US Open 2014) as well as a Masters 1000 (Cincinnati 2016). A former world number 3, Cilic thus managed to scrape up a few crumbs left by the Big 3 composed of Nadal, Djokovic and Federer who collected the major titles for two decades. In an interview given to Flashscore, he discussed the competition with those who are the three greatest players of all time.

"To assert oneself in such a generation, it took conviction, resilience and constant improvement. At that time, the competition was very difficult, but also very motivating. We couldn't afford to stagnate. We had to keep pushing ourselves every year, every season. Playing against them made all of us better. It was a privilege to share that era with them, even if it meant facing the toughest opponents one could imagine," Cilic stated.