By Chris Oddo | Monday July 18, 2016
It has been a difficult month for Borna Coric and he has admitted that many times over the last few weeks. But Sunday’s tie-clinching, four-set victory over Jack Sock in Portland is the type of victory that can flip a script on its ear. Crucial Davis Cup victories have paid dividends for players in the past, most notably Novak Djokovic, whose career took off after he won the Davis Cup in 2010. Could Sunday’s statement be one that sets a new tone in the Coric camp this summer?
More: Coric, Croatia Notch Stunning Comeback Victory over U.S. in Portland
One match doth not a career make, but Coric hopes that this particular win provides the momentum shift that he has been craving as he prepares for the hard-court season and his first Olympic Games.
“It's very big win, especially with the occasion,” Coric said after his 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory, which booked Croatia’s spot in the Davis Cup semifinals. “We were playing for the semifinal. It's a very big occasion. And why I rate it even [higher] is because I wasn't feeling very confident coming into this match. I wasn't playing great on Friday. I had tough few weeks also before on the grass courts... And to perform like this after tough few weeks, actually more than a few, it's unbelievable feeling. I think it can help me a lot for the future.”
It’s a big win, but Coric’s success on the Davis Cup stage does not come as a surprise to him, his coach, or anyone who has watched him rise up the ATP rankings since playing his first tour-level match in 2013 at Umag.
“You know, I have to be honest, I like that kind of situation,” Coric said, after winning his second tie-clinching victory of 2016 (he also clinched Croatia’s first-round win in Belgium by straight-setting Kimmer Coppejeans in a deciding fifth rubber). “I like it more than playing on the Court 27 somewhere, you know, somewhere far away from the crowd, the people.
“I just like big stage more, when it's more important. When I have more pressure, you know, when the expectations are big, I like those occasions. I think that's what we're training for… Obviously that's when I play best. At least for now. I hope it's going to stay like that.”
Count his Davis Cup captain Zeljko Krajan among the many who are not surprised by Coric’s grace under pressure at such a relatively young age.
“He always rises to occasion, which he showed playing 2-All here against Sock,” Krajan said. “He performed—I mean, if you compare it to Friday, it was another tennis. He's unbelievable player, and what he has in front of him, we can all just look forward and be happy for him. It's really unbelievable.”
Unlike his win over Coppejeans in Liege, defeating Sock was a much more difficult challenge for Coric. Sock, ranked 28 spots higher and owning a victory over Coric in straight sets in their only previous meeting, was coming in confident, having rallied from two sets down to shock Marin Cilic on Friday. Coric knew he needed to be more aggressive against the American and he executed his gameplan to perfection, doubling the American’s winners and staying away from Sock’s vaunted forehand. “We were all pushing him to play the tennis that he had to play to beat Sock,” Krajan said. “Because he played him once and he had a bad experience from it, so we were all just pushing him to do what he has to do on the court. He did it.”
I think I was much more relaxed,” Coric said of his performance. “You know, I was hitting the ball. I was going for the points. I just wasn't waiting for him to miss, because I knew I cannot play like that because he's going to kill me with the forehand. That was my tactic basically, you know, just to maybe try to stay as close as I can on the line and make good tempo, which I was doing very well.”
With Olympics in the offing and plenty of hard-court challenges to come after that, Coric’s prospects look a light brighter then they were during a winless grass-court season. At 19, time is on his side. After a another colossal Davis Cup victories, so is belief.