Getty Marin Cilic of Croatia serves during a match at the 2017 Wimbledon tennis tournament.
Marin Cilic of Croatia is one match away from doing something he’s never done before: Win a title at Wimbledon.
Cilic is set to play Roger Federer of Switzerland in the final of the 2017 Wimbledon singles tournament.
Cilic, who’s ranked No. 6 in the world according to the ATP World Tour, has won just one Grand Slam tournament in his career, but has had a number of solid performances at major tournaments.
In his 12 years playing tennis professionally, Cilic has accomplished many historic marks, inclduing being one of the few players to advance to at least the quarterfinal round of every major tournament.
Here’s what you need to know about Cilic’s past Grand Slam performances:
1. Cilic Won the 2014 U.S. Open for His First Major Victory
After compiling a resume full of ATP Tour victories, Cilic was set to play at Wimbledon in 2013. However, he pulled out before his second-round match due to a left knee injury. But it was later determined that he pulled out of the tournament because he failed a drug test for “incautious use of glucose” and received a nine-month ban from the sport for having traces of nikethamide in a urine sample.
Cilic later said that a teammate bought glucose tablets and an investigation found that he didn’t intend to enhance his performance with the use of the tablets. His suspension lasted until February 1, 2014 and the prize money he made up until that point was forfeited. He appealed the suspension from the sport and it was reduced to four months, expiring October 25, 2013.
Cilic was mildly successful upon his return and hired a new coach.
Then came the U.S. Open, where he was seeded 14th. He started the tournament by storming through his first three opponents to reach the fourth round. It was there that he had a rematch against France’s Gilles Simon, who had his number in their first four matches against each other. But this one finally belonged to Cilic. He got past Simon in five sets and followed it up with another upset.
Facing No. 7 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, Cilic was impressive yet again and won in straight sets and advanced to the semifinals to take on Federer, who was seeded No. 3 in the tournament.
Cilic pulled the massive upset of Federer, winning in straight sets and advancing to the finals. It was Cilic’s first time defeating him in their six previous matches and his first-ever time in a Grand Slam final.
Kei Nishikori of Japan was no match for Cilic in the final, who won the tournament in straight sets.
By winning, he became just the second-ever singles player to win a Grand Slam.
2. Cilic Had Reached the Quarterfinal at Wimbledon the Last 3 Years
In June 2014, shortly before winning the U.S. Open, Cilic reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the first time ever. He defeated a slew of opponents, including Berdych and Jeremy Chardy of France, before losing to Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Montenegro in five sets. Djokovic went on to win the tournament.
Cilic returned in 2015 with the same poise he had one year before and advanced to the quarterfinal round once again. He defeated Americans John Isner and Denis Kudla to advance to the quarters, but was eliminated yet again by Djokovic.
With the two previous years under his belt, Cilic cruised through the 2016 tournament to make the quarterfinal once again. He eliminated Nishikori again to advance, but lost to Federer in quite an entertaining match. Cilic won the first two sets and had match points in the fourth, but couldn’t get past Federer.
3. He’s Advanced to the Semifinal at the Australian Open
Cilic hasn’t had a ton of luck at the Australian Open, but impressed many in 2010 with his performance as a 14 seed. He won his first three matches in the tournament to take on Juan Martin del Potro, the defending U.S. Open champion. It was their third time meeting in a Grand Slam tournament and they put on a show.
The match lasted nearly five hours, and Cilic won in five sets to advance to a Grand Slam quarterfinal for just the second time of his career. He defeated American Andy Roddick in five sets to advance to the semifinals, where he became just the first Croation player to get that far in the tournament.
But he was faced with a tall task against Andy Murray. He was victorious the first set of the match, but ended up losing the next three to exit the tournament.
It was his best performance to date at the Australian Open.
4. Cilic Made the Quarterfinal at the French Open Earlier in 2017
Cilic’s 2017 season started with him as the No. 1 seed at the Chennai Open, but he was upset in the second round. In the first major tournament of the year at the Australian Open, Cilic was dealt another early exit, losing to Daniel Evans.
A few months later in May, Cilic won the Instanbul Open by beating Milos Raonic of Canada in straight sets.
Shortly after that, Cilic entered the French open and advanced to the quarterfinal round for his first time. By advancing to that stage, he became one of the few players to reach the quarterfinal at every Grand Slam tournament.
5. Cilic Has Won Over $18 Million in Prize Money
GettyMarin Cilic
According to Cilic’s ATP World Tour profile, he’s won $18,141,309 to date in prize money (singles and doubles combined). That includes 17 ATP titles with a 414-223 match record.
So far in 2017, he’s surpassed $1 million in earnings from his tournament performance. He’s pocketed $1,226,995 thus far with a 23-13 match record.
No matter what he does in the final of this year’s Wimbledon, he’s guaranteed to add a hefty amount to that total.
