There was a small but notable ripple of interest when Marin Cilic won the Nottingham Challenger title on grass in mid June.
Here was a player with incredible grasscourt credentials, and a former world No.3, finding form at just the right time ahead of Wimbledon, where he was a finalist in 2017.
There were caveats: the title was a step below tour level and Cilic, now 36, had been ranked outside the top 100 after lengthy injury battles.
Still, it was not to be overlooked, and when the Croatian beat Raphael Collignon in Wimbledon’s first round, suddenly he was on a six-match winning streak and lining up against hometown hero Jack Draper.
Draper entered the championships as the world No.4 and with a spotlight on him more intense than he had experienced before.
It was an unfamiliar position for the Brit and it didn’t help he was facing an opponent much more experienced on this stage, contesting his 46th main-draw Wimbledon match compared to Draper’s seventh.
Cilic blasted 53 winners past him – Draper managed only 29 – to win 6-4 6-3 1-6 6-4 on No.1 Court.
“I don't play many people on the tour that I feel like they completely bully me and take the racquet out of my hand,” said a shellshocked Draper. “I know it's a grass court. I'm not sure what his stats were, but I'm sure he had an amazing match from the winners to unforced errors count.”
Indeed, Cilic committed only 34 unforced errors alongside his hefty winner tally, describing his level of play as “fantastic”.
Barely inside the top 200 at the beginning of the season, he is now 74th in the ATP live rankings.
“I didn't have many Grand Slam victories in last couple of years, so was great to play great level from my side,” said Cilic, also a finalist at Australian Open 2018.
“I think I executed extremely well. So just enjoying this part that I'm playing well now last few weeks. Looking forward to continue to play well.”
Ahead of the match the ITF reported that “if he is to stop Draper, Cilic must win a grasscourt match against a top-five player for the first time. The 2014 US Open champion has lost all nine of his previous grasscourt matches against top-five players, six of which have come at Wimbledon”.
This seemed a statistical absurdity, given Cilic’s prowess on grass and the fact he’d been a top-five player himself.
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He reached three consecutive Wimbledon quarterfinals from 2014 to 2016, then the final in 2017, where he lost to Roger Federer. From 2012 to 2018 he also appeared in four Queen’s finals, winning two.
He possesses one of the best grasscourt records among active players; prior to facing Draper he was 87-33 lifetime on the surface – a winning rate of 72.5 per cent – and had seven grasscourt finals to his name.
Yet Cilic was a long way removed from his peak years, making this triumph over Draper all the more stunning.
Less than a year ago he was ranked outside the top 1000, limited to just two singles matches in 2023 after sustaining a knee injury that January in Pune. He managed four singles matches in early 2024, before another six-month stint on the sidelines.
In September 2024 he entered the ATP tournament in Hangzhou, China as a 777th-ranked wildcard and won the title – setting him back on course toward the upper reaches of the game.
Part of that comeback journey saw him drop back to Challenger level in 2025, where he won the Girona title and reached the Madrid final – both on clay – before his most recent success in Nottingham.
“[This is special] considering everything that happened in last two, three years. If even I look at situation where I was, how my knee was like this in February '23, lots of rehab, lots of unknowns. Even coming back, the knee wasn't good. What to do then? New surgery, all these details,” he explained.
“All the time there was this spark of desire and feeling that my level is still there. Let me give myself another opportunity.
“Thank God obviously now last eight, nine months I'm playing pain-free and progressing nicely, which is great.”
With his three children watching on No.1 Court, Cilic won through to the third round at SW19 for just the second time since that 2017 final, and first time in four years.
There he will face unseeded Spaniard Jaume Munar, who eliminated Halle champion Alexander Bublik in round one before his latest triumph over Fabian Marozsan.
“[As] the season started, I was extremely pleased with the level of my game,” said Cilic, who had won 19 of his 29 matches in 2025 prior to Wimbledon.
“Of course, experience helps in those kind of situations where you see some things in the matches. Okay, let me put that into the puzzle, let me add this. So that was a great part to it.
“It's not overwhelming for me at the moment. Obviously it's a huge result [beating Draper], but I'm feeling quite confident in the game, that the level is there.
“If I can do some things better, I feel I can. So obviously it's a challenge for me to keep progressing.”