Cilic: Reaching gold medal match is pinnacle of our careers
Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig, and Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic, guaranteed Croatia their first gold and silver medals in Olympic tennis after both pairings won their men's doubles semi-final encounters on Thursday.
Cilic and Dodig cruised past New Zealand duo Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus 6-2 6-2 in 75 minutes, before Pavic and Mektic defeated Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren 6-4 6-4.
Their wins ensured Croatia’s best-ever performance in tennis at the Games - and the nation's first tennis medal since Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic won doubles bronze at Athens 2004.
“For me and Ivan, this is the pinnacle of our careers," admitted a jubilant Cilic, the 2014 US Open singles champion. "We have won everything in tennis, from Futures level up to Grand Slams. We had difficult times coming up through youth tennis, both me and him coming from a small place of Medjugorje with a population of only 4000.
"We started tennis together, and to reach this last thing, to win a medal for our country, for ourselves together, is just unreal. We are incredibly proud of ourselves and we played an unbelievable tournament here – the best tournament we ever had together. We showed our strength and how good we are as a team.”
Croatia's double semi-final triumph ensures a fourth and fifth tennis medal for the nation since tennis was reintegrated into the Olympics at Seoul 1988.
As well as Ancic and Ljubicic's bronze-medal triumph at Athens 2004, the nation also won two tennis bronze medals at Barcelona 1992, when Goran Ivanisevic took third place in both the singles and doubles events, the latter alongside Goran Pripic.
"It's a big deal for the whole of Croatia," said Pavic, a three-time Grand Slam champion in men's doubles and top seed at the tournament with Mektic, with whom he won Wimbledon earlier this month.
"It's such a small country. We had that tradition in doubles always in the last few years, but this is exceptional. We are super happy to be in the final.
"It's a historical day for Croatian tennis. We have a good tradition with doubles throughout the years, we won many bronze medals in doubles so we're keeping it up and nobody expected this at the beginning of the tournament.
"But we are here now, we're happy for [Cilic and Dodig]. They also played a great couple of matches and tomorrow it's gonna be a big day for all of us. We're here to enjoy it."
Despite their disappointment on Thursday, the American and New Zealand pairings still have much to play for tomorrow, with the prize of a bronze medal up for grabs.
The Americans are looking to continue their run of winning a medal at every Games since 1988, while Venus and Daniel are targeting a first tennis medal for their nation in 109 years.
"I guess the bonus is that normally we're out, we're on the way to our next [tournament]," Venus reasoned. "Right now we have a chance to play for third and potentially get a bronze medal for New Zealand so we're gonna get pumped up and be excited for that opportunity. Hopefully we can play some good tennis."