Borna Coric has made history in Cincinnati twice. For one thing, she has become the lowest-ranked tennis player in the ATP rankings (she started the competition ranked 152nd) to win a Masters 1,000 tournament. This milestone was in the hands of Roberto Carretero, number 143 when he won in Hamburg in 1996. On the other hand, he is the only one in the last thirty years to lift a Challenger Tour trophy and a Masters 1,000 in the same season. The last one to achieve it was Mikael Pernfors in 1993. The one from Zagreb not only entered the history books for these two reasons, but he did it through the front door, beating rivals such as Rafa Nadal, Felix Auger-Aliassime or his victim in the final played last Sunday, Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“Born a champion,” the ATP wrote on its official Twitter account, making a play on words with Coric’s name. “I was not prepared to give this speech a few days ago, because I thought I was going to lose in the first round,” the Croatian acknowledged at the trophy ceremony. Nothing is further from reality. He came to Cincinnati undercover and quickly caught the attention of the general public. In the first round he eliminated Lorenzo Musetti, to later be the executioner of Rafa Nadal in his return to the courts after the injury that forced him to withdraw before the Wimbledon semifinal. Another Spaniard, Roberto Bautista, succumbed to the rocky Coric in the round of 16. The talented Auger-Aliassime and Cameron Norrie, who had eliminated Carlos Alcaraz, were also unable to beat a player in a state of grace. Tsitsipas, number five in the world, knew in advance that the final was far from being a formality.
Still, the Greek started much better. He got 4-2 up in the first set, but the Balkan was never rushed. Based on points worked, he recovered lost ground and managed to force a tie break. The tiebreaker series followed a plot line totally contrary to what the first set had been. Coric crushed his rival without giving up a single point and taking almost all of them on his own merits, after moving Tsitsipas all over the court and landing winners.
This was a massive confidence boost. Coric took advantage of the inertia he had to start the second heat better. With morale through the roof, he left some spectacular blow, like a lob on his back with his backhand to pocket a point that seemed from the Greek. This did not give up and managed to tie the series at two games. It was then that the Croatian accelerated, broke the serve of his rival and did not give up again (7-6, 6-2). Very reliable on serve and with a solid backhand, Borna Coric made a definite statement, taking down the last favorite standing in Cincinnati.
His victory gives him back what the injuries took from him, a 29th place in the ATP ranking. After a year without playing, between the 2021 Rotterdam tournament and the 2022 Indian Wells, the Croatian returned to re-enter the top 50 of the individual rankings. He has always been very precocious. At 17 years old he was already one of the 100 best players in the world and at 18 he had already slipped into the top 50. In 2018 he reached the top of it, twelfth place, and now he is close again after his jump of 123 positions.
