Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were two of the most dominant players on the ATP Tour during the 2010s.
The four Grand Slam tournaments are the highlight of the ATP season, but in years gone by they have often been somewhat of a foregone conclusion.
Between 2004 and 2022, just five men won multiple Grand Slam titles; Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, and Stan Wawrinka.
In fact, just seven more ATP stars were able to pick up Majors during that period, as the stranglehold that the aforementioned five had on the sport’s biggest tournaments became too much to handle.
Fans came to expect those names to appear at the business end of Grand Slam tournaments, primed to take home the title.
That looked to be the case back in New York ten years ago before one of the most shocking days in tennis history left fans and players speechless for weeks to come.
On 6 September 2014, fans were expecting number one seed Novak Djokovic and number two seed Roger Federer to make light work of their lower-ranked opponents and advance to the US Open final against one another.
Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic had other ideas, as they shocked the tennis world, and provided fans with one of the most unlikely finals in recent memory.
First, it was Nishikori and Djokovic who took to Arthur Ashe vying for a place in the final.
It was the Japanese star’s first Grand Slam semi-final, and many thought he would struggle having just battled past Wawrinka in five gruelling sets in the previous round.
On the other side of the net, Djokovic was full of confidence, having won Wimbledon just a few months prior, and had only dropped one set on his way to the last four.
Nishikori was determined to make the most of his opportunity, however, and despite the odds seemingly stacked against him, produced one of his finest-ever performances.
He won the first set 6-4, playing some thrilling stuff before Djokovic took the second 6-1, snatching the momentum right back.
Nishikori pulled through a tight third-set tie-break before closing out the match 6-3 in the fourth, to book his place in the showpiece match in New York.
The Japanese legend had almost made the decision to not travel to the US Open, after having a cyst removed from his foot just a month prior.
“I didn’t even know if I should come to New York, so I wasn’t expecting nothing, actually,” he said after the match.
“Very happy to make history.”
The second semi-final saw Federer take on an in-form Cilic, who had just dispatched Tomas Berdych in straight sets in the quarter-finals.
What followed was what some believe to be the greatest performance of the Croat’s career, as he took down the Swiss star in three comfortable sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
At 25 years old, Cilic had shocked one of the sport’s greatest-ever players and set up one of the most surprising finals in US Open history.
He was aware of just how shocking the day had been, and didn’t want to let a golden opportunity slip.
“That’s going to be a sensational day for both of us,” he said after beating Federer.
With the final now set, fans were excited as they were guaranteed to see the coronation of a new Grand Slam champion on the Sunday.
The final ended up being somewhat of an anti-climax, as Nishikori’s body had simply been put through too much.
The Japanese number one had spent 16 hours 29 minutes on the court before taking on the Croat, almost two hours more than Cilic who had spent 14 hours 49 minutes.
Cilic took advantage and was clinical in the final, winning 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in under two hours to claim his maiden Grand Slam title.
The tournament was over, and whilst unsurprisingly one finalist was happier than the other, they had already made history by making it to the final, when many had counted them out.
Following his victory at Flushing Meadows, Cilic quickly established himself as a true contender on the ATP Tour.
He enjoyed some strong results in 2015, reaching the semi-finals in New York once again, before winning the second-biggest title of his career at the Cincinnati Open the year after.
Fresh off the back of such a big win, he reached his second Slam final at Wimbledon in 2017, facing off against Federer once more.
Things didn’t go quite so well, as he lost in straight sets, but it wasn’t long before the pair met in a Major final again.
The Australian Open in 2018 saw Cilic and Federer compete in a classic final, with the duo battling it out over five sets.
In the Croat’s most recent appearance in a Slam final, he came up just short as Federer took home his sixth Australian Open title 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
With his run to the final Cilic reached a career-high ranking of number three in the world, before he won another huge title shortly after.
Cilic won the Davis Cup with Croatia in 2018, having lost the 2016 final, as they took down France.
He struggled for form in 2019, however, falling out of the world’s top 30 for the first time in over five years.
Despite reaching the French Open semi-finals in 2022, he continued his decline and injury struck in 2023, which saw him take a hiatus from the sport.
He returned with a bang in 2024, however, as Cilic won the Hangzhou Open as world number 777 beating Zhang Zhizhen in the final, to become the lowest-ranked ATP champion since the new system was introduced in 1973.
Cilic ended 2024 as world number 184, as he looks to bounce back and charge towards the top 100 in the new year.
The Croat’s 2014 US Open final opponent Nishikori didn’t enjoy quite so much success after his stellar week in New York, but did become a mainstay in the top ten for the next few years.
Nishikori reached three Masters 1000 finals between 2016 and 2018, facing off against Nadal and Djokovic, losing on all three occasions.
He went on to proudly represent his country at the 2016 Rio Olympics, as he brought home a Bronze medal for Japan.
His form dropped off in the years that followed, and hip surgery in 2022 saw him out of action for a year and a half.
In April 2023 he made his return to the ATP Challenger Tour, where he won his first tournament back in Puerto Rico, becoming the first man to win a title at the level whilst being unranked.
He’s continued the grind ever since and won another title at the Challenger level at the end of 2024 in Helsinki to finish the year just outside the top 100.
Like Cilic, he’ll be hoping to keep pushing forward in the new year and rediscover the form that once saw him compete in a Grand Slam final.
Cilic and Nishikori’s careers will forever be intertwined thanks to that special day in September 2014, and fans of both would surely love to see them make one last run in New York next year, for old-time’s sake.
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