{"id":107307,"date":"2026-04-23T11:54:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T10:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/?p=107307"},"modified":"2026-04-23T11:54:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T10:54:34","slug":"marin-cilic-is-pumped-for-battle-of-generations-with-joao-fonseca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/marin-cilic-is-pumped-for-battle-of-generations-with-joao-fonseca\/","title":{"rendered":"Marin Cilic is pumped for \u2018battle of generations\u2019 with Joao Fonseca"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joao Fonseca had just turned eight years old when Marin Cilic won the US Open back in 2014, and wasn\u2019t even born yet when the Croatian first turned pro.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Friday in the Mutua Madrid Open second round, the pair will square off in a clash of generations \u2013 one that Cilic is very much looking forward to.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s definitely going to be a fun battle of generations,\u201d Cilic told Portugal\u2019s\u00a0<em>Sport TV<\/em>\u00a0after his opening-round win.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cJoao is coming through the rankings and playing better and better season after season. Definitely it\u2019s going to be fun to play, fun to meet him on the court. I\u2019ll try to obviously play my best game. The crowd is going to be there, but that\u2019s tennis, you have to always enjoy these moments, to bring the intensity, to bring the emotions. Definitely it\u2019s going to be a fun battle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Marin \u010cili\u0107, ambicioso en su 13\u00aa participaci\u00f3n en el #MMOPEN 2026\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sL9JjL9n5mc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 37, Cilic has still got the fire that has carried him on court for the past two decades on tour, and it certainly helped the former world No.3 claim his first victory at the Caja Magica since 2022 on Wednesday against Belgium\u2019s Zizou Bergs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Making his 13th main draw appearance in the Spanish capital, Cilic rallied back from a set down to defeat Bergs 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and claim his first top-50 victory on clay in four years.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The towering Croat has amassed the second-most career victories among active ATP players \u2013 behind Novak Djokovic \u2013 as he crossed the 600-wins mark en route to the Dallas semi-finals two months ago.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He will be banking on experience when he takes on the 27<sup>th<\/sup>-seeded Fonseca, who is already a two-time ATP titlist at just 19 years of age.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A fan favourite who draws in huge Brazilian crowds everywhere he competes, Fonseca reached the quarter-finals in Monte-Carlo and Munich in the build-up to Madrid, where he is contesting the main draw for the third time in his young career.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For Cilic, these are the kind of matches that fuel his motivation at this stage in tennis journey.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asked by\u00a0<em>Tennis TV<\/em>\u00a0on Wednesday if he&#8217;s still enjoying himself out there on court, Cilic gave a resounding: \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPlaying at these big events, it\u2019s always special,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhen you get the emotions in, it makes it all worth it and shows that you really want it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s always great with intensity, with emotions, with the level of play and I enjoy that. The crowd here, they love tennis, they love the battle, they love to see that emotion and that brings the best out of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DXZ6POqDGwe\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<div style=\"padding: 16px;\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">Ver esta publicaci\u00f3n en Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\"width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\"><a style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DXZ6POqDGwe\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Una publicaci\u00f3n compartida por #MMOPEN (@mutuamadridopen)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fonseca will be looking to reach the third round in Madrid for the first time, having lost in round two in each of his two previous outings at the Caja Magica.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Brazilian teen attended the Laureus Awards on the eve of the tournament, where he was nominated in the Breakthrough of the Year category.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He did not walk away with the award but received lots of praise from many of the attendees, including Laureus Awards co-host Novak Djokovic, who told reporters on the red carpet that he expects great things from Fonseca.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think he\u2019s a great talent. He\u2019s a really impressive player. Also, it seems like he\u2019s really mature for his age,\u201d said the 24-time Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe\u2019s on the right path, he knows what he\u2019s doing, he has good people around him, very humble people and I think very focused as well. It\u2019s fantastic for our sport that we have now an exciting young player coming from Brazil. Since Guga Kuerten we didn\u2019t have a great singles player, that great singles player, so let\u2019s see. There\u2019s a bright future ahead of him, he\u2019s so young, let\u2019s see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joao Fonseca had just turned eight years old when Marin Cilic won the US Open back in 2014, and wasn\u2019t even born yet when the Croatian first turned pro. On Friday in the Mutua Madrid Open second round, the pair will square off in a clash of generations \u2013 one that Cilic is very much [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":107314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[824,838],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias-mutua-en","category-noticias-tenis-masculino-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107307"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107331,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107307\/revisions\/107331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}