I'll welcome everyone into the podcast right now.
Thanks for everyone listening to all things Croatia podcast.
We got a really special guest today.
He's one of the greatest Croatian tennis players ever and all around athlete.
He's won 21 ATP tour singles titles, including the US Open.
It was runner up at the 2017 Wimbledon and 2018 Australian Open.
He's won a silver medal at the Olympics, 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the men's doubles tournament.
It's going to be a fun episode.
Marek, thanks for coming on the podcast.
Pleasure.
Thank you, Stanko, for having me and big regards to our Croatian community all around the world.
Awesome.
Yeah, this is going to be awesome.
I could have made your intro a lot longer too.
You have a lot of accomplishments, but for the sake of time, I had to shorten it just
a couple of things there.
Yeah, no, I know when I'm listening to these, it's quite impressive.
So I like to hear those.
When I get you on the next time, I'll give the extended version of that.
Now, you're born and raised in Medjugorje and my family, my grandparents were from not
too far away near Luboski as well in Veljace, if you know where that is.
So I know I played on the tennis courts in Veljace.
Oh, really?
Yes.
Believe it or not.
There are two.
Is that the play one?
No, no, no, two hard courts.
I don't know.
Well, it was at my time when I was there was that was end of 1990s, you know, and then
beginning of 2000s, we had some tournaments there in Veljace and then we played tournaments
over there, the kids tournament.
Wow.
I'm surprised to even hear that there were tournaments in Veljace.
It's so small.
Exactly.
But two great, you know, hard courts, American style.
So we enjoyed it.
That's right.
Yeah.
I played I was in Zagreb for a few years over there living there and I was playing and I
was surprised that everywhere is just clay courts over there for the most part.
And, you know, here in the US, I'm in Los Angeles and it's just all, you know, you go
to a park and there's hard courts all over.
So I wasn't used to playing on clay.
Yes.
Yeah, exactly.
Croatians love to, you know, take care of the courts and everything, sweep them, water
them and stuff.
So like like their garden and, you know, very rarely we do have any hard courts around.
That's funny.
Yeah.
Just like the, you know, bocce ball courts, same sort of way, taking care of everything.
Well, so you're from Medjugorje, which is not too far away.
And I think that probably means we're about cousins at some point, if you go back in time,
some type of distant cousin.
So I'm just going to go ahead and say that here.
Why not?
Can you tell me a little bit about, you know, growing up and what your childhood was like
over there?
Yes, of course.
I mean, actually, a lot of people that I've met, you know, across the globe have a lot
of roots.
Quite often roots are from Herzegovina.
So it's a huge diaspora community of people from Herzegovina.
So it's always great to travel around and meet new people.
But you know, to tell you about how I was growing up.
Well, after the war, you know, it was quite a happy childhood.
I started with tennis in 1994, 1995.
And then my father built a tennis court in our backyard in 1996.
And so at that time, it was crazy to even think about it, you know, in 1996 to build
a tennis court.
I still remember, you know, like my grandfather, grandma, you know, at that time, when my father
told them that he's going to build a tennis court, they told him he's nuts, you know,
what you're going to do, child, child, what you're going to do with the tennis court?
I mean, do a business center, do something, rent it, whatever.
And he said, no, no, no, leave me leave me at peace.
You know, I know what I'm doing.
And he wanted to give opportunity for me, for my brothers as well.
To train and to, you know, go go for some sports.
And so those were the starting days of my, you know, tennis childhood, you know, going
to school after school.
My father is waiting for me, taking me to the tennis sessions first in Lubuski at Mostar
Skavrata.
If you know where Mostar Skavrata are over there with one great tennis coach and then
also in Medjugorje with Ivan, Ivan Dodig and his younger brother, Misho, who is similar
age as me.
And so we grew up basically together, you know, starting together, playing together
and then, you know, playing those local tournaments in Herzegovina, then in Dalmeyša and everything.
And you know, at that time, no internet, no knowledge of, you know, the sport.
Tennis was basically new in Herzegovina, you know, watching Goran on TV, his Wimbledon's
and then his trophy in 2001.
I mean, most of the it was, I have to say it was like a huge boom.
Tennis was was a huge boom.
I mean, comparing to today's time, like there were so many kids playing and it was it was
great for tennis guys, but there was competition.
And I still remember we would play, you know, tournaments that were, I don't know, let's
say 16 and under or 14 and under.
And then there would be a mix of kids from 80 year olds until 14 year olds, boys, girls,
everybody, you know, played.
So and then, you know, all the parents hang around together, you know, dreaming possibly
if anybody is going to achieve something.
And it was huge sort of unknown territory.
What do you need to do basically to succeed, you know, to to, you know, get to Wimbledon
to get to top 100, you know, it's you have no idea is this level good enough, what to
train, what not to train.
So but, you know, you know, I obviously give huge credit to my parents, to my father, who
was like really diligent and comparing it to today's time, you know, where, you know,
things are so busy lives are, you know, busy days are going like this to have this kind
of dedication for your own child.
You know, like I was even going for like three years in the most star.
I come from school.
My father is waiting for me.
I get some lunch.
You know, my father drives me to most are like 30 minutes over there.
I warm up, do a training session for like two, two and a half hours.
He's watching everything waiting for me, drives me back home every single day, every weekend,
you know, some tournaments in Dalmatia.
You know, it was like it was, you know, like from today's standpoint of a parent, you know,
it's just amazing, you know, like how you find this sort of even a vision, you know,
to give your child this kind of opportunity, you know, this so much time, dedication, tournaments,
etc.
So that was huge.
And then overall, you know, small place, Medjugorje, you know, obviously, you know, very well known
in the world, you know, for a St. Mary appearances and etc.
And living in a family.
And I have to say, I've been all around the world, but you know, okay, I haven't been
everywhere, but the life in Herzegovina is incomparable with anywhere, you know, how
people live, you know, there is every Sunday, there is a mass, you know, after the mass,
okay, we grab a coffee, we grab a drink, we go to, you know, for lunch at this cousin,
this cousin, and then, you know, every second weekend, there is somebody getting married,
you know, there is, you know, all these big holidays, Christmas, Easter, you know, Veli
Kagorska, you know, so it's a, you know, life of a community, a real life of a community.
And it's I always enjoyed that at home.
And, you know, I think it's a beautiful, beautiful area for kids to grow and to, you know, develop,
you know, the childhood.
But yes, overall was was interesting.
And then, you know, it's when I was 14, and then I moved to Zagreb for, you know, for
a search of better, better conditions.
How do you like it in Zagreb?
I mean, I know they say Zagreb is too fast over there and too many people, which is funny
for me in Los Angeles, you know, because when I go to Zagreb, I say, Oh, this is nice.
It's so quiet.
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, for me as a kid, you know, I came to Zagreb, I was with my godfather here, who
is also from Medjugorje.
He knew my father, they knew each other.
Well, and then I was at his, you know, with his apartment, you know, he was him and his
wife were taking care of me, blah, blah, blah.
But I was I was here with one goal, you know, tennis, you know, tennis training.
So I would go to a tennis national tennis center from, I don't know, eight, 8am until
and I would be there until 5pm.
So for me, busy life of Zagreb didn't exist, you know, especially for a kid.
So I was, you know, dedicated to training.
And you know, that was my goal.
Yeah.
At what point in your, you know, when you started playing tennis, did you think like,
okay, I can, I can seriously become a professional tennis player?
Like, at what point did you know that you really could have a career in tennis?
You never know until you get there.
You know, so well, in 2005, I was not even 17, then I won this junior French Open title.
But even then, it's still unknown, you know, because I've played a few of these professional
tournaments and I still don't know what is necessary to, you know, to succeed and sort
of even this kind of a feeling of unknown possibly is a positive feeling.
You are sort of focused on your development, you're diligent.
I was always, you know, very irresponsible, you know, I never missed a training, you know,
very rarely, you know, thank God, sick or anything.
I, you know, since I came to Zagreb, I don't know if I was, you know, had a fever for,
I don't know, twice in my life, you know, so it was really, really fortunate.
And so you just train and you hope it's, you know, it's good enough.
And so I would say maybe, you know, end of 2005, 2000, start of 2006, I was, you know,
catching this feeling that, you know, I might, you know, do something but how big, you never
know.
Yeah, definitely.
Well, tell me a little bit about like the early days of being a pro before, before 2014,
before the US Open, you know, when you won that, because I do want to ask you about that
too, but sort of the early days of being a pro and, you know, being on the road, doing
all these tournaments.
I mean, did you enjoy all of that?
Was that fun?
Did it feel like work at times?
Yeah, I mean, for me, tennis never never felt like work.
I love tennis, you know, and still and still do.
And even looking back now, you know, if I would do it all over again, yeah, why not?
You know, let's go, let's go again.
But you know, can I keep this experience and knowledge that would be, that would be incredible.
And those early, early years have been, you know, have put a huge mark in a way of me
getting to know my coach who passed away, Bob Brett, who was also coach of Goran for
years and then Mario Antic as well.
And then he had his own mentorship giving me and leading me through, you know, training
programs, how to, you know, develop as a great player and things like that.
And he had huge influence on me in these early years.
And then that was, that was huge for me, huge for my career.
And just for looking back, he accelerated my knowledge, my development by, you know,
how many years passing me these messages and his knowledge to me.
And so it was fun.
I have to say it was fun.
And then my brother, my older brother, Vinco was with me traveling, you know, just helping
me being me, you know, like a support and somebody else on the tour.
You know, I really, you know, had a great time played for my first Olympics in 2008.
So it was, it was nice time.
Well, it sounds like, you know, you're talking about these coaching your coaches and how,
you know, you wish you had all these skills and knowledge that you have now back then
is coaching something that you are interested in doing at some point later.
Yes, yes, I am.
Yes, I am.
I would, I would love to do it.
I mean, obviously, I wouldn't like to travel, you know, as I've traveled, you know, whole
my life, I've tried to be based and, you know, be around my family a little bit more, but
I would like to pass on this knowledge and to teach kids, especially in Croatia and in
our community, you know, to just give them a push and, you know, possibly do something
like this.
I was never at the moment, I'm not, I'm not a person to be, you know, sort of in administration,
you know, in these like, you know, like more official roles, you know, being whatever in
ATP, you know, things like that.
I would like to be more involved in this kind of development process of kids and, you know,
just trying to pass on the knowledge.
Well, you know, next time I go back to Zagreb in the summer, I'm expecting a lesson from
you at Salata at the courts over there.
So why not?
But you know, you got to be ready.
It's that easy.
I'll be ready.
That's awesome.
Well, tell me, Marian, tell me about the US Open 2014, you know, because that's awesome.
That's, you know, that was your...
What do you want to know?
What did it feel like?
I mean, what did it feel like?
It's a, you know, it's a, you know, life, life's accomplishment, you know, you know,
everything that you've been working for, you know, parents, you know, pushing through difficult
times, you know, you know, having difficulties, you know, financially, you know, giving you
whatever, you know, the best they can, you know, struggling times, you know, everything
you're thinking if you're going to, you know, continue to play, not, you know, how this
everything is going to end up and then, you know, years and years of trying, especially
in that kind of competition with Roger, with Nadal, with Novak, with Andy Murray, with,
you know, many great athletes of, you know, this tennis era and then, you know, to create
this kind of a history.
It's like, wow, you know, it's, it's just incredible.
So, you know, I mean, it's too difficult, you know, to put in words.
Yeah, of course.
And I know you have a wife and kids, so I'm not going to ask, is that the best moment
of your life when you won the US Open?
But is it one of the best?
No, it's, you know, tennis here, family is, you know, just a huge part of my life.
You know, tennis is going to be there for, okay, hoping a few more years.
But, you know, it's, you know, okay, you obviously have your accomplishments and what you dream
of, what you're training for, what you want to succeed at.
And also, I want to mention also feeling of how you succeed, you know, because you have
sometimes as an athlete, I would put it as an athlete, not necessarily tennis player,
you have a feeling of, you know, some tournaments, let's say you win, but you didn't play your
best.
It was a little bit like, you know, just scrapping, you know, I was just trying to find a way,
but you know, winning like this US Open.
I mean, this is, this is incredible.
Winning the last three matches without dropping a set, you know, against Nishikori, Berdich,
Federer.
I mean, can it be better, you know?
Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that.
Yeah, because you beat Federer in the semis, you know, at that US Open.
And I want to ask who have who have the big three, you know, which are Jokovic, Federer
and Nadal is sort of, you know, in the tennis community, the big three, which of them three
is is the toughest for you to play against?
With the style Novak, with the style Novak.
But I mean, and I'm also looking into that more into the, you know, in the years of 2010s,
you know, and Roger was already in his 30s and played a little bit different, you know,
tennis.
I would have loved to play against him, you know, when he was in his prime, I would say
prime, you know, 2004, five, six, seven.
But but yeah, I mean, all three are definitely special.
And I have to say Novak just because of his kind of style where no weaknesses and plays,
I would say quite similar game as me.
But you know, just on a better level.
If Roger went to the Veliatsi tournament in 2004, then maybe you could have played him.
Yes, exactly.
Who of those three do you do enjoy beating the most?
Is there a certain feeling?
Are you friends with all of them, you know, off the court?
Yes, yes, yes, I am.
Yes, I am.
I mean, even with Roger, with Rafa, even okay now when I won this tournament in China, you
know, Roger texted me, I mean, Maureen, you know, so happy for you because I spoke with
him last year because he went also through difficult times with surgeries for his knee.
And I spoke to him, you know, about his experience, etc.
And so he knew what I was going through.
And so he was like over the moon of, you know, happy for me to come back this way.
And then I was also I saw Rafa, I was at his tournament in actually in his academy a few
several weeks ago at the end of August, I played a challenger at his academy and also
saw him there.
And he's, you know, I, you know, I admire them a lot.
And you know, during the whole career, I always had great respect, not only to them, but to
all the players.
And they appreciate that.
So but with Novak, obviously, we speak the same language, similar age, you know, and
Novak is definitely also a great guy.
Yeah, I've got a couple more questions later about sort of being being friends with tennis
players and being competitive.
But I'll get to that later.
But right now, you know, I want to ask now about the Olympics, the 2020 Olympics, specifically,
which which was
special because it was two pairs of Croatia 2021.
Yeah, with the COVID.
But yeah, because you guys played it was the men's doubles.
And you played another Croatian doubles, which to me is still weird that they even have,
you know, two teams of the same country in the Olympics, but somehow it happened that
you guys won gold and silver at the Olympics.
What was that like?
It was very weird.
It was very weird, I have to say, when we when we started, when we actually got to Tokyo.
And so I mean, we all got together over there.
And you know, as a team, okay, let's, you know, play like a training set.
And then on the on the training, the level was unbelievable, because Mati and Mektec,
they won the Wimbledon just prior to that.
I don't know.
What was it like?
What was it maybe like 10 days prior to that?
And they were like in the form of their life.
And me and Ivan played like a ridiculous set of tennis.
And then I remember, you know, talking to Mati and Nikola after the tournament.
I mean, Marina and Ivan are playing ridiculous.
They're going to be in the final for sure, you know, we're going to I mean, if we play
well, we might play them, you know, and so it happened like this.
And it was funny, and it was weird in the same way, because the day before our finals,
so we made it to the final.
And so at Olympic Village, in our Croatian corner, there was a celebration of Sincovich
brothers winning the gold medal in rowing.
And then also to, you know, four of us, you know, two teams making the finals.
So it was like, you know, celebrations like we already won, you know, it's
like tomorrow doesn't exist.
And so it was mixed emotions when we started to play.
It was like, should we, you know, fist pump or not?
Should we speak or not?
You know, like it was.
And then also there was no crowd.
And then also, you know, it was just kind of like a weird atmosphere.
It felt like I think the weirdest match I played all my life.
And so ended up OK, Mati and Nikola won in the end.
And obviously incredible, obviously, you know, time for them, you know, those
those those time that they played together.
But it was, you know, accomplishment, incredible, especially for me and Ivan
playing together, growing up together, getting to the final of if we would have
won a goal, it would have been, you know, just a crazy, crazy story.
Yeah. Well, yeah, definitely a strange situation.
And the no crowd, too. I forgot about that.
And that I was kind of wondering about this because I was thinking how tennis
is one of the few sports where, you know, the crowd is supposed to be quiet, right?
They can't, you know, they're not cheering during the play and stuff.
Probably tennis and golf.
I'm sure there's a few others, but those are probably the big ones that I can think of.
I mean, what would it be like?
Have you ever played maybe at like some of the junior tournaments or, you know,
maybe less professional tournaments, I guess, where they don't, you know,
make the crowd be quiet, but where there's like been a rowdy crowd
and everyone's yelling and cheering.
Do you think that would help?
Because I feel like that would be, I don't know, a big motivator,
you know, as you're playing.
Or would that be distracting? Yeah.
I think we would adjust, you know, it's a.
I don't think it would make a difference for us,
for tennis players, for us, only things that can cause
a little bit of a distraction is when you are, you know, sort of watching
the flight of the ball and then, you know, somebody starts to, OK,
walk in the stands and then you lose a little bit of a focus and then, OK,
you don't see the ball possibly.
But, you know, I don't think it would be a huge, like a difference
to play with the crowd, even even cheering, you know.
I think that would be cool if it was like, you know, going to a football game,
everyone's chanting, oh boy, oh boy, as you're serving or something.
You would serve like 10 times harder.
Yes. Yeah. I mean, when I when I was a junior,
when I played in Australia and opened the Swedes have had incredible,
like a fan community down in Australia.
And so all of them, like 500 of them would wear, you know, those Viking,
you know, helmets, you know, those the flags on the faces,
you know, the yellow and blue shirts, blah, blah, blah.
And then when the Swedes would play, it's a warm up time.
And then 500 of them in the stands, whatever, you know, the sweet player
hits the ball and they all go, boom.
Like 500 of them.
It's not like, you know, going to the whatever on the battlefield.
It was it was like hilarious.
Every time they hit it or just on the serve?
No, like in the warm up, you know, you have five minutes as a warm up.
And then, you know, if the other player would miss, they would go all.
That's pretty cool, actually.
Yeah, they would celebrate.
So it would be it would be fun, for sure.
Well, at the 2025 Veliatsi tournament, we'll have that set up.
You know, we'll make everyone do that.
Absolutely.
How do you I want to ask about sort of like the mental aspect of the game,
which I guess is related to, you know, this and the fans and hearing everything.
How do you train for that?
You know, especially say at some point, you know, maybe you start,
you know, two sets up and then you drop two sets and now the opponent has
the momentum and, you know, how do you train for that mentally to get
yourself back in and not think about all that and just play?
One one thing is your character.
The other thing is your training as well.
How, you know, resilient you are, how actually accepting you are.
That's OK. You know, I could have been I could have won this match,
but I didn't, you know, let's keep going.
That can obviously rattle you out.
But also it comes down. When you simplify it, what can I do at this moment?
What best I can do at this moment?
OK, this happened. You know, I was too stressed to love up.
I lost those two sets.
What can I do the best at this moment? And then
basically, you know, trying to be simple with that, you know, you have to be
peaceful, but a huge part to this mental attitude, not only in the
tennis, I would say in general, is sports my my just observation, but
especially in tennis, that you cannot escape the life that you actually live.
You know, if you have a thing in your mind that, you know, happened to you,
whatever, that it's just bothering you, you know, around tennis or something.
And then you get into the match and let's say possible scenario.
There are some critical decisions, obviously, when you play every point
on every shot, you do a decision, you know, am I going to play this, that,
you know, which shot left, right, whatever, blah, blah, blah.
And then in some critical decisions, you make this kind of decision.
Doesn't turn out to be a good one.
You lose a point and another one and another one and another one and
another one. It can be can happen like 50 times that this happens.
And then if you're not sort of clear with your mind, you know,
if you're not sort of clear with your mind that, OK, and accepting.
If you have some a bug in your mind that it's going to trigger,
it's going to trigger 100 percent.
There is no real escape.
If it doesn't trigger, it's going to just put you into mode of not really fighting.
You know, you're going to lose a little bit of that edge of, you know, being grits,
you know, having this grit.
And so I think the biggest tournaments are won, especially when you have
the atmosphere around you that you're feeling good, you're feeling sort of happy,
you're feeling excited to play where nothing is actually bugging you.
So those things, even though they don't you can't you can't see those.
They are the huge, huge part of, you know, the tennis.
Sounds like life as well.
You can take a lot of lessons in tennis and apply that, you know,
to just life in general.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you cannot sort of you cannot sort of differentiate.
You feel that, OK, tennis is one thing, you know, life is another thing, you know.
And then you can be, let's say, feeling unhappy, negative in your in your life.
And you feel, OK, when I come to the court, everything is going to be great.
You know, it doesn't go that way, unfortunately.
Definitely. Yeah.
Yeah, Martin, I've got let's see, we've got about six minutes left.
I want to get to a couple of fan questions that I asked on my Instagram.
All things Croatia for people who want to follow that.
But I said, you know, what do you guys want to ask?
Martin, I've got, you know, a couple of minutes to give questions.
So here are some of those questions and I'll ask you those right now.
But the first one is how often do you go to Medjugorje to the,
you know, on the pilgrimage up the hill or to mass there?
And have you ever met any of the people who saw the apparition, the Gospa?
I go every year.
I mean, when I can, you know, I'm obviously focused on the career.
But, you know, I was just now during the summer in July.
I was there for seven, eight days.
And I love it.
You know, I love Medjugorje. I love the atmosphere.
I love the people. I love the lifestyle.
I love, you know, just being there.
But, you know, for me, more than at this moment, as an athlete,
more than seven days, it gets, you know, too, too easy.
So but I've met Vicka, I've met Ivanka, I've met Mirjana Jakov.
And that's that's about it from the from the, you know, people,
the apparitioners.
And then, you know, it's a.
Something special, you know, really, really special about it,
even though obviously they all of them live their own life
and have their own lives, you know, families, et cetera.
You know, it's it's just, you know, a special feeling.
I'm, you know, I know family of Vicka very well,
because my father is also
the age of Vicka, and I think they possibly went to school together.
You know, they, you know, they were living in Medjugorje at the time.
And so, you know, I feel Vicka is really, really special with her own,
you know, charisma, character, you know, the life she has.
And, you know, I really, I really love her.
Yeah, that's definitely something special to to know them and be a part of that.
And yeah, I made the you know, I walk up when I can, when I go back there.
But I've never done it barefoot.
I know a lot of the older people will go up barefoot and in the summer, too,
and the rocks are hot and I don't know how they can do it.
I don't know how they can do that.
That's a lot.
But yeah, here's a here's a quick one for you.
Which Croatian player has been your hardest opponent?
I would say Ivan, Ivan Dodik.
I mean, Ivan and Ljubic as well, because Ivan, I mean,
we practiced like a million times together and he knows me so well.
So, you know, when you when I was playing with him on the tour,
he was always also a little bit funky.
But yeah, I would say even.
OK, here's kind of a funny one.
But they wanted me to say that you seem too nice to be a top pro.
What sort of brings out the darkness or the competition inside of you
when you have to play?
Yeah, it's it's interesting question, because I was also, you know,
at the time, during, you know, some years,
I was thinking about how to bring this a little bit of excitement
into the game, you know, or like to be a little bit more pumped up.
And then for a few years, I was like really pumped up,
like, you know, big time.
And then it's it's also not easy
to control it when you are pumped up big time.
Then also the negative emotions come up, you know.
So you're going to be a red, red.
So you have to find some this cushion to to to feel good.
But it all comes down to my own feeling.
OK, playing, you know, big players playing, you know, some big challenge
players, then obviously that brings a big competition.
But I love I have to say I love the Davis Cup.
You know, that's where I, you know, possibly played some of my best tennis
in my in my life, because that brings, you know, the crowd, everything,
you know, the emotions, you know, it's just it's a special one.
Well, that was actually the next question sort of,
which was where do you feel your most passionate fans are?
In Davis Cup.
And I, you know, like I never actually felt.
That was like a burden on me during my career to play Davis Cup.
I always felt it's a huge opportunity.
OK, I have, you know, like 10,000 fans cheering for me.
How good is that?
You know, let me, you know, bring a little bit more fire.
Let me use this, you know, energy to give me a little bit extra
for my tournaments to feel, you know, to find this different feeling
than what I have on these individual tournaments.
And, you know, team atmosphere, you know, let's create something together.
Let's create, you know, possibly a history.
So, yeah, I loved it.
Next one. What is your favorite food?
Of course, I mean, it has to be OK.
Janjetina, but even Janjetina,
but even more is a teleča koljanica,
veal shank with the potatoes and then the vegetables.
I mean, like, more than the Janjetina.
Oh, yes, yes, more, more, because for us, I mean, you know, in Hercegovina,
especially Christmas, Easter, you know, they eat Janjetina when it's cold,
you know, like, you know, because of K.
But so I don't like it as much.
But then, you know, teleča koljanica, that's any day of the year.
Yeah, right.
When I was there this summer in July, I tried to go to Udovice.
You know, that restaurant, is that Cheat Luke or Chaplina?
I always get them mixed up.
No, it's no, it's in towards most are towards most are there.
Yeah.
I think is it is it is it Krushchev or like a small, small, small town, small place?
Maybe. Yeah, yeah.
I forgot the name exactly.
But that place is they have really good lamb there, the Janjetina, of course, is good.
But it was closed when I went this summer.
They were doing renovations.
So yeah, didn't get to go.
We're talking about your favorite food.
What about music? What type of music do you like to listen to?
Depending on the mood, you know, it always is something different.
You know, I'm I love acapellas.
I love, you know, Croatian music.
I love, you know, obviously, you know, international hits.
I love, you know, sometimes when I'm when I need a little bit of, you know, just to get myself going, you know, ACDC always works well.
You know, I'm I'm I don't have a genre that is OK.
You know, I don't I don't like it.
I mean, it's I like to hear anything.
And as long as it's as long as it's good to hear.
Yeah, yeah. ACDC is actually my favorite band of all time.
So I'm glad you said that.
There you go. There you go.
But there is something special about, you know, acapellas, you know, especially in Croatia with the with this tradition, you know, the songs, you know, they always sort of, you know, hit the spot.
It's just I love those.
Definitely. Yeah, yeah. Klapa or yes, there's some other time.
Well, they're in Herzegovina, too, is what is a Ganga?
Do you ever do you ever listen to that on Spotify?
Actually, no, actually, no, no, I guess you probably can't find that on Spotify, only just, you know, in person with a couple of the old guys in the village.
The special ones know they're not in Spotify.
Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
ACDC. OK, so what if you're at the gym and, you know, you're I don't know, maybe you're running on the treadmill and you're doing the last bit of the run or something.
You're lifting really heavy. What song are you going to put on to try and motivate?
I mean, I don't, you know, I lift the weight. I don't need the extra motivation.
I just I just do it. It's it's plainly like this.
But, you know, I put whatever I often can. You know, I put even some radio like even Narodny radio and then whatever antennas are grab.
You know, I love those. And then they always do some some great mix.
So, you know, it's they always find some good ones.
Definitely. Yeah, I found a lot of good songs from the radio over there in Croatia.
They play a lot of good ones. What about other than tennis, Martin?
What other hobbies do you have, other sports that you like to play or just other things in general that you like doing?
I'm following, obviously, football as much as I can.
Wherever our Croatian guys are playing, as most of the people in the diaspora, you know, I also follow NBA, you know, as much as I can, obviously, not as a fantasy NBA player.
I never played those. But, you know, I'm obviously trying to follow as much as I can, you know, Croatian sports.
And, you know, when I played in the Olympics, you know, even first time and every other time,
it's just special to get to know these people from, you know, different sports, from smaller sports where Olympics are, you know, everything.
And so I try to follow them. You know, I'm even great friends with Valen Tosinkovic and then with also with Tinseric, good friends with, you know, a lot of guys.
And then what also helped is, you know, organizing this games at Hervatska event for my foundation to get to know them, to feel them, you know, to be in person, you know, with them, to spend a day with them.
And so it's I love I love those things, you know.
Tell us a little bit about the foundation and, you know, what it's for and what you guys do.
You know, it's for kids. It's a plainly like this.
On one side, we built, you know, sport playgrounds in schools in undeveloped regions in Croatia and areas.
And then we built already five sport playgrounds in Croatia.
And especially now, last few years, the costs of those have went like through the roof.
Comparing to the first one we did in Tordinci, that's in Slavonia, you know, between Osijek and Vinkovci.
Now, the last one is going to probably cost four times more, just to tell you the huge, huge difference.
But anyway, you know, trying to in this Kemset Hrvatska event to raise the awareness of necessity, you know, to help young people in Croatia to bring athletes together,
you know, to create something unique, to sort of promote sport, promote healthy living, especially at this time where, you know, everything is online, everything is on the phone.
You know, let's, you know, go back 30 years in time and then, you know, be outside, be connected and just help our community.
And on the other end, we do, you know, scholarship.
We are giving scholarships to talented musicians and athletes in individual sports.
But the application process is, I would say, unique because we don't pick the best athletes, the best musicians.
We try to pick the ones that are good in school, actually, that are having really, really good grades in school to try to promote, obviously, a good education,
to push the kids a little bit to, you know, to learn really well and to sort of be good and diligent in school.
On the other side, we look at the results, but it's not the factor.
We also look at the background, the family, you know, like the financial status, you know, if the let's say the child has possibly one parent, possibly no parents,
then we give them like, you know, you know, advantage with that and trying to just, you know, create something like this.
For example, our last two scholarship recipients are coming from huge families. So both of them are girls and both of them are musicians.
Forget exactly which instrument they're playing, but one of them has, I think, 10 brothers and sisters.
So there are 11 of them in a family. And then on the other side, there are six of them on the other girls, so five brothers and sisters.
And so we try to, you know, find the kids that also send us through application, the motivational letter, what got them to, you know, be in music or sport,
what drives them, what's, you know, difficulties, you know, things like that.
And so you find through stories like that, you find the inspiration. And now six, seven years later, after, you know, starting the foundation,
it's it's really grown into something that can, you know, be sustainable with the friends of the foundation,
with, you know, people donating with sponsors, with these kind of events just now for the weekend.
So yesterday and on so yesterday was Sunday and on a Saturday we had a small first actually,
Marin Chilich Foundation Tennis Open for amateur tennis people.
And our aim was actually to bring more business people that are in the offices to, you know, come to tennis to, you know, let's play together.
Let's, you know, have a weekend together of tennis, you know, to play with me a little bit, you know, to play between each other and to raise funds
with this kind of event for projects like scholarships, you know.
And so everything is pushed for kids. And, you know, in the beginning,
I was also taking care of all the administration costs of the foundation, everything, you know, the salaries of the people working.
But now, obviously, the foundation is on its feet and sustainable.
But I would say that 98 percent of the funds go directly to straight, directly to kids.
Wow, that's a very high percentage. Yeah, usually it's there's a lot of overhead and.
Yeah, we have we have only one person that is employed and, you know, being in the administration,
talking to parents, organizing, you know, doing basically everything.
And then the rest is volunteers.
Yeah, that's definitely that's an awesome thing that you're able to put on and run, Martin.
And yeah, it's great to be able to sounds like, you know, you want to give kids the opportunity to have the childhood that you had as well.
You know, the upbringing and you're talking about no phones and everyone outside and getting to play tennis and stuff like that.
So that's yeah, that's very cool.
It is it is what you said. It's about opportunity.
You know, many of kids, unfortunately, around the world actually don't succeed not because not having a talent, not because, you know, not having,
you know, discipline or, you know, hard work, etc., etc., etc.
They don't succeed because of not having the opportunity.
And so we are this extended arm, you know, through me, through just a little bit of inspiration and, you know,
to give these kids a little bit of, you know, inspiration and happiness and excitement, you know,
you know, in terms of money, this kind of scholarship doesn't change their life.
You know, the scholarships are fifteen hundred euros and then but it just gives them this.
OK, somebody recognized them, somebody saw them, somebody, you know, it's OK, it's life changing.
And so this is I mean, I'm goosebumps now.
So it's just it's just, you know, beautiful stories.
Definitely. Yeah. I mean, it's like how your dad saw that in you and built the tennis court and supported your career and now look where you are.
And maybe if that didn't happen or, you know, he said, you're not going to play tennis, then you wouldn't end up becoming a tennis player.
Yeah, exactly. It's, you know, unfortunately, it comes down a lot to the financial backgrounds.
And what I try to sort of promote when I speak with the scholarship recipients to the kids,
you know, to not to be afraid to dream big, but, you know, to try to always give their best to try, you know,
not to wait for somebody to push them, you know, for a coach to tell them, OK, you need to be better or to parents, you know,
just to feel inside this passion and to to be day after day diligent and to give everything they have,
the love to the passion they have. And, you know, great things are going to happen.
That's awesome. Yeah. And I'll include links in the description so people who ever want to check out the organization can click on the link and check that out.
Speaking of the future, what are your future plans and goals either in tennis or, you know,
with the organization or just in general life, other things, what sort of goals do you have for yourself in the future?
Simple, you know, just I would love to play, you know, two, three more years on the tennis tour.
You know, we'll see what happens, how, you know, my health wise goes.
The rest, you know, I would after, you know, try to give myself a little bit more time with the family.
You know, I've been like, you know, it's everything is on schedule.
You know, I have a tournament now next week.
OK, then, you know, after the after the season or hey, when I have to train and not, you know, it's I just want to feel, you know, be a little bit more comfortable, have as much time as necessary for my family,
because now my wife, Christina, she is also helping so much around the foundation.
And I would love as well that she pursues a little bit of her career because she now dedicated her own time to be with the boys, you know, with the family.
So I would, you know, that's that's the aim.
And then we'll see.
Life will, you know, open some doors in tennis and I'll see how things turn up.
But I would love to stay in Croatia.
Yeah, definitely. Well, yeah, I know you've been traveling a lot.
You were where were you just in China recently?
Yes. Yeah. For that. Yes.
Tournament. Yeah, I won this Hangzhou tournament.
Then we were in Tokyo and then Shanghai.
Yeah. Wow. So how many countries do you know how many different countries you've been to?
No, but a lot, I'm sure.
I mean, for us, it's a quite similar tour year after year after year.
And then, like, after after, you know, 10, you just start to be, you know, like, who knows?
I mean, what was happening here last year?
Was it the year before the five years before Italy?
You get mixed up. Definitely. Yeah.
Well, because I was wondering that, too, because a lot of professional athletes,
like you'll hear them talk and they, you know, remember in any sport, you know, like, oh, this game,
you know, on this day, however many years ago, I remember this, this and this happened.
Are you like that? Can you remember every point in each game and each set, basically?
Not every, not every, but, you know, some, some, I mean, some are just in your mind.
I don't know how, but why.
And then some you forget completely, like if you ask me what happened, I don't know, in 20, whatever,
I don't know, 12 in first six months of the season, I would have to be OK where I was.
So, but, you know, generally, you know, you're quite good because you connect them through the results.
OK, I was there, I played this guy, I left, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
So it's a bit easier. That makes sense. Yeah.
Well, Marijan, I want to thank you very much for coming on the podcast.
I have just one last question here that I've asked.
Basically everyone, you know, comes on the podcast at the end.
But what to you makes Croatia or being Croatian special?
What do I think? What makes it special to you?
What the Croatians or the Croatia?
Either either being Croatian or Croatia in general.
Hmm. I mean, I would say it's a unique part of the world.
And God gave us incredible piece of land and, you know, the opportunity to live, you know, a life of.
You know, sort of good life, even though the country was through rough times, many times.
But at this modern time, I think it's a really beautiful one.
And it's on us to create it, even better one to for generations to come.
And on the Croatians, I think we have this, I think, installed in us, like this feeling like through generations,
like a natural genetic feeling of being really being like sort of trying to get through difficult times.
And because I don't think it was coming through the history of science, it was coming.
Nothing was coming easy. And so it was a difficult time.
Even, you know, our parents, our grandparents, you know, going to Germany, to Australia, to the US, migrating and finding a living.
And so I think overall we have this something inside of us that we need to cherish and to also use when we are having our own passions.
You know, like what we discussed for, you know, individual students or scholarships, like, you know,
when you give your such a such a great passion into something, when you give all yourself into it, you know,
I believe that, you know, you're going to have something amazing happening to you.
That's a great answer. Yeah. And you I mean, you talk about, you know, making it's on us now, you know,
for the next generation and to make Croatia better and and keep it beautiful and everything like that.
I think you're definitely doing your part with the organization and you seem like a great guy.
And so I think that's a great answer, Martin.
So I want to thank you very much again for coming on the podcast, bearing with the technical difficulties that we had.
But yeah, this has been a really fun episode. Thanks. Thanks.
Yes. Or me coming to California, who knows, might be next year in Indian Wells.
I'll see you there. Come come and visit. Yeah. Indian Wells, not too far away.
That'd be awesome. And bring, I don't know, bring 20 Croatians. I mean, let's let's get the cheering up.
20, I'll bring 200. What do you mean? Exactly. Exactly. I don't know. I mean, it's on you.
All right. All right. Agreed then. Doga Vorenova will do that.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Take care. Starm call the best to everyone and see you guys somewhere around the world.
Definitely. Thank you, Martin. Take care. Cheers.