Five Things To Know About Borna Coric

Borna Coric has become a consistent force on the ATP Tour, using his rock-solid baseline game to break opponents down, while also going on the attack when necessary. The 23-year-old Croatian is currently No. 33 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, and he has not dropped from the world’s Top 50 since 30 October 2017.

ATPTour.com looks at five things you should know about the 6’2″ right-hander:

1) He is a two-time ATP Tour titlist
Coric has won two ATP Tour titles, earning his maiden trophy in Marrakech three years ago. The Croatian needed to work hard for that crown, saving five championship points in the title match against German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Coric’s second title also came in style, defeating Roger Federer in the 2018 Halle final. He earned two Top 5 victories in that tournament, also upsetting Alexander Zverev in the first round.

2) Coric showed his talent early

Before turning 18, Coric showed his skills by defeating some of the best players of this generation. At 17, he beat Rafael Nadal (2014 Basel), and at 18 he defeated Andy Murray (2015 Dubai). The 2014 ATP Star of Tomorrow has tallied 13 Top 10 wins, and he is only 23.

Coric qualified for the first edition of the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017, and he has climbed as high as No. 12 in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

3) Borna’s favourite day of the week was Monday
When Coric was a junior travelling to tournaments in Croatia, he had added incentive to make a deep run. He recalls that championship matches were on Monday, so if he advanced that far, he would get to miss a day of school.

“That was great. That was awesome. That was one of the memories which I had back then,” Coric said. “I did not want to go to school and that was something cool. You could just play the match on a Monday and it was a final, so that was great. “

Coric has grown plenty since then, and this year he represented Croatia as his country’s No. 1 singles player at the inaugural ATP Cup in Sydney. He defeated Austria’s Dominic Thiem, who not long thereafter reached the Australian Open final.

4) He remembers his first international tournament vividly
Coric played his first tournament outside of Croatia in Rome in 2005, losing in the final. His whole family — includng his parents and sister — went with him and stayed in a camper van.

“I remember almost every detail. I started basically to prepare for the tournament two weeks before, and I actually thought we were going to play on a small court,” Coric recalled. “I came there with my whole family and we were playing on a normal court with normal balls, so then I started being very nervous. I remember also that we were staying in this caravan, all four of us. It was quite funny. It was a very small place for four people, but back at that time I just didn’t mind.

“After the [final] match I just went to do 100 pushups and situps because I was just mad at myself that I lost.”

5) Borna meet… Mike Tyson?
Coric’s favourite sports personality is perhaps a surprise: boxer Mike Tyson. He got to meet the former heavyweight champion at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open, when he was still a teen.

“I watched it all on YouTube, basically, and I just liked his fire… I think that’s unbelievable,” Coric said. “I was watching his fights and I just find him very entertaining, I loved the way he was fighting. It was really cool. I always wanted to meet him.”