He is a gentle giant who does all his slaying with a tennis racquet.

Chennai Open tennis: Cilic's here for the dosas, idlis and the title

He is a gentle giant who does all his slaying with a tennis racquet. Croatia's Marin Cilic, the defending champion, will hope this Southern Metropolis proves lucky again as the $400,000 Chennai Open gets underway at the cavernous Nungambakkam Stadium today.

The World No 14 is the No 2 seed behind red-hot Swede Robin Soderling. As far as pressure goes the monstrous Croat says genially "What pressure?"

The Croatian who hails from Medjugorje, a tongue twister of a name, is a good friend of India No 1 Somdev Dev Varman. "We are good friends on the tour. I think he has a fantastic chance of breaking into the top-100. I love the atmosphere in Chennai, the people are so warm. And the South Indian delicacies, dosas and idlis, are delicious," he said.

Chennai Open
The Croat has never progressed beyond the quarter-final stage at the Grand Slam events in 2009.

"I would like to go one step further this year. I want to keep improving and also do well in the ATP Masters 1000 events,'' expressed Cilic.

Cilic likes to play a game of football when he is not busy on the tennis court.

But, when the talk veers to football, he expresses disgust. "It's very disappointing that Croatia did not qualify for the World Cup. They finished third in the 1998 World Cup in France. I don't know what happened to them this time.''

His eyes lit up when asked about his favourite team. "AC Milan is the best and I love Kaka and Robinson."

The Croat is coached by the legendary Bob Brett. "I began training with Bob when I was 16. I learnt how to become more disciplined and he helped me with his structured way of training,'' stressed the 21-year-old.

As a junior, Cilic showed plenty of promise and was ranked No 2 in the world behind American Donald Young in 2005. He also won the French Open junior title that year.

Coming back to tennis, his idol is former Wimbledon champion Groan Ivanisevic. "He had a monstrous serve. I just loved his temperament,'' gushed the Monte Carlo resident.

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