Will Cilic hit the ground running in his comeback?

The anticipation for the new tennis season could hardly be greater. Many familiar faces are returning to the tour in 2024. In the women’s category, the two mothers Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber certainly have to be mentioned. On the men’s side, we have Rafael Nadal on the one hand and Marin Cilic on the other. In our Jan-Lennard Struff vs Marin Cilic tip, we take a look at how the Croatian will fare in his comeback

Australia is always the hub of the tennis world at the start of a new year. The majority of tennis pros are already down under preparing for the Australian Open, which will start in mid-January. A few athletes can be found in New Zealand and then there are also some men who are taking a completely different route and starting their preparations for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in Hong Kong.

Among them is Jan-Lennard Struff, a German who will be competing at the Victoria Park Tennis Stadium. As the number five seed, he narrowly missed out on a bye into the second round and will have to deal with a tough opponent in his first match of the new year. Marin Cilic wants to attack again this year. However, there are a few question marks over his fitness

The 2014 US Open winner has basically missed the entire 2023 tennis year. Going from zero to one hundred and then attacking again is certainly tricky. Nevertheless, we trust the Croatian that the timing of his comeback was not chosen lightly and that he will be back to full strength on Tuesday. Nevertheless, the first prediction in the duel between Jan-Lennard Struff and Marin Cilic is that the German will win

Jan-Lennard Struff – Statistics & current form

Current world ranking: 25
Position in the seeding list: 5

Jan-Lennard Struff had a difficult year in 2022, marked by injuries, and fell well out of the top 100 in the rankings. However, he then fought his way into the main draw of many major tournaments, regained his confidence and the bottom line is that 2023 was a great year for the Warsteiner. It’s not for nothing that he was named Comebacker of the Year by the ATP

Struff best German in the fall rankings

He proved his class with the finals at the Masters in Madrid and in Stuttgart. At the end of the season, the 33-year-old was ranked 25th in the rankings and was even the number one in German men’s tennis at times. It is highly likely that he will be seeded at the Australian Open and could avoid the toughest opponents in the first rounds.

Towards the end of last year, however, his form curve was clearly pointing downwards. Struffi won just three of his last ten matches on the tour. Only at his personal season finale in the Bulgarian capital Sofia was he able to win two matches in a row. However, the break may have done Jan-Lennard Struff good to start the season with a breath of fresh air.

However, China was not a good place for the German last fall, who was only able to celebrate one victory in Zhuhai, Beijing and Shanghai in September and October. We think that he will do a little better now in Hong Kong. Therefore, between Jan-Lennard Struff and Marin Cilic, we stick to our first prediction of a win for the Warstein player, even though we only have a few references to fall back on before the opening match of this new year

Marin Cilic – statistics & current form

Current world ranking: 672 (Protected Ranking)
Position in the seeding list: unseeded

You have to really love this sport to fight your way back into the tennis circuit at the age of 35 after a serious knee injury. After his meniscus and cartilage damage, Marin Cilic could have hung up his racket and looked back on an extremely successful career. He has decided otherwise and does not want to retire with an injury, but wants to show himself and the tennis world once again that he can still do it

Cilic with only two matches in the last year

It was almost exactly a year ago that the Croatian suffered a serious injury in Pune, India. The first comeback attempt in the summer failed when Marin Cilic wanted to get started far too early in his home town of Umag. Another six months of suffering followed and hopefully his knee has healed sufficiently for him to feel the big emotions on the ATP Tour once again.

In total, the former world number three has only played two matches at competitive level in 2023. In between, he had plenty of time to focus on his body and his family. The Croatian is now taking his comeback in his stride. His motto is either it works or it doesn’t. Perhaps it is precisely this relaxed attitude that could lead him to a few more victories.

However, we don’t expect him to be successful on Tuesday. In the duel between Jan-Lennard Struff and Marin Cilic, the odds at our betting provider Interwetten show that the German is the favorite. The 35-year-old Croatian knows that a difficult first task awaits him, but emphasizes with a wink that Struffi shouldn’t necessarily be happy to have to play him either

Jan-Lennard Struff – Marin Cilic Direct comparison / H2H result

Jan-Lennard Struff and Marin Cilic are only two years apart in age. When you’re over 30 and have spent many years together on the tour, you’re bound to bump into each other here and there on the court. To date, however, the two opponents have only faced each other four times. The direct comparison is even with two wins each.

The first duel took place almost exactly ten years ago at the beginning of January 2012 in Sydney, when the Croatian prevailed. Their last encounter was four and a half years ago at the Masters in Rome. Struffi had the upper hand there and prevailed in two sets. That was also the shortest match between these two athletes. Three out of four duels went the full three sets

Jan-Lennard Struff – Marin Cilic tip

Of course, the big question for both athletes is how they will start the new season. However, after Marin Cilic had virtually no match practice for a year, the question mark behind the Croatian is certainly much bigger than behind his German opponent. Marin Cilic has given up the advantages of a regular family life, but he still has the fire of a tennis pro burning inside him who wants to prove it to himself and everyone else on the tour once again.

However, Jan-Lennard Struff should have the slightly better cards in this duel. Things did not go well at all in the fall as the season drew to a close. The Warstein native only won three of his last ten matches. Perhaps that’s the only reason why our Jan-Lennard Struff vs Maric Cilic bet on a win for the German might be in doubt

In the Bwin app, however, Struffi is the favorite and we agree with this assessment. Even when Marin Cilic was in good form on the tour, the German won two out of four head-to-head matches. However, three out of four matches went to three sets. Under the current circumstances, we have therefore decided to play the odds on a 2:1 win for the Warstein player between Jan-Lennard Struff and Marin Cilic