Borna Coric won the biggest title of his career on Sunday, beating No. 1 Roger Federer 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-2 at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. Here are 10 things to know about the 21-year-old who denied Federer his 10th Halle title.
1. Twice an ATP World Tour champion
Coric hoisted his second ATP World Tour title in Halle. The Croatian won the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech in April 2017 for his maiden title. Coric saved five match points against German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the title match.
2. Big-Match Borna
He improved to 6-13 against Top 5 players with his win against Federer. Coric also counts wins against Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray among those. Coric has lost both of his FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with Novak Djokovic. “I love the big stage,” Coric told ATP World Tour Uncovered earlier this year.
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3. Early Riser
Coric had beaten Nadal and Murray before he was even 19 years old. Coric beat the Spaniard when he was 17 (Basel 2014) and Murray when he was 18 (Dubai 2015). The Croatian was the 2014 ATP Star of Tomorrow presented by Emirates for being the youngest player to finish in the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings, and he looked set to shortly arrive in the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings. But he struggled with the expectations the past few seasons.
4. Career-High ATP Ranking
Coric will rise to a career-high No. 21 in the ATP Rankings. He was playing at No. 34 on Sunday and his previous career-high was No. 28.
Watch: Coric Returns To His Home Croatia
5. Worth The Wait
He was hardly a favourite heading into the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. Coric had only two grass-court wins (2-7) before the ATP World Tour 500 event. But he played the best grass-court tennis of his life, winning five straight matches by advancing past second seed and two-time finalist Alexander Zverev, Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, Italian Andreas Seppi, Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and nine-time Halle champion Federer.
6. Former #NextGenATP Star
The 21-year-old Coric will turn 22 in November, making him ineligible for the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November in Milan. But the Croatian had success during the inaugural event last year, going unbeaten in group play before falling in the semi-finals to Russian Andrey Rublev.
7. New Team, New Borna
Coric had worked with a number of coaches during the past few years. Earlier this year, he talked about how the frequent changes had hurt his tennis.
But this year Coric has been working with Kristin Schneider and Riccardo Piatti and, judging by the results, the partnership has worked. Piatti is the main coach who doesn't travel to every event; Schneider travels to most tournaments. Coric's countryman Ivan Ljubicic is also on his team as his manager.
Watch Uncovered: Borna Back On Track
8. Fewer The Goals, The Better
Coric believes in goals but is now focused on having the right goals. The past two seasons, Coric wrote his goals down and focused on them throughout the year. But he was never hitting the marks, such as reaching the Top 20. This year, Coric changed his goal-setting outlook: No goals, only hard work concentrated on improving his game.
“I'm going to work on my game and we'll see where it's going to get me,” Coric told ATPWorldTour.com.
9. Not A Fan Of 'Ordinary'
On his right bicep, Coric has a tattoo that reflects one of his life philosophies: 'There is nothing worse in life than being ordinary'. He has showed it off on his Instagram.
10. The Camping Life
Coric played his first tournament outside of Croatia in Rome in 2005. He lost in the final, and his parents and sister went with him and stayed in a camper van.
