Who's better, Del Potro or Cilic

Atennisone

Atennisone

Hall of Fame
Two players I'd say plays kinda the same style in tennis, with maybe Cilic being a bit better at holding serve, and Del Potro being a bit better at breaking serve.

But their stats are pretty equal, so who would you say is best?


Age:

Del Potro: 29 years old (5 days older than Cilic)

Cilic: 29 years old (5 days younger than Del Potro)


Grand Slams:

Del Potro, 11 QF's, 5 SF's, 1 Final, 1 Winner

Cilic, 12 QF's, 5 SF's, 3 Finals, 1 Winner


Highest career ranking:

Del Potro: No. 3

Cilic: No. 3


Masters 1000:

Del Potro: 20 QF's, 12 SF's, 4 Finals, 1 Winner

Cilic: 17 QF's, 4 SF's, 1 Final, 1 Winner


Win Percentage:

Del Potro: 419-165 (71.75 %)

Cilic: 465-242 (65.77 %)


ATP Titles:

Del Potro: 22

Cilic: 18


H2H:

Del Potro leads 11-2
 
H

Hamnavoe

Hall of Fame
Sport said:
How? Cilic has 0 Olympic Medals. Del Potro has 2.
Click to expand...
Cilic has greater Grand Slam achievements than Del Potro.
By the way, I think that Del Potro has achieved more than Cilic, I just said that you could make an argument for Cilic having achieved more.
 
Towser83

Towser83

G.O.A.T.
Sport said:
How? Cilic has 0 Olympic Medals. Del Potro has 2.
Click to expand...

Silver and bronze right? The only thing Cilic has over Delpo is 2 more slam finals, but Cilic has only broken through in the last few years when some of the big 4 have been out of action, Delpo's big weakness is physically breaking down which means he's done well to still exceed Cilic every where else, quite simply because he's a better player gamewise and also mentally.

He also has a WTF final and Cilic has never got past the group stages
 
clout

clout

Hall of Fame
I gotta say Del Potro

Cilic may be greater at majors, but Del Potro is greater at the Masters, WTF, Olympics and every other tournament level. The gap between Del Potro and Cilic is very close in majors with the slight edge to Cilic making 2 additional finals, but Del Potro is far and wide the greater player everywhere else.

Del Potro also won more overall titles than Marin and has dominated their H2H. Also, Del Potro's competition at big tournaments seems a lot tougher than Cilic's. Delpo had to beat prime Rafa and prime Fed back to back to win the USO, while Cilic couldn't even pull it off against a much older version of Fedal at this years AO. Delpo also lost a marathon at the Olympics to Federer in 2012 before beating Nole for bronze and went through a nightmarish draw to win silver in 2016. Delpo also made the finals at the WTF losing to a hot Davydenko, while Marin has never advanced past group stages. Del Potro almost certainly would've won the USO last year without Nadal standing in the way and he'd have a good chance at winning both RG and Wimbledon this year without the Bull in his way too. Delpo also lost some very tough matches at majors to Fed and Novak in the past as well, where if he'd snuck through them the Argentine would've had a good chance at winning it all. Overall, Del Potro has caused significantly more problems to the big four than Cilic has

More than anything, Del Potro pretty much accomplished what Cilic did despite playing wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy less due to injuries. That's the ultimate deal-breaker for Delpo in this case
 
Last edited:
welcome2petrkordaland

welcome2petrkordaland

Professional
analytics aside, the mental chasm is vast betw. these two, and since this is the ultimate mental game, ad. Delpo.

Cilic is an enigma to me sometimes:

1. Why would a big man with excellent footwork and movement and an improved net game even feel the need to blast everything? (last night was a case in point)

2. Did anyone see how petrified Cilic was of Delpo’s fh at the French this year? Cilic’s bh should trump delpo’s all day every day and twice on Sundays, but somehow Delpo weathered that cross court bh rallies vs. Cilic and Cilic refused to play delpos fh even on clay! Wait, doesn’t Cilic have a monster fh too? I realize Cilic is not known for his clay pedigree but geez.

3. That 11-2 iirc h2h w delpo is sad, considering how even their talent is.
 
K

KINGROGER

G.O.A.T.
Pretty close. Delpo would win this hands down if it weren’t for his injuries.

Cilic has better achievements for now (2 extra slam finals > 4 additional titles)

Delpo for peak level.
 
Sport

Sport

G.O.A.T.
Sabratha said:
Olympics don't mean squat.

Del Potro is better anyway, as I've said earlier Cilic is a mug.
Click to expand...
Please stop. You always employ the same excuse. When Federer doesn't have a particular record or achievement you say that "it is irrelevant".

- Olympic Gold in singles: "It is irrelevant".
- Masters 1000 record: "It is irrelevant".
- Oldest Year Ending #1: "It is irrelevant".
- H2H over main career rivals: "It is irrelevant".
- To win 2 Grand Slams on each surface (hard, grass and clay): "It is irrelevant".

Enough with the "it is irrelevant" excuse. Federer is the GOAT, but you sound extremelly unobjective dismissing the records and stats that Federer hasn't achieved. Almost like an angry child who can't accept any loss.
 
Last edited:
mike danny

mike danny

Bionic Poster
Atennisone said:
Two players I'd say plays kinda the same style in tennis, with maybe Cilic being a bit better at holding serve, and Del Potro being a bit better at breaking serve.

But their stats are pretty equal, so who would you say is best?


Age:

Del Potro: 29 years old (5 days older than Cilic)

Cilic: 29 years old (5 days younger than Del Potro)


Grand Slams:

Del Potro, 11 QF's, 5 SF's, 1 Final, 1 Winner

Cilic, 12 QF's, 5 SF's, 3 Finals, 1 Winner


Highest career ranking:

Del Potro: No. 3

Cilic: No. 3


Masters 1000:

Del Potro: 20 QF's, 12 SF's, 4 Finals, 1 Winner

Cilic: 17 QF's, 4 SF's, 1 Final, 1 Winner


Win Percentage:

Del Potro: 419-165 (71.75 %)

Cilic: 465-242 (65.77 %)


ATP Titles:

Del Potro: 22

Cilic: 18


H2H:

Del Potro leads 11-2
Click to expand...
WTF:

Cilic just one match win
Delpo a final and a semi
 
a10best

a10best

Hall of Fame
Tough call but the most memorable wins for both Delpo & Cilic's were at USO. The semifinal blowout win over Roger and USO final win by Delpo.
 
BeatlesFan

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
Sport said:
How? Cilic has 0 Olympic Medals. Del Potro has 2.
Click to expand...
Using this logic, let's put Laver, Lendl, Mac and Pete in the dustbin as well, since none have OGM's. And boy, Marc Rosset and Massu must be ATG's since they DO have OGM's.

OGM's have almost no significance historically. The only people who give one damn about them are the players themselves ("playing for my country") and Nadal/Murray fans.
 
BeatlesFan

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
Sport said:
Please stop. You always employ the same excuse. When Federer doesn't have a particular record or achievement you say that "it is irrelevant".

- Olympic Gold in singles. "It is irrelevant".
- Masters 1000 record. "It is irrelevant".
- Oldest Year Ending #1. "It is irrelevant".
- H2H over main career rivals. "It is irrelevant".
- To win 2 Grand Slams on each surface (hard, grass and clay). "It is irrelevant".

Enough with the "it is irrelevant" excuse. Federer is the GOAT, but you sound extremelly unobjective dismissing the records and stats that Federer hasn't achieved. Almost like an angry child who can't accept any loss.
Click to expand...
Nonsense. I realize Roger himself cares deeply about an OGM, but as his fan, I couldn't care less. I would rather him win another YEC a trillion times more than an OGM. You obviously are inflating an Olympic Medal to an epic degree, which is your right. But it's also the right of others to point out it has little, if any, legacy enhancing elements in anyone's career.
 
duaneeo

duaneeo

Legend
Del Potro.

Delpo beat peak/prime Nadal/Federer to win his USO title, while Cilic beat a slamidous Federer and a physically spent Nishikori. Cilic has the +2 slam finals, which means he has the better semifinal record (3/5) than Del Potro (1/5). But Cilic's five SF opponents were Murray, Djokovic, Federer, Querry, and Edmund. Delpo's 5 opponents were Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Nadal, and Nadal.

And, Cilic has only made it to one Masters final in his entire career, and has never made it outside the RR of the WTFs. As a BO5 champion, his BO3 record is too poor to be considered the better player than Del Potro.
 
D

Deleted member 307496

Guest
Sport said:
Please stop. You always employ the same excuse. When Federer doesn't have a particular record or achievement you say that "it is irrelevant".

- Olympic Gold in singles. "It is irrelevant".
- Masters 1000 record. "It is irrelevant".
- Oldest Year Ending #1. "It is irrelevant".
- H2H over main career rivals. "It is irrelevant".
- To win 2 Grand Slams on each surface (hard, grass and clay). "It is irrelevant".

Enough with the "it is irrelevant" excuse. Federer is the GOAT, but you sound extremelly unobjective dismissing the records and stats that Federer hasn't achieved. Almost like an angry child who can't accept any loss.
Click to expand...
Olympics don't matter lmao. Winners before then were guys like Agassi (on meth), Paes, Rosset, Massu, ect. LOL.

I mean according to you Masters Cup doesn't mean anything so how can Olympics when they are nowhere near as important? ROFL.
 
Rafa4GOAT

Rafa4GOAT

Professional
Cilic does better at the slams but Delpo thrashes him everywhere else. To make things worse for Cilic, a guy who has been injured most of his career is doing better than him!
 
Sport

Sport

G.O.A.T.
In my opinion, Cilic is a far better returner than Del Potro. I was impressed in his match against Nadal on how many return winners he made.

Sure, Del Potro's forehand is legendary, but Cilic's forehand is underrated. Cilic has a missile on the forehand, and his backhand is offensive (unlike Del Potro's one).

Overall, I would say Cilic is a slightly more dangerous player for the US Open than Del Potro.
 
Sport

Sport

G.O.A.T.
Rogerjohnson81 said:
Cilic is more accomplished player but the players would probably say Del Potro because they like him and he gives the top players tough matches. But at the end of the day those though matches don’t produce results. People always say that Del Potro would be a very successful player if not for injuries but what do they base that on? Del Potro wasn’t injured for great stretches. His one big success came against a past peak near past prime fed who was two points away from winning. Even in the 2018 Del Po’s 1 masters win was due to Federer playing badly and he still had 3 match points that he choked away. The H2H is 18-7 against old fed.
Click to expand...

First of all, you can't criticize Del Potro for beating old Federer most of his career. If Del Potro is 8 years younger, how is he supposed to beat young Federer? Creating a time machine? You are assuming (but you can't prove it) that if Del Potro had been the same age that Federer, he would have never defeated peak Federer. But that is an untestable claim, and thus irrelevant. We can't create a time machine to put peak Del Potro against peak Federer play 25 matches to see how many times Delpo would win.

Also, not all Del Potro's victories are against "old" Fed. Fed just had turned 28 at the US Open 2009, it is ridiculous to call that "old". And Cilic beat 2014 Federer at the US Open at age 33, which is a far worse version of Federer. What makes the US Open 2009 even more special is that not only did Del Potro beat an in form Federer. He also DESTROYED peak Nadal in 3 straigth sets in the SF.


You also claim that his victories or tough matches against the Big 3 "don’t produce results." It depends. I wouldn't say that the US Open 2009 doesn't count as a result, not to mention his two Olympic Medals. Del Potro defeated peak Djokovic on grass at the Olympics 2012, as well as Nadal and Djokovic in the Olympics 2016.

P. S.: I do agree that Cilic is better than Delpo in some aspects. His return and backhand are better than those of Del Potro. But you are being extremelly unfair with Del Potro, almost a hater.
 
Last edited:
Fabresque

Fabresque

Legend
Both of them suffer from constant depressing losses to Federer after close matches but I guess Delpo is a bit of a match up problem with him, despite losing so many close matches with him.
 
abmk

abmk

Bionic Poster
Sport said:
In my opinion, Cilic is a far better returner than Del Potro. I was impressed in his match against Nadal on how many return winners he made.

Sure, Del Potro's forehand is legendary, but Cilic's forehand is underrated. Cilic has a missile on the forehand, and his backhand is offensive (unlike Del Potro's one).

Overall, I would say Cilic is a slightly more dangerous player for the US Open than Del Potro.
Click to expand...

no, he isn't.

Delpo return games : 25.3%
Cilic return games : 23.1%

This is with delpo's carrer being affected by injuries considerably.
But good job basing your conclusion on the one Cilic match vs Nadal at Toronto. :rolleyes:
 
Backspin1183

Backspin1183

Talk Tennis Guru
Del Potro. Cilic lucked out a Slam against a nervous Nishikori who actually would have won that final if he wasn't such a cat (you know the word) in his first Slam final.
 
Sport

Sport

G.O.A.T.
Backspin1183 said:
Del Potro. Cilic lucked out a Slam against a nervous Nishikori who actually would have won that final if he wasn't such a cat (you know the word) in his first Slam final.
Click to expand...
? Cilic defeated Federer in the USO 2014 SF. That's like criticizing Djokovic for beating Anderson in the Wimbledon final forgetting he won Nadal in the SF.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Who's had the better career: Cilic or Del Potro?
Replies
17
Views
1K
OddJack
OddJack
BGod
Cilic or del Potro?
Replies
44
Views
2K
DerekNoleFam1
DerekNoleFam1
Bukmeikara
How good was Del Potro in 2016
Replies
9
Views
645
Rafa the King
Rafa the King
K
QF predictions for FO?
Replies
19
Views
933
mmuubb
mmuubb
S
Who's better: Federer or Del Potro? Can Del Potro be the GOAT?
Replies
35
Views
2K
Andres
Andres
Top