10 Things To Know About Borna Coric

Borna Coric reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final on Saturday, beating defending champion Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Here are 10 things to know about the 21-year-old who denied Federer in the Shanghai semi-finals.

1. Twice an ATP World Tour champion
Coric also defeated Federer to hoist 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 that title match.

2. Big-Match Borna
He improved to 8-14 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, who he will meet in Sunday’s final. “I love the big stage,” Coric told ATP World Tour Uncovered earlier this year.

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. 

4. Career-High ATP Ranking
Coric will rise to a career-high No. 13 in the ATP Rankings on 15 October. He arrived in Shanghai at No. 19, one place short of his current career-high No. 18 position achieved on 10 September.

Watch: Coric Returns To His Home Croatia

5. Worth The Wait
Coric entered Shanghai with an 0-2 record in Asia this year. The 21-year-old lost his opening match in Chengdu (l. to Norrie) and Beijing (l. to Lopez) before stunning Federer en route to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 championship match in Shanghai.

6. Former #NextGenATP Star
The 21-year-old Coric will turn 22 on 14 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 Kristijan 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.