Mate Pavić Reflects on Best Season of Career, New Challenges Ahead

In the competition for the best athlete of Dalmatia by Slobodna Dalmacija, Split tennis player Mate Pavić was declared the winner. Behind him was a memorable season, where he was excellent with his partner Oliver Marach to win the Australian Open, ended the year as the best doubles team, and finished at the top of the ATP doubles ranking, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on February 5, 2019. 

Pavić’s fantastic year was then crowned with the success of the Croatia national team, who won the Davis Cup against France. All this was more than enough for Mate to find himself on the list of top athletes in Dalmatia, which is why the trophy for the best athlete, which was presented at the Old City Hall on Split’s Pjaca, ended in the right hands.

“Of course I’m glad and honored to win this award, and be in the company of top athletes from other sports. Dalmatia is known as a region of top athletes, so to be a part of it is really a great honor,” Mate said. 

2018 was an exceptional year for Mate. 

“Definitely, behind me is the best season I’ve had so far. It is difficult to repeat, I hope to succeed, but to be number one in doubles and as the team at the end of the year, we won the Grand Slam, the Davis Cup at the end of the year … It will be hard to repeat it all, but I will try.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v=ao_ovcuLjZs

Croatia celebrated when the team won the Davis Cup in Lille and brought home the trophy. What were Mate’s impressions on the great end to the year?

“The impressions were beautiful. I took a few years off competitions, and now I had the opportunity to become part of something big. I played in Zadar in front of a local audience, then away in France… To be a part of the individual sports team, to be with my colleagues is something special and the final in Lille will always stay in my memory.”

The new season did not begin as well for Pavić and Marach, who dropped out of the Australian Open in the second round.

“In Australia, we played a bit worse in two or three matches. Not nearly as good as last year when we returned from the southern hemisphere with three titles, but overall it was not that bad. My Davis Cup season was very long; maybe I needed a bit more time to rest between the two seasons, which I did not have. We are now moving on to new tournaments, we can play well and there is no reason we shouldn’t continue winning titles.”

Last year Pavić won in the mixed doubles competition of the Australian Open with Canadian player Gabriela Dabrowski, though this year the pair were also unlucky in the same tournament. Will they still play together?

“I’ve already played with Dabrowski for a year now, and this is our fifth tournament, so there is no reason we shouldn’t play all the Grand Slams together.”

What awaits Pavić now?

“Nenad Zimonjić asked me to play a tournament in Sofia, and then I’ll return to Marach and go to Rotterdam, Dubai and Indian Wells.”

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

the fields marked with * are required

Email: *
First name:
Last name:
Gender:	Male Female
Country:
Birthday:	[DD] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 [MM] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 [YYYY] 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Please don't insert text in the box below!