By Chris Oddo | Monday, September 8, 2014

Marin Cilic didn’t play the 2013 US Open, instead the Croat was sidelined after receiving a nine-month doping ban from the ITF, a suspension that was later reduced to four months after an appeal.

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But Cilic, who tested positive for the banned stimulant Nikethamide, didn’t sit around crying about the ban that he felt was undeserved. Instead he went about the business of rebuilding his game and his fitness, essentially turning the unfortunate lemon into the sweetest batch of lemonade this week in New York.

Based on his comments, and on the knowledge of just how important a prolonged training block can be for an elite player (see Rafael Nadal's seven month absence from 2012 to early 2013), Cilic's ban might be a large part of the reason he is playing so well in New York. With a revamped serve, more compact strokes and better court coverage, the 25-year-old Croatian is taking the US Open by storm.

“I was back in Croatia and I was training,” Cilic told reporters of his ban, while in New York last week. “I was preparing for a time when I'm going to play. Definitely it was a difficult period. I didn't know when I'm going to start back. But was also good period for me. I matured a bit more and I was working day after day. So I think that helped me to improve physically. Also, it helped me to have enough time to put some new parts in my game, which are helping me to play this good now.”

The ATP Tour is widely known for its frustratingly short off-season, and tennis players are usually hard-pressed to find enough time to work in technical changes to their game or to make any truly significant upgrades to their fitness. Roger Federer made that much clear this year when he said he had wanted to change to a new racquet for a long time, but he never had enough time to do it.

Cilic, thanks to his ban, was afforded time to tinker, to heal and to build his fitness base. The results have been astounding.

Cilic reached his second Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open last weekend, then proceeded to trounce Roger Federer with the most sublime performance of his relatively young career. “First point to the last I was absolutely playing the best tennis of my life,” Cilic said.

Though his suspension at the time was seen as a curse, maybe even a black mark on his career, Cilic has turned it into a blessing.

After testing positive in Munich in May, Cilic later pulled out of Wimbledon citing a knee injury and then underwent a voluntary provisional suspension while waiting for the case to play out. Cilic said his mother bought him glucose packets in a French pharmacy after he had run out of his regular brand, and the new tablets caused his positive test.

During this emotionally turbulent time, Cilic settled down and made the most of his long wait. He also made the decision to reach out to Croatia’s only male Grand Slam champion, Goran Ivanisevic, and the two have since embarked on a productive relationship that has facilitated Cilic’s return to the game with a vengeance. Cilic is currently second in wins on the ATP Tour with 46 and he’s just two away from his career-best total. In Monday’s final against Kei Nishikori he will bid for his third title of 2014, which would also be a career best.

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“I had maybe seven or ten days off in four, four-and-a-half months, and I was working all the time,” said Cilic of his time away from the game. “That helped me to build up my strength and to also heal some of the injuries I had before with my knee. Now I'm feeling really good on the court. So I used that time, you know, the best I could. It's paying off.”

Cilic, who was angry at the time about the length of the ban, maintains that he was innocent and took the banned stimulant unknowingly. The ITF originally sought a two-year suspension before settling on the nine-month ban, which was reduced to four months last October.

"It angered me how all the process went because it was not fair to me. It wouldn't be fair to any tennis player,” Cilic said last week. “I just used the positive parts, which, made me tougher. I felt that I was more directed to the goals I want and just with a great atmosphere in my team. I feel it helped me to gain much more in all different areas.”

After falling to Cilic on Saturday, Roger Federer said he wasn’t at all uncomfortable with Cilic’s situation. “I'm fine with it. I truly believed he didn't do anything wrong in the sense that he did it on purpose. Was he stupid maybe? Maybe. But I feel like I know him well enough, and I don't think he would ever do it.”

Federer added: “I think he was becoming the player he is already way before that, so from that standpoint no problem for me.”

On Monday in New York, Cilic will attempt to put the finishing touches on his own personal nightmare turned fairytale. However it turns out for Cilic, thankfully the nightmare part is over. “It's going to a be special day for both of us,” he said of the impending final. “Opportunity for both of us to win a Grand Slam, to be a part of the history. It's going to be definitely huge emotions on the court.”