Borna Coric has a tattoo on his arm that reads: “There is nothing worse in life than being ordinary.”
The Croatian teenager clearly does not want for confidence; exuberance of youth is a contributing factor, but he has the pedigree to back it up.
Coric has already claimed the scalps of 14-time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, a double major winner, by the age of 18. His world ranking has leaped from 200 to 38 in little over a year.
Furthermore, Goran Ivanisevic, one of Croatia’s greatest tennis exports, is backing his protege Coric to hit the very top of the sport.
“Definitely he can win a grand slam,” the 2001 Wimbledon champion and former world No. 2 told CNN’s Open Court show.
“He’s one of the five, six guys that is definitely going to dominate in men’s tennis in the next five or 10 years.”
Growing up in the Croatian capital Zagreb, his heroes were Nadal and Ivanisevic.
That breakthrough victory against Nadal came at Basel, Switzerland, in November 2014; a 6-2 7-6 victory over the Spaniard thrusting his name into the spotlight.
It also propelled him into the world’s top 100 — the first 17-year-old to get into double digits in the rankings since 2004.
For his next trick, Coric defeated Britain’s Murray, the 2012 U.S. Open and 2013 Wimbledon winner, at the Dubai Championships in February.
“I mean for sure I felt very proud and I’m still very proud, it’s an unbelievable thing,” he told Open Court of his two landmark triumphs.
“It gave me confidence that I can play with these big guys. I started to believe even more that I can become a top-10 tennis player.”
But the 2013 U.S. Open junior champion has upgraded his ambitions in recent months, having achieved his best grand slam performance by reaching the third round at the French Open.
“First of all obviously I think I’m very good,” he added.
“I think everyone’s goal is to be No. 1 in the world. I think that’s normal. I am very far away (so) I need to work so much harder.
“I need to work very hard just to get there, but that’s my goal.”
There was a tenacity and determination about Coric that struck Ivanisevic when their paths first crossed.
Ivanisevic was known as a mercurial talent, but one who tirelessly hunted down his single career major and the one he wanted above all others: Wimbledon.
“I saw him for the first time when he was 12 years old,” Ivanisevic said of Coric.
“When somebody has something, that thing that you cannot buy, that you cannot learn, you have to be born with it,” added the 44-year-old, who coached Marin Cilic to the 2014 U.S. Open title.
“The way he plays points, the way he’s fighting — he’s like a pit bull. When a pit bull bites, he doesn’t let you go. That’s him.”
That pit bull attitude has been incorporated into Coric’s training regime.
A big fan of boxing — he counts former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson as one of his heroes — he spends hours in the ring as part of his preparation.
He relishes the challenge of engaging an opponent in a one-on-one battle, but he hasn’t always been imbibed with such confidence.
That’s when his relationship with Ivanisevic was vital.
“He helped me when I was very young and when I was struggling a lot. I didn’t have a coach for six months and I didn’t play good at all,” Coric said.
“But he was there for me, he was texting me after every match, calling me — we were speaking a lot because I didn’t have any confidence.”
The ATP Tour brings with it fame and fortune, as underlined by his appearance at July’s Croatian Open when he was roared on by a partisan home crowd and reached the quarterfinals.
But for all the riches on offer, Coric — who turns 19 in November — is still adapting to spending so much of his time on the road.
“Sometimes it’s not enjoyable at all. I haven’t been to my home in Zagreb for I think like 10 weeks or something like that,” he said.
“But of course you can see so many places, you’re going to very nice places … you have unbelievable things, all the hotels, these facilities.”
