David Letterman more or less called himself a queenmaker this week, noting that Serena Williams has won the U.S. Open every time she has stopped by his stage first, as she did before this year's event. In the wake of Marin Cilic's surprise title grab in New York, Letterman invited him onto the program to recite an almost perfectly penned Top 10 list. (Yes, we probably could've done without another tired quip about grunting.) After all his aces and scathing groundstrokes on court, Cilic got to deliver a different series of searing zingers here:
The Spin's favorite items among the 10: "When it gets quiet, I can hear the Mets being booed" and "Only 16 more titles to catch Federer" and "If I win this, do I have to play Serena?" Cilic drums up a good question, though, when he asks, "Why doesn't it go 15, 30, 45?" The world at large may never know.
Unlike Serena, who skipped some post-title morning-TV rounds, Cilic joyfully took part in a media blitz around the Big Apple, as seen in a photo roundup from the ATP World Tour. This time in street clothes, he found himself hitting every mark all over again, from Live with Kelly and Michael to Fox Business News, with a meet-and-greet at Facebook's New York HQ and more sprinkled in.
Maybe there's something sweeter about winning one's maiden Slam than finally attaining that coveted 18th. It's certainly to be savored just as much.
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