Marcos was beaten in the first round at Roland Garros on Wednesday, falling to France’s Benoit Paire 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-4. The match had been carried over from Tuesday, when play was suspended due to bad light at 4-3 in the third set.
A telling statistic for Marcos was Paire’s clutch play on break points – the Frenchman saved 14 of the 16 break points he faced, including eight in the sixth game of the third set, before he promptly broke Marcos for a 4-3 lead.
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Speaking afterwards, Marcos was clear on where he felt he had lost the match, and what he needs to do moving forward.
"I was playing good for a set and a half. I was the boss in the match and doing the things we put in place the past two weeks with my coach. Things were going well.
"But it was the same old story. I have so many chances and I don’t take them and I lose the match. Maybe me coach tells me, 'the first set and a half you're the boss, but then you stop.' But I don’t feel I'm the boss. I feel like I need to do more and I start pushing too much in my head. I feel like it's because he's not playing good, not because I'm playing good.
"I need to tell myself I'm winning the match because I deserve it. I need to give myself more credit. I'm sure I dont do that, because I am a perfectionist. But sometimes you don't have to hit a clean winner to win the point. Or sometimes I miss-hit a ball in a rally and stop, and lose time. I get disappointed a lot in a match. I need to keep my mind in a positive state."
While digesting the disappointment, Marcos is optimistic that with continued hard work with new coach, Zeljko Krajan, and his good form on the upcoming grass-court swing, that results will start to go his way.
"Two weeks ago I wouldn't believe I could play like that on clay. [Zeljko's] a very smart coach. We worked on some things. He's very experienced and we worked on some key things, especially the forehand. During the match, more so yesterday than today, my forehand was aggressive. It was better than usual. I was dictating more of the points. He had no chances. I just need tot continue this work, but you have to win it yourself on the court.
"For sure, it's going to be easier on grass, I'm going to win more matches. I think it's just continuing working and just keep on pushing. If you see my whole year, I've lost matches I should have won. I need to push myself. When I have chances, I have to go for it. I can't wait for the other person to miss. I need to find the way to get through that."
Marcos will now fly home to see his family in Croatia for a few days before leaving on Tuesday to go to Halle, ready to play his first tournament of the four-week season at the Gerry Weber Open, which begins on Monday, 10 June.
