US Open Tennis Men's Final 2014: Marin Cilic's Best Is Yet to Come After Title

Marin Cilic was overcome with emotion after clinching his first Grand Slam title in Monday's 2014 U.S. Open final, but it will be his first of many if the past two weeks are any indication.

Cilic defeated No. 10 Kei Nishikori in straight sets Monday, dominating yet another opponent en route to winning the final Grand Slam of 2014. He was in control from the onset, posting a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory that felt inevitable after the opening set of play.

Bleacher Report summed up Cilic's victory:

Entering Flushing Meadows as a lowly 14th seed, not too much was expected of Cilic outside of a run to the fourth round or so. Instead, he made sure that his name would never be overlooked for the rest of his career.

As ESPN Stats and Information noted, his victory was one of the most improbable in recent memory:

Upon watching Cilic play, it jumps off the screen immediately what his biggest strength is. He possesses one of the most powerful serves in the sport, using it to his advantage to make break points scarce for his opponents. 

It was never on better display than against Nishikori, when he smashed 17 aces past his overmatched opponent.

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Another strength of Cilic's is his ability to powerfully force his opponents back with a strong forehand return, which allowed him for some big-time success in long rallies, as Sports Illustrated's Courtney Nguyen observed:

Simply winning the final Grand Slam of 2014 would have been enough for Cilic to prove his worth, but that wasn't enough for him. He instead opted to crush his final three opponents.

Cilic ousted No. 6 Tomas Berdych in straight sets in the quarterfinals and did the same against Federer in the semis. He made it three-for-three to close out against Nishikori with another straight-set victory.

The 25-year-old Croatian is playing leaps and bounds better than anyone else on the planet at the moment, and him performing his best as he wrapped up the final showed his peak mental toughness.

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"I felt the first part that helped me was the mental toughness, being much stronger and I was much tougher with myself on the tennis court when I was practicing and also when I was playing matches," Cilic said in his post-match interview. "The other part was enjoying much more on the court before in these last several years since I had really good success in 2010."

Cilic emerged in 2010 by making it to the Australian Open semifinal but failed to make a splash after that. He was suspended nine months for doping in 2013 but bounced back in a big way in 2014 by making the Wimbledon quarterfinals before his epic run at Flushing Meadows. 

He has proven in the past to be dangerous in Grand Slam events but never put it together completely before this year.

Now that he has, the world's best better take notice. He's not going anywhere.