Marin Cilic remembers looking up and seeing the confirmation that he had achieved a dream.

His name on a screen with “Champion of US Open 2014,” after he defeated Kei Nishikori to claim his first Grand Slam title.

“Time flies really, really quick,” Cilic, 30, said in a recent interview. “I just can’t believe it’s now going to be the fifth year since.”

Five years on, no other man has gained a comparable experience. Men’s tennis has been without any first-time singles champion in the last 19 Grand Slam events, a record stretch that’s longer than any other since the formation of the sport in the 1800s.

“If I don’t win anything else in the rest of my career, I’m still going to be incredibly proud, because in those moments I was feeling so proud, so happy,” said Cilic, who defeated Roger Federer in the semifinals that year. “It’s impossible to compare it with anything else.”