US Open champion Marin Cilic says wins are the only real recovery medicine from the shoulder injury that delayed the start of his 2015 season.

“I feel the game is there. I’m playing all right in training. It’s just a matter to put it in the matches,” the Croat said after despatching Robin Haase of the Netherlands in the first round of the French Open 6-2 6-4 6-2.

“Sometimes, and actually very often, things can be working very well, but when you don’t have enough wins, just at the crucial moments you might be taking wrong decisions.

“So, I think it’s very important for me at the moment to win as many matches as I can.”

Seeded ninth in the tournament, the 26-year-old is the youngest of the six grand slam champions taking to the Paris clay this year and has never gone past the fourth round.

It’s a record he hopes to improve.

“This is the present now. I’m just focused to do well here,” added Cilic, who swept past Japan’s Kei Nishikori in last year’s US Open final to claim his first grand slam crown – a moment he says is no more than a “nice memory” now.