Zwycięzca czterech turniejów rangi futures oraz finalista jednego turnieju challengerowego [Granby 2010]. Uczestnik 4r. Australian Open 2011 oraz triumfator turnieju w ATP w San Jose 2011. Finalista turnieju w Memphis w 2011r.
2010 w liczbach
Bilans meczów: 4-6
Turnieje: 0
Finały: 0
Ranking: 156 (rekord: 155 11.10.2010)
Zarobki: $95,774
Kolejny zawodnik, który miał bardzo udaną końcówkę sezonu 2010 i bardzo pozytywnie rokuje na kolejne lata. Na przełomie września i października Raonić dotarł do 1/4 finału turnieju w Kuala Lumpur, co na tę chwilę stanowi jego rekordowy wynik na szczeblu ATP Tour. Kilka informacji o zawodniku: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/02122009/ … aonic.html
W dniu dzisiejszym młody Kanadyjczyk, Milos Roanic, osiągnął swoją najlepszą pozycję w rankingu. Zajmuje obecnie 152 lokatę na listach światowych.
I będzie jeszcze wyżej, sporo wyżej. ;)
18.01.2011
Milos Raonić pokonuje Bjorna Phau z Niemiec 76 (7-3) 6-3 7-6 (10-8) i odnosi tym samym swój pierwszy wygrany mecz w turnieju wielkoszlemowym. Świeżo upieczony 20-latek w najgorszym razie zagości w Top-140 w najbliższym notowaniu rankingu ATP Entry System.
New School
There was a writer—I won’t name him lest it set off your pretense detector—who said that there are only so many facial types in the world. You run across the same genres everywhere you go. Something similar might be said for tennis players. Everyone swings a little differently, but there are only so many ways to win a point and only so many places to put a shot. Originality goes just so far. Styles repeat themselves.
We’ve already talked about Bernard Tomic being in the Miloslav Mecir family of players (distant relatives: Karol Kucera, Andy Murray), and how the bearded Cat’s touchy game reappears with regularity. It’s an approach that has more success gathering the world’s drooling tennis nerds in its wake than it does winning big titles. Even a guy like Alexander Dolgopolov, who was an extreme touch player as a junior—Mecir and Fabrice Santoro were his uncles—beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga today by out-bulleting him from the baseline. Dolgopolov has the same hands, but the old junk and funk is harder to spot now.
There’s another style of play that has been less fashionable in recent years, but it was much more successful in the right hands. It’s the Pete Sampras game, and it's the opposite of the Mecir method. Sampras was about preemptive strikes with unbeatable weapons. The core of it all was his serve, the best in history, and everything else flowed from its invincibility. Sampras could play fast and loose on return games, and wait for a quick strike with his other unbeatable weapon, his running forehand. Sampras has been passed in the Goat sweepstakes, but I would still say that at his best, he would have beaten anyone else at their best, ever. When he put the clamps down, there was nothing anyone could do.
Unlike Mecir, though, Sampras hasn’t inspired a school of followers. Federer began more in his mold, but he cut back on the serve and volley that Sampras used when he found that dictating from the baseline was more effective/efficient. Few players hit with a Pistol-like one-handed backhand these days. And it’s the killer forehand, rather than the killer serve, that is now the must-have shot.
So it was with some surprise—and some surprise at my surprise—that I saw the spirit of Sampras rise again this afternoon in the blandest of places, Melbourne Park's Show Court 3, and in seemingly the most anonymous of players, 152nd-ranked Milos Raonic. A native of Montenegro (his uncle is the vice-president) who has lived most of his life in Canada, Raonic spent his youth poring over tapes of Sampras matches and building a game that was similarly based around a monster serve—“I’ve got a good shoulder on me,” Raonic says. You could see that his serve, which Raonic believes is already among the game’s best (he’s really not that cocky), allowed him to take a Sampras-like approach to his match with No. 10 seed Mikhail Youzhny.
“I feel like I serve like probably one of the top guys on the tour," he said. "It allows me to play more freely also on the return games, because I know most of the time I will be holding. So it allows me to take less pressure on myself, whereas I feel it also puts more pressure on the other guy.” (Confident, yes, Raonic does seem to be that—call it the civilized version of cocky.)
Even when Raonic was broken in the second and third sets, which he was more regularly than he might have expected, he played borderline-risky, opportunistic tennis on Youzhny’s serve. Raonic prefers to rip rather than rally on his forehand, and he loves to go for an outright crosscourt winner on his return from that side. He also put two backhands smack on the sideline to break Youzhny early in the third set.
But as big as he tries to hit, Raonic says he has a plan. When one reporter implied that he was enjoying the youthful freedom to crack the ball with total abandon, Raonic quietly protested. “I was trying to do what I thought was the percentage play," he said, "or if I felt I had an opportunity to try something riskier. But I wouldn’t say I was really just letting the ball fly off my racquet, not knowing where it’s going.” Indeed, Raonic doesn’t just bash to bash or rally to rally. He hits with purpose and aggression, and has to accept the errors that come with that aggression. It’s not a style, like the Mecir school, that’s mesmerizing to watch.
Its success here doesn’t seem to be a shock to the intelligent Raonic. One reason is that he's learning to contain his sizable temper. There haven’t been any outbursts in Melbourne so far.
“We’ve sat down many times and had a heart-to-heart talk about this,” Raonic says of his discussions with his coach, the fabulously named Galo Blanco. “I’ve been keeping it together.” Hearing Raonic talk afterward, you wouldn’t expect him to be a hothead, but that’s tennis for you. It doesn’t sound like we’ve heard the last from his angry side.
Why now, was the obvious question for Raonic, who just turned 20, but who hasn’t been at the top of the list of next-generation prospects. Even his academic-oriented father has wondered if Milos should have gone to school instead. The obvious question was asked.
“Why are you playing so well?” This is a Zen tennis sentence if there was one—why indeed? If only we knew.
A Zen tennis question begets a Zen tennis answer. “I’m doing the things I need to do,” Raonic said. He credits a recent training move from his base in Montreal to Barcelona with helping give him an extra top-class competitive edge.
We’ll see where it takes him. Is this 6-foot-5 kid the next of the tall ballers? His immediate future consists of David Ferrer in the next round. That's another guy that Raonic could beat, as long as he is, as he likes to say, “imposing his will” out there.
He’s someone to root for. He seems nice, he’s smart, and he has the engineer’s programmatic sense of purpose—“I’m doing the things I need to do”—that’s bound to lead to success in some field.
The Sampras school is too purposeful and utilitarian to be considered high art the way the Mecir or Federer schools are. It will never be the darling of tennis writers and nerds—in fact, there really hasn’t been a Sampras school to date. But in the right hands, and with the right shoulder, and at the right height, we know one thing: It wins.
AO 2011 - wywiad po zwycięstwie w 2 rundzie
Q. You were really calm, cool, played a good match.
MILOS RAONIC: Happy with how things went today. Again, I was able to take care of my serve, like my last match, and I was able to use my opportunities on his.
Just got a bit tight there towards the end, but pulled it back together the next game and played a good tiebreak. So I'm happy with that.
Q. Have you been told that that ball was on the line that you thought was on the line?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. I didn't ask too much, but people have been saying it to me.
But I was happy I got around that. I was ready no matter what the situation is to keep playing, if I had to, if things went south. But I feel like I played two good tiebreaks. I don't think I lost any points on my serve.
Not much I can really complain about there. I'm taking care of my points and using my opportunities.
Q. Have you served better than that very often?
MILOS RAONIC: I feel like lately I've been working a lot on my serve. And I think a lot of pressure is taken off my serve because of my second shot, I'm playing well with it, dictating a lot. Because always I was getting a lot of block returns. Maybe I would get tight or not play the first ball after as aggressively and effectively.
Now I'm taking care of that, so that's taking even more pressure off my serve. So this is letting me relax more.
Q. Three wins in qualifying, then two in the main draw. Is this the best form of your career?
MILOS RAONIC: As far as playing on a specific day, I wouldn't say so. But as far as in a tournament, this is my biggest result. It's my biggest achievement to date.
But I hope to do more than this. I feel like I can. I feel like I'm playing at a level that I'm still there and I'm there with the top guys.
I look forward to the next match and I look forward to imposing my game.
Q. Has this exceeded your expectations, what's happened so far?
MILOS RAONIC: Before I came here, obviously I wasn't thinking this far ahead. But going day into day, seeing how stuff progressed, how I was playing better after the first week of the year, it's not really a surprise.
But before this trip, yeah, it is.
Q. How are you going to keep up the momentum as the stakes rise?
MILOS RAONIC: It's really not the stakes I'm too worried about right now. I'm not thinking about that too much. I'm thinking about really working my way up the ladder. Improving my level is a big thing for me, making sure I'm playing the game, making sure I'm playing well week in, week out. I feel like I'm doing that better now than I have ever before.
So I'm happy with my progress. As long as I keep developing in the right way, I feel the results will come. So I'm really not stressing too much about it. But I'm going to go out there and fight for every point.
Q. Having had those three qualifiers and these two matches, get a bit of rhythm, do you feel like you're learning more about yourself, what you can do against those good guys?
MILOS RAONIC: I've always known what I can do. It's just been about implying it and using my game, imposing my weapons on my opponents. And obviously it's brought on a new confidence to me, so this comes easier, believing in myself more. This comes with winning matches.
I'm able to do that more effectively right now than I have ever before.
Q. We don't know a lot about you in Australia. You've been compared to Mark Philippoussis. Do you know him at all?
MILOS RAONIC: I was a big fan of him. I followed throughout his career, most of his career. He grew up during my idol Sampras, whose matches I would tape and watch all the time, many times, one match. That's a really good comparison to have.
Q. No plans for a reality dating show?
MILOS RAONIC: No, not yet. Maybe after tennis (smiling).
Q. What do you feel like this means for Canadian tennis?
MILOS RAONIC: That's actually big, because always I want to be able to give back. With the state of Canadian tennis, I feel like there's a lot I can give to that. This is, I'm hoping, going to have a big effect on it.
My presence and my voice will have more of a say, I feel, within the Canadian tennis. I hope to help the sport grow, so this isn't a big deal for us. We want this to be four times a year in each of the Grand Slams, we want to have this consistent level.
Q. How are you feeling physically after five matches? It was quite warm today. Your opponent looked like he was feeling it fairly early on. You're even a bigger guy than he is. How did you feel? How did the heat affect you?
MILOS RAONIC: I was very fortunate last year. It's a fortunate situation, not unfortunate, that I got hurt at the end of the year. I tore my pec. But this allowed me to start up the off season on November 15th.
So this gave me six weeks of very tough fitness. It's really paying off here. It's helping out. I'm really feeling no stress, no fatigue in my body. I'm feeling fresh day in and day out. I'm obviously doing the things I have to to recover: taking care of my body, making sure I don't get hurt.
But I feel I did put in the hours this off season that are shining right now in my game and in my fitness, so...
Q. When you compare this match to the last one and maybe the next one, are you more relaxed playing these matches than you were playing that last match in the qualifying?
MILOS RAONIC: I wouldn't say it was more the pressure. I just had a different outlook on the match. As soon as I lost my serve at the beginning of the match, I started panicking right away. I wasn't really happy with that.
First week of the year, in Chennai, I lost last round quallies 7 6 in the third, not playing a good match, but also panicking.
But what I've been being told by my coach, It doesn't matter how bad you play, as long as you win, you'll have another chance to get better and another chance.
I won that match on that day, and I've had two chances and I'm playing better and better by the day and I look forward to my next match.
Q. And the 230, how many faster serves than that have you hit?
MILOS RAONIC: I didn't know I hit 230. What is it...
Q. 142, I think, roughly.
MILOS RAONIC: That's interesting. I'll look where it puts me on the leaderboard.
Q. Stupid question, but how hard do you think you could hit one?
MILOS RAONIC: I don't know. I don't think I could hit much harder than that. I do resort to sometimes going for that because I know I have a good shoulder on me. So it is a weapon of mine, so I use it when I can.
I tried not to get too carried away with the numbers, that aspect, because I feel like I can move the ball around the service box quite well.
Q. If it is Youzhny, any thoughts about possibly playing him?
MILOS RAONIC: He's going to fight for every point and so am I. We're going to get out there. It's going to be a good match. I'm going to try the same: impose my game, try to dictate play more, try to go for my chances, really not have any regrets after my match.
I know if I do this, everything's going to come together. We'll see what happens.
Q. What is the experience like of sitting in the same chair as Federer and Nadal in the interview room at the Australian Open?
MILOS RAONIC: It's something new that comes with everything, with the results, so forth. I hope it's not just a one time experience. I hope many more times.
I try not to get carried away with these quirks and perks. But it's nice to have. It's nice to have this recognition.
But I've put in the hours. I know that I deserve the moments I'm getting right now and the moments I'm fighting for.
AO 2011 - wywiad po zwycięstwie w 3 rundzie
Q. Did you expect to be back here after the last match?
MILOS RAONIC: Uhm, yeah. I didn't really count myself out. I know I can play well and I know I can play at this level.
Uhm, I knew the chances were in his favor, but I knew I was prepared to fight for every point, however long it took. I can't say I would be shocked if I wasn't here. But I'm not really shocked I am here.
I worked hard and I've put in the hours, so it's all coming together.
Q. Why are you playing so well? You went through qualifying and have gotten this far. Why are you playing so well?
MILOS RAONIC: I'm doing the things I need to do. Before I used to train in Canada, in Montréal, for the last three years. I was in a very good atmosphere there. I feel I was in a very good atmosphere that allowed me to progress and develop my game.
This last three months I moved to Barcelona, which is also a very good atmosphere for my development, but also from my competitive standpoint. So I feel I am competing better.
Also I've sort of found my game, and I keep what I'm doing well is I'm playing my game and I'm imposing my game. So it's putting a lot of pressure on the other guys, and I feel I'm doing that well. It's paying off in the matches and with the results.
Q. What expectations did you have coming into the tournament?
MILOS RAONIC: Not many. Really when you come in, it's three tough matches through quallies. So my focus was one match by one. I wanted to qualify for this tournament, and then you see where you're at, what's next, because you don't know who you're gonna play.
But with my results I'm not really shocked, because I knew day to day when I see who I'm playing next, I knew I have a chance. I knew if I keep fighting, if I do the right things, if I play the way I've been training, and if I do implement my game, I know I have a chance.
I feel like I have more of a chance now because I feel like I've put a lot of good matches together.
Q. When you retire in Tashkent, were you injured?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I tore my pec. I had a seven millimeter tear.
Q. How long did you stop?
MILOS RAONIC: Two weeks off completely after.
Q. How difficult is it to play at this level when you never have before?
MILOS RAONIC: It's tough to close out the matches obviously. And I've had glimpses at this level. I had probably a year and a half ago match points on González in Montréal at the Masters. This was probably my biggest result before this, probably when I played my best.
But I've been practicing well. I played even a warmup tournament to this, an exhibition tournament, in Spain, where I was able to go 7 6 in the third with Almagro in a match atmosphere.
So I know that I'm getting there. I know I'm doing the right things. I'm playing well in the practices. I just have to start implementing it more and more into the matches. I knew the results would come, and it's showing here.
It's a really nice stage to show, at a Grand Slam, because it is tougher to beat these top guys, especially in three out of five, knowing after two sets they have a chance to get back. It's really something special.
Q. You were very calm out there. I'm told that hasn't always been the case on court. Is this a conscious change?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, it's something that's been talked about many times between myself and my coaches, especially my coach now, Galo Blanco. We've sat down numerous times and had a heart to heart talk about this. This was almost the reason why I lost last round in the quallies. I was able to change it around.
I've been keeping it together. I feel it's a thing I have to stay on top of myself to keep together, but I know I can keep it together.
Q. Is it hard to suppress your emotions?
MILOS RAONIC: No, because I'm not getting angry. That's the thing. It's not like I'm hiding. I'm not getting angry. I'm seeing everything clearer, able to play the big points better instead of being sporadic, getting more caught up in the previous points.
I'm able to think point by point next point, sort of try to figure out what I want to do, try to dictate as much as I can.
Q. What do you know about Montenegro? Have you been there?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I try to go every year. My brother and sister, after we moved in '94 to Canada, my brother and my sister finished high school in Canada, and then she did university in Montenegro. She worked a few years and got a scholarship in Canada, so she came to do a Masters degree. She moved back; she's married there.
My brother, in 2008, moved back after working a few years and finishing university in Canada. So all my family is there. Only my parents are still in Canada. So I do like to go back. Grandparents are there. I have really close ties with everybody that's there. When I do go back, it's never for tennis, it's a vacation, per se, and a family visit.
Q. In which way you are from Montenegro and which way from Canada?
MILOS RAONIC: Born in Montenegro.
Q. I mean inside yourself.
MILOS RAONIC: When I was younger, I was very lazy, when they say about people from Montenegro. They say they're smart, so I did well in school. This is a good thing (smiling).
In Canada I've learned a lot of things. For the tennis, it was definitely a benefit for why I'm here, and also from the support of Tennis Canada. It also taught me a lot about cultures. It's been able to provide me a better transition to all the traveling through different cultures and stuff, because you have a lot of diversity in Canada.
Q. What about your parents?
MILOS RAONIC: My parents, they're working in Canada. They like it there. But I don't know what they're gonna do.
Q. Engineer?
MILOS RAONIC: Both engineers? My dad has a PhD and my mom has a Masters. They're both engineers.
Q. The last best Canadian player ended up playing for Great Britain. I take it you will play for Canada.
MILOS RAONIC: Yes.
Q. You when you were in Canada, you say Tennis Canada helps you. In which way? Do they give you some money?
MILOS RAONIC: In 2007 I started at the National Center in Montréal. There I was helped financially and was under a Tennis Canada coach. For two years it was Guillaume Marx, a French coach brought to the National Center to work.
In 2010 I worked with Frédéric Niemeyer. He was helping me. Now I made a recent transition to Barcelona to work with Galo Blanco, but Tennis Canada is still helping me out financially. Even my scheduling process, everything is done with the head of the National Center in Montréal, Louis Borfiga. Everything is reviewed with him, what I need to do next, what are the next steps for my development and such. There's still very close contact back home.
Q. How big a weapon do you feel your serve is?
MILOS RAONIC: My biggest. And I feel like I serve like probably one of the top guys on the tour. It allows me to play more freely also on the return games, because I know most of the time I will be holding. So it allows me to take less pressure on myself and play more freely, whereas I feel it also puts more pressure on the other guy, knowing if I do get up a break, there's a good chance I could serve out of set.
Q. During today's match, when you get in a winning position, did you have to sometimes say to yourself, Wow, I'm about to be in the fourth round of a slam, or do you believe you belong there?
MILOS RAONIC: It didn't come up in my mind. I think one time when I sat down after the second set was over. Other than that, it never really came up to my mind.
The only person I sort of look out to, outside the walls of the court, is my coach. Outside of this, I'm quite good at letting everything else go, staying in a little bubble, and focusing on the things I need to do.
So after the match was over, it was a very pleasant thought, but even after it took me a while to get around through that, because I was happy with who I beat also, a top 10 player playing very well.
I felt I had to play extremely well to win today, and I'm happy I did that.
Q. In Barcelona there are a lot of beautiful girls.
MILOS RAONIC: I have a girlfriend back home.
Q. Was Galo Blanco at the match?
MILOS RAONIC: Yes.
Q. Youzhny said the freedom you played with is quite common with players in their first year on the tour. Did you feel that? Were you conscious than of it? It looked like fun.
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, what I did today was I was converting a lot of big opportunities early. So this was good. But I wouldn't say I was really free wheeling at anything. I was just going for random shots. Everything sort of had an intention that I was doing.
I was trying to do what I thought was best, either with percentage play, or if I felt I had an opportunity to try something a bit riskier. But I wouldn't say I was really just letting the ball fly off my racquet, not knowing where it's going, and the ball was going in today.
Q. Were you aware you were pretty much a stranger to him?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. It's sort of a thing when coming up new, not too many players know you. And I have sort of an advantage of seeing them play so many hours on TV. But it's something I really want to utilize to my ability.
But also I feel like I have a big game, and I'm able to impose it even on the top players. So I feel this also has given me an advantage.
Q. What were you most pleased with today in your game?
MILOS RAONIC: Just how collected I stayed. Even though I lost my serve many times in the second and third set, I was able to keep it all together. I had maybe very little of a lapse of concentration. I felt I stayed there the whole match, even against a top player, the intensity and level you need against a top 10 player. It's something I'm really proud of.
Q. How do you feel about being in the top 100 now probably?
MILOS RAONIC: These are goals, but this is something I think about today and that's it. Tomorrow I go out, I train how much I need to, I recover, I do what I need to, and I'm ready to play the fourth round on Monday.
Q. How about playing on a bigger court than Court 3 finally?
MILOS RAONIC: It will be nice. Honestly, it's something I've looked forward to. I like playing on the big courts. It's something I want to experience and it's going to be fun.
Q. What's the reaction been back in Thornhill with your parents and girlfriend?
MILOS RAONIC: It's been very supportive. I think today was the first time that my match was televised completely, the whole match, on the main sports channel back home. So friends were able to see this. Many messages and much support from everybody. Especially my parents, girlfriend, everybody has really been behind me.
They were there obviously even before the quallies. People now are saying, Keep it going, keep it going. They were saying after first round quallies, Keep doing what you're doing, make sure you train, do what you're doing. It's nice to see more people come sort of behind me and help me, but my parents, they love me so much, and I love them; they're always there for me.
Q. Do they follow you also in Montenegro? Are you superstitious?
MILOS RAONIC: I'm quite superstitious. We'll probably have to talk about that.
In Montenegro, yeah, I have quite a big following. My uncle is vice president there after the separation of Montenegro. I have quite a bit of popularity there now with the tennis results, especially last summer after that big win over Nadal and Djokovic in the doubles in Canada.
I sort of have more recognition there and press through newspapers and on the TV channels, on the daily news and such.
Q. You played with Rafa in Tokyo.
MILOS RAONIC: In Tokyo, too.
Q. What impression did you have?
MILOS RAONIC: It's something I've tried to build off as much as I could. I played a good match there, but it was really a steppingstone. It was a big thing for my development because I knew what had to come of it. It was sort of a big motivation and a big click for the work I did put in in the off season.
I did get hurt the week after. I only played one match after this. I made sure to take six full weeks to do fitness and on court training and to prepare myself to play the level I'm playing now.
Q. You mentioned before your uncle being the vice president. Of what?
MILOS RAONIC: Montenegro.
Q. The country?
MILOS RAONIC: Yes.
Q. Do you still have time to study something?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I've been doing courses. I've done a lot of financing courses. That's what I've sort of studied in and focused on. Now it's getting tougher. I sort of want to be relaxing and resting when I'm in my hotel room rather than sitting in front of a book.
Q. Which top player would you like to beat?
MILOS RAONIC: All of them (smiling).
AO 2011 - wywiad po porażce w 4 rundzie
Q. Did you take something from that today?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, there's a lot to learn from today and from the whole two week experience. Biggest thing is I'm not that far away from this level on a week to week basis. So this is a great motivational thing for the work I've done, paying off and everything.
The next step is just what needs to be done, what it is that I need to do to be there with these guys on a week to week basis.
I'm going to play a few weeks now consecutively. I'm going to try to maintain this level. These next upcoming tournaments I feel like I can go in and do a lot of damage and keep improving my ranking a lot. So I'm going to go out there and be prepared and prepare myself for each week accordingly and do as much as I can to win.
Q. What was different about playing him compared to Llodra and Youzhny, or was it something to do with you?
MILOS RAONIC: I think even the first set I won, I think he made something like only one unforced error. He wasn't really missing at all. He was always getting behind the ball.
Today it really came down to me, how much I could dictate play. I felt a little bit of a drop in the second set. Then the third set I just ended up getting a bit unlucky. I had a few opportunities, but just got a bit unlucky.
There's really not too much negative from it, if you weigh out everything from these two weeks and from today's match, the scales are going to dip a lot more on the positive side. It's really something good and something nice to look forward to.
Q. You were down two sets to one. Did it enter your mind that you might have to play a fifth set? Would have been the first time in your career.
MILOS RAONIC: No, I played five in Davis Cup. But it's obviously a different level compared to a guy 270. No, I felt like I was ready to. I thought I needed a few things to go my way. He did a very good job. I wasn't serving my best today. He did a very good job on picking up on that, picking up on as many serves, making me play a lot more. Also keeping the pressure on my serve. This took off a lot of pressure on his service games.
I felt just a few points go here and there in that third set or even that fourth set and I'm ready to play a fifth set. At that point my legs are not a hundred percent, but they're there enough, and the adrenaline takes over, and you don't think about it twice.
Q. Did you feel it in the legs towards the end?
MILOS RAONIC: He was getting around me. This started earlier in the second set. My mind was ready to fight for every point, but the legs weren't following as much, and neither was the arm.
Q. You didn't seem to be uncomfortable playing in a big stadium like that.
MILOS RAONIC: No, I actually enjoy it. It's what I look forward to. It's not something that's gonna be any kind of fear for me. It's something I look forward to, to be at this level and be on many of these big stages, these big atmosphere. It's a lot of fun. It means I'm doing something right. So it's like a perk, a bonus.
Q. How do you rate this tournament? Were you surprised a little by yourself?
MILOS RAONIC: If you asked me two weeks ago before qualifying, Milos, where do you see yourself, and I told you, I'm happy to get through quallies, because all these matches are tough.
But really it's something to be very happy about. Now that I look back at it, if you take it match by match, it's not really too much of a surprise. But if you take it from after qualifying, you don't really know who you're going to draw. You could draw No. 4 right away.
But match after match, I believed I could win all my matches. It sort of showed through my game. I spoke detailed with my coach what needs to be done in each of the matches. He has a lot of Grand Slam experience. So he was telling me sort of what to take care of and how to take care of it and that was helping me out a lot.
Q. What did you learn from this?
MILOS RAONIC: The biggest thing is my level's there. It's not that far away. The little things I need to work on to really make that next step.
But it's not really making a next step; it's making this level a week in and week out thing. I could say this would probably be other than losing some really close matches this is probably number one in learning for me, especially with the way I've been conducting myself, handling my attitude and everything, from sort of being able to use my game to dictate. I would even more than some big losses, this was the number one learning aspect in my career to date.
Q. I don't know if you've been asked, did you have an idol growing up?
MILOS RAONIC: Yes, Sampras.
Q. What are the little things you need to improve, do you think?
MILOS RAONIC: It's going to come down to, first of all, one thing is just picking up experience, to deal with these kind of situations, to know how to deal when things just don't go the right way. I felt I did a very good job at doing this these two weeks, especially the last three or four matches.
But a few other things are going to be getting a bit stronger. I feel like my legs are always underneath me and they're doing quite well, but I feel like I have to bulk up a bit and get more lean in the upper body. It's also working on the things I'm working on from the baseline.
Today I did well, even though he was making near to none mistakes unforced from the baseline, I was imposing my game. I'm going to have to keep on working on that, making sure that every single match I go into I do the same thing and I keep imposing my game and I don't really let the other play around with me.
Q. When you said you started feeling it in the legs, do you think it was the accumulation of all the pressure matches you played or a little bit of nerves or both? What is your schedule?
MILOS RAONIC: The legs, I think it's tough to go through this many matches. It's not even just that it's just matches. You don't go out there, as much as you want to say you swing freely on everything, you tighten up a little bit. It adds on, the pressure situations, during the two weeks.
I don't feel my legs are really an issue when it's going to come to this. There was a little dip, but it was a lot better than where I've been physically before in my career.
And the next schedule is going to be Johannesburg. I'm going to fly out over the next few days. I got quallies there. That will be good to pick up some matches with altitude and everything. It will be good to get used to those conditions. Then I'll go over to San Jose. Memphis most likely I will play. Depends how many matches I'm playing in a row. I don't want to tire myself out or risk getting hurt. I'll do Acapulco to prepare for Davis Cup.
Q. That's a lot of traveling.
MILOS RAONIC: It's going to be a lot. But I feel like I'm prepared and playing a good enough level to do well at these tournaments.
Q. How did you pick up tennis?
MILOS RAONIC: Uhm, it sort of came up through a camp, summer camp. Right after this, two or three weeks after this, I stopped. A coach said to me, Please don't give up the sport. I moved to a new area, probably about an hour and a half away from Mississauga to Thornhill, so an hour away.
Later my father found sort of like a place to go play with a coach and everything. I picked it up. At first it was a recreational start, and it led to something a lot bigger. That's why I'm here today.
Q. How old were you?
MILOS RAONIC: Eight, almost nine.
Ciekawe czy po AO jeszcze o nim usłyszymy :-))
Ferrer saw the potential in Canada’s Raonic
MELBOURNE, Australia — Whatever the outcome of Monday’s fourth-round match at the Australian Open, Milos Raonic’s star was born.
And if most casual observers back home were surprised, or thought he came out of nowhere to threaten the world’s best over the last 10 days in Melbourne, the Spanish tennis world has known for months that the 20-year-old from Thornhill, Ont. was a player just waiting to break out.
“It was just a matter of time, you could see. Everyone in the locker-room, we all knew he was going to explode at some point,” David Ferrer, the No. 7 seed, said before he faced Raonic on Hisense Arena on Monday afternoon with a berth in the quarter-finals at stake.
“He was practising all the off-season with the big guys (in Spain), and let me tell you, he beat them 90 per cent of the time in all the practices,” Raonic’s coach Galo Blanco said. “So he knows his level is very high. Now, he only has to show it on court during matches.”
If No. 22 seed Michael Llodra of France and No. 10 seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia — Raonic’s two previous seeded victims in this tournament — didn’t necessarily see him coming, Ferrer had a huge heads up.
During the six-week period last fall when Raonic established his new training base in Barcelona with Blanco, Ferrer (who is Blanco’s good friend) summoned the pair to Valencia. Ferrer wanted to practice against the kid with the booming serve and workhorse work ethic.
“He said to Milos, ‘You’re going to stay in my apartment all week,’ ” said Blanco, who remembered how stunned Raonic was that a top-10 player, an established star, would extend his hospitality to a virtual unknown — and an outsider, at that.
As the old saying goes, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
Just a couple of months later, the towering Raonic was the one trying to prevent the Spaniard from reaching his second career quarter-final in Melbourne.
While the change in Raonic’s fortunes has been dramatic this week, while he has been getting attention from media all over the world — one rather tasteless headline in the Spanish press was “Balkan artillery” — that didn’t mean much to the schedulers.
They banished him all the way out to Court 15 for a 1 p.m. practice session on Sunday.
It was as far away from the locker-rooms and Rod Laver Arena as you can walk and still be on the Melbourne Park grounds. No more than two or three people stopped by to watch as Raonic went through his paces with Blanco, with Tennis Canada national coach Guillaume Marx also on hand.
The key for the coach in the 24 hours before the biggest match of his charge’s career was to instil in him the belief that he shouldn’t be satisfied with just getting to the second week of a major — even if it was a great accomplishment at this stage of his career, and even if it happened well ahead of schedule.
Blanco, who reached No. 40 in the rankings during his ATP Tour career, knows all about that.
When he was exactly Raonic’s age, in 1997, the clay-courter reached the quarter-finals of the French Open in only his second trip to Roland Garros.
“I lost the first set (to Patrick Rafter) and went, like, ‘OK, that’s amazing. I’m in the quarter-finals. I tried my best and that’s enough. In the second and third set, I didn’t even play,’ ” Blanco remembered.
It was only a few years later, when he looked back, that he could assess the level of regret. When you’re a kid just starting out, you think there will be many other opportunities ahead.
It doesn’t always work out that way; Blanco never got that far again.
“That’s part of my work, I will try to tell him before the match,” he said.
Blanco was thinking Raonic would break into the top 100 by June, and perhaps end the season in the top 50, or perhaps the top 40.
With his result so far, Raonic is already in the top 100, so those projections will have to be revised.
Raonić w 1/8 WS, Top-100.
Czarnogórzec z kanadyjskim paszportem bardzo udanie rozpoczął sezon. 20-letni tenisista dotarł do 4 rundy Australian Open 2011, meldując się w tej fazie turnieju po raz pierwszy w karierze. Milos pokonał po drodze do 4 rundy aż 6 graczy (przedzierał się przez eliminacje), w tym Michaiła Jużnego - gracza z Top-10 rankingu światowego.
Q1 David Goffin (BEL) 205 6-2 RET
Q2 Nikola Mektic (CRO) 6-4, 6-1
Q3 Andrej Martin (SVK) 177 4-6, 7-6, 6-2
--------------------------------------------------
R128 Bjorn Phau (GER) 85 7-6(3), 6-3, 7-6(8)
R64 Michael Llodra (FRA) 24 7-6(3), 6-3, 7-6(4)
R32 Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 10 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4
R16 David Ferrer (ESP) 7 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 4-6
Znakomici gracze pokonani. ;)
Raonić, dzięki powyższym wynikom, po raz pierwszy w karierze wszedł do Top-100 rankingu ATP. W dzisiejszym notowaniu rankingu jest 94 rakietą globu.
RANKING - 31.01.2011
93 Schuettler, Rainer (GER) 562
---------------------------------------
94 Raonic, Milos (CAN) 556
---------------------------------------
95 Kunitsyn, Igor (RUS) 551
Plany startowe:
Johannesburg (przebrnął kwalifikacje, jest w turnieju głównym)
San Jose (WC do turnieju głównego)
Memphis (WC do turnieju głównego)
Allez! :P
07.02.2011
Kolejny rankingowy rekord Raonicia. ;)
82 Gil, Frederico (POR) 606
83 Kavcic, Blaz (SLO) 599
84 Raonic, Milos (CAN) 587 (awans o 10 pozycji)
85 Machado, Rui (POR) 585
86 Dimitrov, Grigor (BUL) 578
Raonic credits Sampras in San Jose
A couple of tips from 14-times Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras helped Canada's new tennis hope Milos Raonic to a comprehensive victory over fourth seed Xavier Malisse at the San Jose Open.
The 20-year-old Raonic burst on to the scene at last month's Australian Open where he reached the fourth round as a qualifier and he continued the momentum with a first round victory over Malisse after meeting Sampras on Monday.
"I got to meet Pete Sampras. It was really amazing," Raonic wrote in his blog on the tournament website.
"He gave me some well-thought out tips. For me, it was an unbelievable experience, especially when you're coming up and getting to the point where you meet your idols. It means a lot."
After becoming the first the first male qualifier to reach the last 16 at the Australian Open since 2005, Raonic did his best Sampras impersonation in San Jose by recording 20 aces against Malisse to set up a second-round match against American James Blake.
"It's nice playing these guys you used to watch. I think I'll have an advantage - I'll know him more than he'll know me," Raonic said.
Blake, who beat compatriot Jesse Levine in his opening match on Monday, is coming off knee and shoulder injuries and is playing in his first competitive tournament since October.
Elsewhere in San Jose, third-seeded Sam Querrey was upset by Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 7-6 6-3. It was the third straight loss of the year for Querrey who reached the semi-finals last year in San Jose.
In other matches, Lithuanian Richard Berankis beat sixth-seeded Benjamin Becker 6-3 7-6, Kei Nishikori beat Jan Hajek 6-1 7-6, Brian Dabul defeated Alejandro Falla 6-4 6-3 and former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro knocked off Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3 6-2.
Reuters
# 1) San Jose 2011
R32 Xavier Malisse 6-3 6-4
R16 James Blake 6-2 7-6(4)
Q Richard Berankis 6-4 7-6(2)
S Gael Monfils w.o
W Fernando Verdasco 7-6(6) 7-6(5)
Coś niesamowitego! Jaką ten koleś robi karierę w tym roku:) Czekam na kolejne trofea!
1. Milos został pierwszym Kanadyjczykiem od 1995 roku, który wygrał turniej singlowy ATP. 16 lat temu w Seulu najlepszy był Greg Rusedski, reprezentujący wówczas Kanadę.
2. Kanadyjczyk jest 6 graczem w historii, który wygrał swój pierwszy tytuł po pokonaniu w finale zawodnika z Top-10. Wcześniej dokonali tego Albert Portas, Hyung-Taik Lee, Michael Llodra, Marcel Granollers, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga i Mikhail Kukushkin.
3. Raonić to najmłodszy zwycięzca turnieju ATP od 2008 roku, kiedy to 19-letni Marin Cilić triumfował w New Haven.
14.02.2011r.
Najwyższy ranking w karierze Milosa. ;)
Raonić, Słowianin w służbie Kanady prowadzi nową falę w tenisie
Najwybitniejszy polski tenisista zawodowy, Wojciech Fibak, już po owocnej przecież karierze żałował, że zaczął grać z najlepszymi dopiero mając 22-23 lata. Według niego to za późno, by rozwinąć się na tyle, by wejść na szczyt. Jego słowa potwierdzają przypadki w dzisiejszej rzeczywistości.Jak ważne jest, by poznać i nie tracić kontaktu z rywalizacją na najwyższym poziomie może wiele powiedzieć Łukasz Kubot, jeszcze do końca stycznia numer jeden polskiego tenisa męskiego, debiutant w czołowej setce rankingu w wieku 27 lat. My od poniedziałku swoich przedstawicieli w Top 100 już nie mamy, ale od niedawna galopuje na liście światowej przedstawiciel nacji kanadyjskiej, która nie miała się czym chwalić od czasów Grega Rusedskiego.
Oto Miloš Raonić, urodzony w okresie bożonarodzeniowo-noworocznym 1990 roku w Podgoricy (dziś stolicy biednego społecznie i politycznie państwa czarnogórskiego), ale już jako trzyletni berbeć wychowany w Kanadzie, stał się w ciągu kilku tygodni gorącym nazwiskiem w świecie tenisa. Jest dziś drugim najmłodszym (po Bułgarze Dimitrowie) singlistą w Top 100, a poniedziałkowy awans na 59. miejsce zapewnił sobie zwycięstwem w turnieju w San José.
- Nie mogę przestać się śmiać - mówił po finale w poniedziałek nad ranem polskiego czasu. - Mam nadzieję, że jestem w stanie pociągnąć tak dalej. To, czego dokonałem, jest niesamowite: na tym poziomie, żeby przejść niepokonanym przez cały tydzień! Są pewne rzeczy, nad którymi chcę popracować, ale teraz jestem szczęśliwy z osiągnięcia, które będę pamiętał już zawsze.
Raonić jest kolejnym po Litwinie Ričardasie Berankisie z robiących bardzo poważny skok rankingowy przedstawicieli rocznika 1990 (także Jerzy Janowicz, Guillaume Rufin, Henri Kontinen), dla większości których słowami kluczowymi są: kort twardy i armatni serwis.
Terror serwisowy
Opieka trenerska Hiszpana Galo Blanco, ex 40. zawodnika rankingu i ćwierćfinalisty Roland Garros 1997, zapewnia mu bezcenne porady. Punkty zdobywa za to w pierwszej kolejności serwisem, a to z kolei dzięki warunkom fizycznym (196 cm / 90 kg). Podobny wzrostem, ale jednak szczuplejszy jest Chorwat Marin Čilić, który miał niecałe 20 lat, gdy latem 2008 roku zdobył tytuł w New Haven. Tak młodych triumfatorów w premierowym cyklu aż do teraz i Raonicia nie było.
Nie ukrywa, że jego największa broń - serwis (bił już piłkę z prędkością 230 km/h), pozwala mu postawić się wśród najlepszych na świecie specjalistów w tym fachu. - Ten element umożliwia mi bardziej swobodną grę przy returnie, bo wiem, że prawdopodobnie utrzymam większość gemów serwisowych - mówi. Tak jak buddyści wypowiadają na okrągło swoją mantrę, tak tenisiści operują swoją: - Zachowując własne podanie, mogę wywierać większą presję na rywalu, a wykorzystując dobrą okazję mogę potem wyserwować sobie seta.
Świat usłyszał o nim w Melbourne, podczas Australian Open, gdzie jako 152. singlista świata wyeliminował Michaëla Llodrę i Michaiła Jużnego. - Tak długo jak czuję, że odpowiednio się rozwijam, nie stresuję się, bo wiem, że wyniki przyjdą - mówił. Wiele nauki wyciągnął także z porażki w IV rundzie z Davidem Ferrerem: - Najważniejsza rzecz to wiedzieć, że nie brakuje mi tak wiele do prezentowania odpowiedniego poziomu tydzień w tydzień. Wielką motywację dają owoce pracy, jaką już wykonałem.
Po sukcesie w Australii podkreślał, że kolejnym krokiem powinno być zapewnienie sobie cotygodniowych występów wśród najlepszych. - Przed turniejem radowałbym się z samego przejścia eliminacji - powiedział już po odpadnięciu. Występy na wielkim stadionie, jak Hisense Arena w Melbourne Park?- Właściwie to mi się podobało: na to czekałem i nie mogło mnie to wystraszyć - stwierdził. - Duże areny i ich atmosfera to znak, że idę w dobrym kierunku. To jak bonus.
O premie zatem stara się sam, a utrzymanie wciąż gwarantuje mu federacja tenisowa. - Pomagali mi nawet gdy przeniosłem się do Barcelony. Związek na czele z szefem, Louisem Borfigą, interesuje się wszystkim. A sam stałem się ostatnio popularny także w Czarnogórze.
Wujek premier
Ojczyznę stara się odwiedzać co roku, ale - jak podkreśla - nigdy w celach tenisowych, a rodzinnych, bo z familią łączą go bliskie więzy. Brat i siostra skończyli szkoły wyższe już w Kanadzie, ale wrócili do kraju. Wujek Branimir Gvozdenović był wiceszefem rządu Czarnogóry. Na emigracji pozostali rodzice, inżynierowie. Raonić ma świadomość jakich możliwości mógłby nie mieć, gdyby nie Kanada: - Oprócz tenisa nauczyłem się rozumienia kultur, bo to przecież państwo różnorodności. Dzięki temu mogłem łatwiej przestawiać się podczas podróży po świecie.
Pięknie rozkwitająca kariera prawdopodobnie co najmniej odłoży w czasie szkolne plany Raonicia. - Robiłem kursy finansowe, mocno się nad tym skupiałem, ale teraz jest ciężej. W hotelowym pokoju wolę jednak relaksować się i odpoczywać niż siedzieć nad książką - tłumaczył.
- Robię rzeczy, które powinienem robić - mówił na pytanie o powody dobrej gry. - Czuję, że gdy już trenowałem w Kanadzie znalazłem się w bardzo dobrym otoczeniu, które pozwoliła mi poprawić poziom. O zachowywaniu spokoju na korcie rozmawialiśmy wielokrotnie, tak z głębi serca, z Galo Blanco. Kiedyś problemem było przejście decydującej rundy eliminacji, ale byłem w stanie to zmienić. Ukrycie złości nie jest dla mnie problemem, bo ja się wcale
Urodzony w Montréalu Rusedski jest teoretycznie najlepszym kanadyjskim tenisistą w historii, ale kraj urodzenia reprezentował tylko do 1995 roku, a największe sukcesy (finał US Open, czwarte miejsce na świecie) osiągał jako Brytyjczyk. Też miał młot w ramieniu, ale w odróżnienia od Raonicia terroryzował serwisem leworęcznym. Od kilku lat pokładanych w nim nadziei nie spełnia natomiast Frank Dancević, który jako nastolatek wprowadził Kanadę do Grupy Światowej Pucharu Davisa. Czołowym deblistą świata jest za to Daniel Nestor. Sytuacja w tamtejszym tenisie lepiej wyglądała ostatnio w wydaniu kobiecym (Aleksandra Woźniak i Rebecca Marino).
Fan Samprasa ( - Mogę oglądać jego mecze na okrągło), Realu Madrytu i Toronto Raptors, Raonić w San José zanotował swój ledwie ósmy występ w premierowym cyklu (Wielki Szlem i ATP World Tour). W tie breaku pierwszego seta finału podniósł się od stanu 2-6, na koniec meczu potężnymi uderzeniami ponownie doprowadzając Verdasco do szewskiej pasji. - Wszystko rozegrało się o kilka punktów - przyznał dyplomatycznie. - Kiedy zamknąłem pierwszego seta, w drugim czułem się już znacznie pewniej. Z mańkutem z Madrytu spotkają się ponownie szybko, w I rundzie w Memphis.
Ośmioletni Miloš zajął się tenisem podczas letniego obozu, choć kilka tygodni po powrocie stamtąd zrezygnował z wymachiwania rakietą. Po namowie ówczesnego trenera i przeprowadzce do Thornhill, stan Ontario (o godzinę drogi od domu w Mississauga), zaczął trenować na dobre. Przed trzy ostatnie lata jego baza znajdowała się w tenisowym centrum narodowym w Montréalu (opiekowali się nim kolejno Guillaume Marx i Frédéric Niemeyer), a od końca ubiegłego roku jest to już Barcelona. Początkowo tenis miał być tylko rekreacją. Stał się życiem.
autor: Krzysztof Straszak
Fantastycznie się ten sezon dla Milosa zaczął. Spójrzmy na drogę rankingową, jaką pokonał w ledwie 6 tygodni.
Koniec sezonu 2010: 156
10.01.2011: 153 (+3)
17.01.2011: 152 (+1)
31.01.2011: 94 (+58)
07.02.2011: 84 (+10)
14.02.2011: 59 (+25)
Łącznie awans o 97 pozycji, ładnie. ;)
First-Time Winner Spotlight Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic was the first
Canadian winner on the ATP
World Tour since 1995.
Arriving at 8am at Memphis Airport baggage claim on a red eye flight from San Jose, Milos Raonic talks to ATPWorldTour.com about winning his first ATP World Tour title in San Jose with victory over World No. 9 Fernando Verdasco.
Since the end of last season, the 20-year-old Canadian has climbed from World No. 156 to No. 59 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings.
Now you’ve had a few hours for it all to sink it, what are your thoughts about last night?
We’ll I’ve been travelling all night, so I haven’t had outside influences of it to sink in. But it’s been amazing and hearing all that positive outcome from it and just even for myself it’s been amazing. I hope there’s more to come.
You said you weren’t able to sleep much from San Francisco to Atlanta, but was it more just that you charged up?
I was just thinking about it and trying to grasp what had happened and I don’t think I still have. But I think it’s coming slowly and we’ll see how it feels when it does.
How does it feel to be the last man standing and leaving on the plane last night with the trophy?
It feels amazing. It’s tough with tennis; you go into tournaments and rarely do you get out without losing that week. It’s pretty amazing for me to be able to do it at the top level, and to go a full week winning all my matches, and playing good, and even beating a Top 10 player to win in a final.
How would you describe the first six weeks of the season?
Well, the thing is, it’s been better for the most part, but it hasn’t been amazing. I have had two really good results and two OK results. I started off in Chennai with a mediocre, I would say, week. Then an amazing week in Australia, followed by another so-so week in Johannesburg, which I was a bit disappointed with. Then I came here and had another amazing week, so that’s tennis. It comes down to how you sort through that week and how you prepare. As I get more into these tournaments I find my routine and I find my consistency is getting better and better.
Tell us which players have congratulated you?
[Nicolas] Almagro, Albert Costa, all the Canadians. I haven’t even checked the email and this kind of stuff. It’s nice to have the support from everywhere - from Spain, where I’m training, they’re treating me like one of their own; from home in Canada; then obviously from my family.
You practised with Nicolas Almagro during the off-season, so it is ironic that he won in Costa do Sauipe the same week that you won.
It was good and he was also playing a first-time finalist [Alexandr Dolgopolov] and someone who’s been playing well. He played a tremendous week also. For me, the thing about the Top 10 guys is they’re always tough in the later stages of tournaments when they get a few matches under their belt and get their level. I was able to overcome that yesterday and it was good. He [Almagro] was very proud of me and I was very proud of myself.
Who were you talking to on the phone when you were sitting down before the trophy presentation?
It was my Mom and my sister and hearing my niece and nephew screaming in the background.
How did it feel having your Dad there with you to take in your first title?
It was amazing. He was there from the beginning when nobody really wanted to coach me. He was there putting the balls in the ball machine and doing all that kind of stuff. It’s amazing to just have family there, but for me being able to see that joy on his face was an amazing feeling.
Any thoughts on how you will spend that first big prize money cheque?
I don’t know, we’ll have to see. Probably some better quality food at good restaurants!
What was the first thing that came into your mind after winning the title?
First it comes down to what do you do after? How do you celebrate? How do you wave to the people? What do you do in the centre of the court? Then obviously I wanted to go and hug my Dad.
How do you compare your run to the fourth round of the Australian Open to winning your first ATP World Tour title?
There it was sort of a breakthrough, I feel more so than here, because there beating the top guys in three out of five sets is always tough. You know they’re going to fight till the end, so to beat them in three out of five you really have to be playing on the top level. Here, it was sort of a continuation from that, winning a tournament, playing good. It was amazing to be able to hoist the trophy, rather than just have a memory for a minute; to be the last man standing is a different feeling to reaching the last 16.
Since Australia, how many times have you heard your name mispronounced?
Many, many times. But I’ve heard more times people ask me how to pronounce it than people mispronouncing it.
What are your hobbies away from tennis?
I’ve always done a bit of schooling on the side, focussing on finance. Outside of that I’m quite mellow, I don’t go out too much, I don’t need too much to be happy. I stay within myself, within my family and within the people that I travel with. I’m happy with it.
I got to do a lion safari in Johannesburg; I got to do the zoo in Melbourne. In San Jose I think I was in the hockey arena the whole time! It was a full week because the matches were always a bit later in the day and there were no days off in between, but it was an amazing experience and one I look forward to repeating many, many times.
Now that you’ve won your first ATP World Tour title, what are your goals for the rest of the season?
The goal at the beginning of the year was to reach the Top 50 and I hope I can improve on what I’ve done. We’ll see where it goes, I think I can do a lot better than that, but I’m not going to get ahead of myself. I still need to improve. I don’t think that stuff is just going to happen to me. I have to earn it and I have to fight for it.
Air Miles Raonic hopes to keep flying high
Canadian sensation Milos Raonic will have some family support in the stands when last week's San Jose champion bids to stretch his current win streak to six matches at the indoor event in Memphis.
Father Dusan will continues on the road trip with his 20-year-old son - new ATP ranking 59th - while his sister Jelena is arriving as well.
But Raonic had to withdraw from doubles with Andy Roddick, figuring that he might not be ready for a first-round match after his exertions in lifting his career-first trophy in California. It's all about frequent flier points for the well-travelled Canadian, who has played on four continents - Asia, Australia, Africa and North America so far in the first six weeks of the season. His travels will continues next week in Acapulco on clay followed by a Davis Cup date for Canada.
Raonic chose to take a red-eye from San Jose to Memphis for this week's event. "To tell you the truth, everything happened so fast night. I sort of haven't completely soaked up what happened, haven't completely grasped it," he told Canadian media.
Raonic and his Spanish coach Galo Blanco think they are onto a good thing with the big-hitting youngster whom some are already comparing to Pete Sampras for his huge serve and his calm demeanour. "I feel like I'm playing at a good level and I'm playing well. I don't think it's something you have and lose the next day. I think it's something you keep," said Raonic. "But now's not the time to be dwelling on the win. I have another match to prepare for. When I have a bit of time off I can appreciate the moment more, and sort of build on that."
Milos po dojściu do półfinału turnieju w Memphis, awansował do Top-50. Tempo iście kosmiczne. ;-)
Raonic To Break Top 50 After Reaching Memphis SF
Milos Raonic is through to his
second successive ATP World
Tour semi-final.
Fast-rising Canadian Milos Raonic will crack the Top 50 of the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings on Monday after reaching the semi-finals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships Friday with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over American Robert Kendrick.
The 20-year-old Raonic has made the biggest jump in the Top 100 South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings from the 2010 year-end standings, climbing from No. 156 to a career-high No. 59 this week after compiling an 11-2 record at the start of the season. He broke through as a qualifier at the Australian Open, where he reached the fourth round (l. to Ferrer) after beating World No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny, and last week won his maiden ATP World Tour title (d. Verdasco) in San Jose.
The 6’5” right-hander backed up a career-high 38 aces in his second-round win over Radek Stepanek by firing a further 20 aces as he defeated the No. 110-ranked Kendrick in one hour and 53 minutes. He saved eight of the nine break points he faced, while breaking his opponent’s serve twice.
Raonic next will face fourth seed Mardy Fish, who beat fifth seed and defending champion Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-4 in an all-American quarter-final contest. The 29-year-old Fish was better able to convert his break point chances than Querrey, capitalising on three of his five opportunities while his opponent squandered three of four chances. Both players were contesting their first ATP World Tour quarter-finals of the season.
jaccol55 napisał:
Milos po dojściu do półfinału turnieju w Memphis, awansował do Top-50. Tempo iście kosmiczne. ;-)
A po dzisiejszym sukcesie w semi oczywistym jest, że od poniedziałku Milos będzie najwyżej sklasyfikowanym w singlu Kanadyjczykiem w historii. Raonić w najgorszym razie (porażki w finale w Memphis) zostanie sklasyfikowany na 37 pozycji, czyli o 4 miejsca wyżej niż Greg Rusedski za czasów swojej gry w barwach kraju "Klonowego liścia".
DUN I LOVE napisał:
2010 w liczbach
Bilans meczów: 4-6
Turnieje: 0
Finały: 0
Ranking: 156 (rekord: 155 11.10.2010)
Zarobki: $95,774
19 luty - Ranking: 37
Kozak, co tu dużo mówić ;)
Raonić ma na ten moment znakomity bilans gier w 2011: 12-2. W ciągu 5 tygodni nowego sezonu (rozpoczynał na dobrą sprawę startem w Melbourne - licząc występu w turnieju głównym zawodów) wygrał 3 razy więcej gier na szczeblu ATP/ITF (AO) niż w całej swojej karierze do końca 2010 roku. Znakomite przełamanie (się). ;)
Unstoppable Raonic Reaches Second Straight Final
Canadian Milos Raonic won his eighth successive match on Saturday as he defeated fourth seed Mardy Fish 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships to reach his second straight ATP World Tour final.
What a difference a year has made for Raonic. This time in 2010 he was ranked a lowly World No. 361 and lost in the first round of qualifying for an ATP Challenger Tour event in Belgrade. Now, having begun the year at World No. 159, the 20 year old is set to become the highest-ranked Canadian in the history of the South African Airways ATP Rankings at around World No. 37.
“It’s coming nicely,” said Raonic. “I’m acknowledging it all and taking as much as I can from it. But I’m focussing on the next day and doing what I need to do for tomorrow’s final. It’s amazing to be in two finals in a row. After you get the results, everything comes with it, like the rankings. But the thing I’m most proud of is my level.”
He broke through as a qualifier at the Australian Open last month, when he defeated World No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny to reach his first Grand Slam fourth round, and embarked on an unbeaten run last week in San Jose, where he defeated No. 9 Fernando Verdasco to win his maiden ATP World Tour title. He was the first Canadian to win an ATP World Tour title since Greg Rusedski captured the title in Seoul in April 1995.
The 6’5’’ Raonic took his tournament-best tally to 97 aces after hitting a further 23 aces past Fish in Saturday’s first semi-final. The right-hander saved five of the six break points he faced and won 85 per cent of points behind his first serve to clinch victory in just under two hours. It was his fourth successive three-set win.
“I think I’m doing well with it and handling it well," said Raonic of his tough matches. "I felt it a bit in the second set, but I managed to pull it together and play a really good third set and I played at a high intensity. There’s still juice left in the tank and I’m ready to fight.”
“His serve is probably more like [Ivo] Karlovic than [John] Isner,” assessed Fish. “He’s got all the serves than anyone else that I’ve ever seen does. I wasn’t familiar with his game at all; I hadn’t seen him play live. From the waist down he has the strongest legs of anyone I’ve seen. You can tell he still has some growing to do in his upper body and it’s a scary thought to think he’s got ways to improve.”
In the final of the ATP World Tour 500 indoor hard-court tennis tournament, Raonic will face either top seed Andy Roddick or Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.
Peter Bodo: More to Raonic than supersized frame
This is getting borderline absurd. Just when it seemed Milos Raonic, the pride of Thornhill, Ontario, couldn't top his most recent feat (beating world No. 9 Fernando Verdasco twice in the span of four days), the 6-foot-5 wunderkind rained down a staggering 38 aces (the fifth most in a three-set match since the ATP began keeping the statistic) in a win over Radek Stepanek in Memphis.
Raonic outlasted Stepanek in the kind of classic three-setter you sometimes get between two men who have no fear of cracking the ball on a fairly fast court, winning 6-4, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (1). It was the sixth straight win for Raonic, who's still fresh off his victory over Verdasco in the San Jose final.
If you're sufficiently perverse, you might already have your fingers crossed, hoping for a Raonic versus John Isner first-round encounter at Wimbledon.
The scoreline in Raonic's most recent win is worth contemplating, because it tells you something about this 20-year-old Canadian, who's emerged as the new sensation of the ATP Tour. Losing a tiebreaker in which you squandered four match points is enough to make most inexperienced players come unglued. But Raonic is busy demonstrating that he isn't your run-of-the-mill pledge in the ATP frat house. He extended the match to another tiebreaker and won that one going away, 7-1.
Ever since Raonic burst onto the big stage at the Australian Open, most of the buzz has been about the size of his frame and the size of his serve. As compelling as those subjects are, there's a much more important element in play here. This youngster has a knack for winning tennis matches.
At a time when even the brawniest and biggest of men (think Marin Cilic, who's an inch taller than Raonic, or even Robin Soderling) play a baseline-based game that might be called small, Raonic likes to make the most of his power, his size and the big man's inherent ability to impose himself on opponents. He flat-out plays a big game. You might have guessed that, knowing his childhood idol was Pete Sampras.
Although he was just 6-1, Sampras played like he was 6 inches taller. That was partially a tribute to his exceptional serve (he himself has said that the rarest and finest weapon of all is a great second serve), but also a testament to his attitude. Sampras came right at you, both barrels spitting fire, and if you could beat that, more power to you.
Raonic has similar instincts, and that's going to help him even more than his height and service speed. Raonic is big, albeit not towering (Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro are both taller). More importantly, Raonic plays big. This year, he's 10-4 in tiebreakers (and two of the four he lost were played in Chennai, before his breakout Australian Open). Sure, a big serve helps in those 'breakers, but strong nerves and the ability to make the big shot help even more.
After he was bludgeoned by Raonic in Memphis the other day, an obviously frustrated Verdasco gorged on sour grapes. Referring to the court speed and the advantage it gives a big server, Verdasco said, "For me that's not a real match in tennis. I hope to play soon against him in clay court to show him what it is to play tennis, and play rallies, and run, and not only serve."
My gut reaction is, be careful what you wish for, Fernando.
20.02.2011 - Milos zagrał w swoim drugim finale turnieju ATP w karierze. tym razem przegrał w 3 setach w meczu o tytuł w ATP-500 w Memphis. Lepszym okazał się Andy Roddick. Raonić zanotował 2 finały ATP w ciągu zaledwie 2 tygodni.
Milos Raonić - Finały (1):
Memphis 2011
Warto podkreślić, że w ciągu tych 7 dni Raonić zagrał aż 5 spotkań 3-setowych, bilans całkiem niezły: 4-1.
W dniu wczorajszym, Milos osiągnął swój najlepszy ranking w karierze.
Obecnie znajduje się na 37 miejscu na listach światowych.
Kanadyjczyk wycofał się ze startu w turnieju ATP w Acapulco. Lekarze zalecili Milosowi przerwę, by dać czas na odpoczynek nadwyrężonemu brakowi (prawy bark).
A few hours later, Raonic pulled out the tournament in Acapulco after visiting with doctors there with a right shoulder injury. His place in the draw was taken by Daniel Muñoz de la Nava. Raonic is next scheduled to play Davis Cup in Mexico City.
Now No. 37, Milos Raonic makes Canadian tennis history
Milos Raonic, of Canada, celebrates after breaking the serve of Mardy Fish in a semifinal round match at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships tennis tournament, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011, in Memphis, Tenn. Raonic is now ranked No. 37 in the world after falling in Sunday's final.
Milos Raonic has continued his rapid ascent up the ATP world rankings — making Canadian tennis history in the process.
The 20-year-old from Thornhill, who lost a hard-fought final against Andy Roddick on Sunday in Memphis, jumped 22 places to reach No. 37 — the highest Canadian men’s singles ranking ever. He finished 2010 at No. 156.
Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino, meanwhile, vaulted 20 places to No. 60 in the WTA rankings. The 20-year-old reached Saturday’s final in Memphis but, down a set to Magdalena Rybarikova, retired with an abdominal strain.
Raonic was beaten 7-6 (7), 6-7 (11), 6-4 by Roddick, who stayed at No. 8 in the world but pulled out of this week’s event in Boca Raton, Fla. Roddick, who has been battling the flu, said he woke up Monday and “felt like I got hit by a bus. My bed was soaking wet from sweat. It's just unfortunate timing.”
Raonic earned $122,000 U.S. in Memphis, a week after winning his first pro title in San Jose. His match record is 12-3.
Next, Raonic heads to Mexico, where he is a wild-card entry for the 500to prepare for Canada’s Davis Cup tie against Mexico at the 500 event in Acapulco next week where he has been granted a wild card.
There were no changes in the ATP’s top five Monday with Spain’s Rafael Nadal leading Roger Federer of Switzerland, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Robin Soderling of Sweden, and Andy Murray of Britain.
On the women’s side, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki reclaimed top spot, relegated Kim Clijsters of Belgium to No. 2, followed by Vera Zvonareva of Russia, Sam Stosur of Australia and Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
The swift maturation of Milos Raonic
By Stephanie Myles
A month ago, Milos Raonic was the 152nd-ranked player in the world, a kid with a huge serve and huge potential, but a hothead whose on-court demeanour was holding him back.
On Saturday, even before stepping on the court for his ATP Tour semi-final in Memphis against American veteran Mardy Fish, Raonic will likely become the No. 45 player in the world when the new rankings are issued on Monday. If he beats Fish, he would jump to about No. 37. If he wins the tournament, he would be within a couple of huge serves of the top 30.
The 20-year-old from Thornhill is tennis’s flavour of the month. The boom you hear is not just the sound of the 147 mile-an-hour bombs coming off his racquet; it is the sound of his career exploding into the stratosphere. All of a sudden, you hear, “can’t miss top-10,” or “definitely a Grand Slam winner,” or “future No. 1.”
It is all rather over the top. But it is the result of 12 years of hard work on the tennis courts, of millions of forehands and backhands and serves, of early-morning and late-night sessions with just his father Dusan and a ball machine for company.
“I used to look him in the eye, across the net when he was 13 or 14 and tell him, ‘I believe this. You’re going to make it. You’re going to play these [top] guys. So you have to take this seriously,’ ” said Casey Curtis, who coached Raonic from age eight until he left for a three-year-stint at the national training centre in Montreal.
He was like a clumsy, newborn colt back in those days, long-legged, a little shaky on his pins, yet to grow into his now 6-foot-5 frame.
One junior contemporary, Gastao Elias, told a Portuguese colleague this week that Raonic lost to “everybody” back then, because he was just so uncoordinated. But Elias added that everyone also thought he’d be good. Very good.
Curtis doesn’t remember it quite that way. “I think the best guys beat him. But usually, when Milos lost, the guy won the tournament,” he said. “He was very lanky and didn’t have enough strength in his legs to cut, and support the movement required to play at that level.
“He’s got that now.”
Frequent doubles partner Vasek Pospisil, a B.C. native who has beaten Raonic more often than he has lost to him on the minor-league circuit, remembers that gangly kid. “I definitely remember those days,” Pospisil said. “He only really got rid of that when he joined the national centre, worked hard on footwork and coordination overall. He looks a lot more natural now and moves better on the court. And he has matured physically.
“But he always had the big serve. Even when he was 15 or 16, that’s what everybody was talking about.”
That serve.
Raonic is the ATP Tour leader in aces this season, and is in the top three in three other serving categories. He also has put up the fastest serve of the season so far.
“He’s obviously blessed with fast-twitch [muscle] fibre, not just on the serve. But you have to coach it; he worked extremely hard on that serve over the years. He didn’t walk in the door at eight years old with it,” Curtis said. “Even at 12, it was basically, technically, almost a perfect motion.
“I said to him, ‘You’ve got the best serve in the world, not the fastest.’ ”
Eight years later, he does.
Raonic’s junior career was not much to brag about. He reached a respectable No. 35 in the ITF rankings, largely because he played so many events. But he did not reach a junior Grand Slam tournament until his final year of eligibility. And in three events, he won only one match.
His first big breakthrough came at the Rogers Cup in Montreal in 2009, when, just 18 and ranked barely inside the top 700, he upset two quality opponents in qualifying and came within one big forehand of upsetting top-10 player Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.
That match against Gonzalez on the No. 1 court at Jarry Park began just a few moments after the career swan song of Quebecer Frederic Niemeyer, who had just closed out his pro career against the great Roger Federer. A few months later, Raonic and Niemeyer would join forces.
The two travelled together much of 2010, the master tutoring the young Jedi about life on Tour and about what he had to do to reach that level.
But Niemeyer, who had just come off of years of globe-trotting, was clear he could not continue as a full-time travelling coach.
So Tennis Canada introduced Raonic to Galo Blanco, the Spanish coach the federation is now paying to guide the rising star, and Spanish trainer Tony Estalella
“[Estalella] and I agree that the off-season Milos had this winter in Barcelona was amazing. We never saw anything like that before, working the way he worked for six weeks,” Blanco said during the Australian Open. “And I think that if you work, and you have the level, these things will surely come.”
Blanco worked on the mental side. And despite a few relapses here and there, the remarkable cool Raonic has displayed is the biggest reason his rise has been so remarkably quick. Blanco said they were aiming for the top 100 by June, and hopefully to finish in the top 40 — maybe the top 30 — by season’s end.
It is mid-February and Raonic is already there. Time to sit down and set some new objectives.
Raonic's Result Is A Winner
Milos Raonic’s stature is greater, after his valiant performance in a loss to Andy Roddick in the final of the ATP 500 tournament in Memphis on Sunday, than it was when he won in San Jose a week earlier.
Everything came a little too easy in San Jose as he won every match in straight sets, but Memphis was a total grind, with all five going the distance. That included Sunday’s 7-6(7), 6-7 (11), 7-5 loss to Andy Roddick in the final.
It has been a wild ride for the 20-year-old from Thornhill, going back to winning three qualifying rounds and three matches in the main draw at the Australian Open last month.
There has been a lot of talk about Raonic’s outstanding serve and his ability to finish points with big ground strokes, mainly a wicked inside/out forehand.
But, after saving three championship points in the second-set tiebreak against Roddick, rallying from 2-4 down in the final set, and then being on the wrong end of the unforgettable, and ultimate, championship point, two things have emerged that have not been mentioned very often. Milos Raonic is one fit tennis player, and he has guts.
That was plain to see in a match that was overloaded with dramatic twists and turns that gave both players the opportunity to show their competitive grit.
Despite having played four three-set matches in four days going into the final, Raonic hardly gave any indication that he was either mentally or physically tired. That is a crucial attribute to have for a potential future champion because it takes from four to seven matches to win titles at the professional level.
As for his guts, he extricated himself from countless perilous situations with poise beyond his 20 years. There were numerous examples – but maybe the most memorable was in the second-set tiebreak, facing championship point for the third time trailing 9-10. He boldly belted a forehand to Roddick’s backhand, went to the net and coolly put away a winning forehand volley cross-court. Volleying is a bit of a lost art in modern tennis and the ability to pull off that shot under that kind of pressure spoke volumes about his nerves and clear thinking.
Ironically, he employed basically the same tactic on the fifth and final championship point, heading to the net on Roddick’s backhand and seemingly putting away another forehand volley – except that Roddick made a mad dive and scraped a winning forehand down-the-line that he himself did not see because he was doing a 360 roll. He had the burn marks on his forearm as proof of the desperation of his effort.
Roanic was able to appreciate what a great shot his opponent had pulled off when he smiled and said during the trophy presentation, “as a finalist, I think I may be on one of YouTube’s most viewed points. I’m on the wrong end of the court but my name will be, at least, in the description.”
Roddick, 28, was generous in his praise of Raonic a few moments later when he said, “congrats to Milos. Coming from an old guy who’s seen an awful lot of players, you have a lot to look forward to, and you have a very bright future.”
One of the best parts of the match was the fact that, after two sets of basically very short points, a number of long, strategic rallies took place as the third set wound its way to a conclusion. Full marks to Raonic for dialling back on his aggression, especially when he went through a few patches of unforced errors playing that way. It was positive and revealing insight about his ability to change gamestyles depending on the situation.
Speaking of dialling back, it will be hard for a nation, Canada, not to expect much of Raonic who is a tennis revelation like few others in recent memory. In just six weeks, he has made astounding progress.
Every year, reporters vote on the most improved player on the tour. Last year, Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan won the ATP’s most improved player by going from No. 133 to No. 36 over the course of the whole 2010 season.
Raonic, before the month of February is even finished, has already jumped from No. 156 to about No. 37 in the rankings coming out on Monday the 21st.
While it’s all slightly unreal, it has become almost impossible to imagine that he is not the real deal, and a potential world-beater.
Next for Raonic will be the ATP event on clay in Acapulco this week, and then Davis Cup near Mexico City from March 4-6.
He has drawn Carlos Berlocq in his first match in Acapulco. The Argentine may be the loudest, decibel wise, player in the history of tennis. He does not grunt loudly, he actually shouts every time he hits the ball, increasing the level according to the intensity of his effort. He is also a drama king. Last week I watched him played Stanislas Wawrinka in Buenos Aires and he apparently twisted his ankle finishing a first serve facing break point at 2-3 in the final set. He virtually crawled on all fours over to near a line judge’s chair and collapsed like he had been shot. A concerned Wawrinka actually helped him take his shoe off. After a considerable delay, Berlocq resumed play and was soon dashing around at full speed again before finally losing the set 6-3.
So Raonic is forewarned.
I was in northern New York State on Friday and got snowed in Saturday. So, I had to watch the Raonic – Mardy Fish match on a very sketchy live stream feed with live chat going on.
After the match ended, someone posted, “Raonic the new Nadal.”
That struck me as an extremely powerful image, and probably far-fetched. But not quite as far-fetched as it would have seemed just a little over a month ago.
NOTE 1: Congrats to Daniel Nestor for winning the Memphis doubles title, the 72nd of his career and his first with new partner Max Mirnyi.
NOTE 2: I regret to mention this negative about Roddick, who is a fun guy who has been terrific for tennis, particularly American tennis, with his candour and humour. But if I had a Benjamin Franklin for every time he touches his crotch area during a match, I would be heading off to a ritzy hotel and a very nice southern vacation sometime before the end of the winter.
Profil Raonicia na stronie ATP był najczęściej odwiedzanym profilem zawodniczym na stronie ATP w minionym tygodniu. Zanotowano ponad 80 000 wejść. ;)
The Milos Raonic Story (Part 1)
A month ago, Canadian Milos Raonic was the 152nd-ranked player on the ATP Tour.
Today, even before stepping on the court for his semifinal in Memphis against American veteran Mardy Fish, Raonic will likely become the No. 45 player in the world when the new rankings list comes out on Monday.
If he beats Fish, he would jump to about No. 37. If he wins the tournament, he would be within a couple of huge serves of the top 30.
A 20-year-old kid from Thornhill, Ont. is tennis's flavour of the month - and not just back at home. Around the tennis universe
The "boom" you hear isn't just the sound of his 147 mph serve coming off his racquet; it's the sound of his career exploding.
You hear, "can't miss top-10," or "definitely a Grand Slam winner," or "future No. 1."
It's all rather over the top, and an awful lot to live up to.
But it's the result of 12 years of hard work on the tennis courts, of millions of forehands and backhands and serves, of early-morning and late-night sessions with just his father Dusan and a ball machine for company.
It's the culmination of those monotonous footwork drills and nagging injuries, the high-school parties missed, the disappointments and roadblocks and life-defining decisions.
"I used to look him in the eye, across the net when he was 13 or 14 and tell him, "I believe this. You're going to make it. You're going to play these (top) guys. So you have to take this seriously," said Casey Curtis, who coached Raonic in from age eight until he left for a three-year-stint at the national training centre in Montreal.
He was like a clumsy, newborn colt back in those days, long-legged, a little shaky on his pins, yet to grow into his now 6-5 frame.
One junior contemporary, Gastao Elias, told a Portuguese colleague this week that Raonic lost to "everybody" back then, because he was just so uncoordinated.
But Elias added that, despite that, everyone also thought he'd be good.
Very good.
Curtis doesn't remember it quite that way. "I think the best guys beat him. But usually, when Milos lost, the guy won the tournament," he said. "He was very lanky and didn't have enough strength in his legs to cut, and support the movement required to play at that level.
"He's got that now."
Friend and frequent doubles partner Vasek Pospisil, a B.C. native who has beaten Raonic more often than he has lost to him on the Challenger and Futures circuit but whose breakthrough hasn't come quite as quickly, remembers that gangly kid.
"I definitely remember those days. He only really got rid of that when he joined the national training centre, worked hard on footwork and coordination overall. He looks a lot more natural now and moves better on the court. And he has matured physically," Pospisil said. "But he always had the big serve. Even when he was 15 or 16, that's what everybody was talking about, even in juniors."
Raonic is the ATP Tour leader in aces this season. He also has put up the fastest serve of the season.
"He's obviously blessed with fast-twitch (muscle) fibre, not just on the serve. But you have to coach it; he worked extremely hard on that serve over the years. He didn't walk in the door at eight years old with it," Curtis said. "Even at 12, it was basically, technically, almost a perfect motion. I said to him, 'You've got the best serve in the world – not the fastest. The key is to keep it for the next eight to 10 years."
If you don't believe it, here's a little clip of a not-quite-13 Raonic serving it up (and volleying)
Eight years later, he does.
Pospisil, who is nearly as tall, doesn't have the same serve. But he understands it's probably a unique combination of circumstances. "He’s got long arms, and just a little built differently in the body and arms," Pospisil said. "It's also a gift ... and a lot of hard work, too."
Here are a few photos, courtesy of his longtime coach Casey Curtis, of Raonic, father Dusan.
Here's the future charmer with Curtis's daughter Summer Grace, to whom he bestowed a rose on her first Valentine's Day. (Awwwwwwwww.... ;-)
**********
Tennis Canada high-performance director Louis Borfiga saw something in the kid.
Newly hired to turn Tennis Canada's player program into a world-class effort in the mold of the successful structure in his native France, Borfiga had barely landed in Canada about 4 1/2 years ago when he saw a young Raonic playing in an under-18 event in Ste-Hyacinthe, Que.
"He was playing in the consolations and I said, 'He's good.' I talked with the coaches and they said, 'No, no.' But I kept him in my head and followed him," Borfiga said. "I just thought there was something."
Raonic soon joined the new national program out of the Jarry Park Tennis Centre
His junior career wasn't all that much to brag about. He reached a respectable No. 35 in the ITF junior rankings. But much of that was due to the fact that he played so many events. Since the national training centre got under way, the Canadian kids have traveled all over the place, playing practically every junior event they can get to.
So there weren't many huge junior scalps on Raonic's resumé. He never even made it to a junior Grand Slam tournament until his final year of eligibility. And in three events, he won only one match.
The issue wasn't as much the playing as the attitude.
"Believe me, it’s as much the mental. At 14, 15, 16, he was ready to beat the top guys, he would just
lose it," Curtis said. "Once, at the Orange Bowl, he got a ball call and just lost it. He was killing the guy ... and just lost it."
Here's a photo montage of Raonic's Grand Slam junior experience...
He was going to go to the University of Virginia on a tennis scholarship. Borfiga says he talked him out of it, told him to give it two years.
Here is a brief clip of Raonic playing at the junior French Open in 2008.
And you wanted Milos Raonic on grass? We've got your Milos Raonic on grass ;-)
Milosomania w Kanadzie, ma chłopak szczęście, że Kanadyjczycy nie organizują szlema. :P
The Milos Raonic Story (Part 2)
Raonic had a little success on the pro circuit early in the
2008 and 2009 seasons, most of it coming in the low-level Futures circuit that
goes through Hull, Montreal and Granby each March.
When he won in Montreal as a wild card entry in 2009, his first pro
title, he said his goal was to play 100 matches that season.He got big bucks, too, as you can see.
He was 24-5 at the
time, but a fracture of the scaphoid bone in his right hand, an injury he tried
to play through, scuttled that.Here's some video. You'll notice that back two years ago, he came to the net a lot more.
After a tough few months, Raonic got a wild card into the qualifying at the Rogers Cup. He was ranked just inside the top 700 at the time, just 18.
The kid rode a wave. He defeated two quality opponents in the qualifying in Teimuraz Gabashvili and Michael (le Magnifique) Llodra, just coming off an injury at the time (then again, what else is new).
Here's some video from that Llodra match (please excuse the cinéma vérité camera work; this was the infancy of Open Court's video days. We hope we've gotten better since then, with reader input helping quite a bit).
He was pretty excited about it.
In his main-draw match, Raonic came within one huge forehand of upsetting top-10 player Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.
It was a pretty serious match on the Banque Nationale Court, a bit reminiscent of the drama when Frank Dancevic took on Fernando Verdasco on the same court two years prior (unfortunately, not with the same positive Canadian outcome).
Here's some vid.
After that match, Raonic said the trick was to go back onto the minor-league circuit with the same level of intensity and commitment he displayed on the big stage – which is not easy to do.
For awhile, he did.
Raonic rode what wave through a Futures series in Thailand, and
moved up 300 spots in the rankings to break into the top 400. He then tried to
take the next big step, up to the Challengers level, late in the season. But he didn’t have much
success.In 2010, he dropped back down the Futures level, but
struggled early on. Another return “home”, to Quebec, resulted in a final at the
Challenger tournament in Granby, and he was on his way.First-round losses to Robert Kendrick in Vancouver (the same
Robert Kendrick he defeated in Memphis Friday) and Victor Hanescu the Rogers
Cup in Toronto were a setback.But his first qualifying effort in a Grand slam, at the U.S.
Open, was successful. He didn't drop a set in three matches.But Raonic lost to Aussie lefty Carsten Ball in the first round of the main draw
– a defeat he didn't take well.Here's some video of that.
What Raonic said after that match has been rather misconstrued in the rush of media attention lately.
What he did say - essentially – was that he told himself after the loss that never again would he lose a match because of fitness.
People assume that meant he was tired after the three qualifying matches (all of which were in straight sets, by the way). But that wasn't it; it was a matter of so rarely in his young career having played best-of-five sets. And when he went down two sets to one, the prospect of having to win two more sets to win the match, knowing he probably didn't
Blanco: "Anything Is Possible For Raonic"
Milos Raonic has made an
extradordinary rise up the
South African Airways 2011
ATP Rankings this season.
Milos Raonic’s Spanish coach, Galo Blanco, believes that anything is possible for the 20-year-old Canadian if he keeps working hard.
Raonic began the year at No. 159 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, but after reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open (l. to Ferrer), winning his first ATP World Tour title in San Jose (d. Verdasco) and reaching the Memphis final (l. to Roddick), he has rocketed up to a career-high World No. 37.
“If I’m honest, we did not expect this start to the season,” Blanco told RadioMARCA. “I had a lot of faith in Milos, but his progress has been much faster than we expected. What has helped us a lot is that we didn’t stand still after reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open. If he hadn’t continued working, he wouldn’t have had those results in San Jose and Memphis. What he does so well is that he keeps wanting to improve every day. It is something he has learnt from the Spaniards.
“I try to pass on my experience as an ex-player, and give him advice that I think will be good for him. But he is the one who walks on to court and plays. All the credit must go to him for the hard work he has put in.
“I do think he can win a big title, such as a Masters 1000 or a Grand Slam. However, I don’t like to set goals on this scale. I think we have to keep our feet on the ground and remember that two months ago he was World No. 150; when I started working with him he was No. 230 in the rankings. Time has shown us that with hard work, anything is possible.”
Blanco began working with Raonic in October 2010 and the Canadian soon made the decision to relocate to Barcelona and surround himself with Toni Estalella as a physical trainer and Dr. Ángel Ruiz Cotorro as his doctor. “[It was] a change that took him a giant step forwards,” declared Blanco.
In their six months together, Blanco explained he has worked on both Raonic’s game and also his temperament. “It’s clear that Milos’ serve stands out against his other shots, but less so now than three months ago. It’s not that he has changed his style of game in the time I’ve been working with him, but he has learnt to use his shots correctly. He still serves just as strong, but now he knows how to choose the right serve depending on the moment, how to choose the right play, he makes less errors and has more patience. He has an aggressive game and it will stay that way.
“Away from the courts Milos is an extraordinary person, but very temperamental. He has a strong character and gets angry when things don’t go the way he wants. Lately he has learned to control these fits of temper on the court and this has been reflected in his results.”
Raonic will compete on clay in Canada’s Davis Cup tie away to Mexico this weekend, and following his appearances at the BNP Paribas Open and Sony Ericsson Open next month, will embark on a six-week spell on clay.
“It’s a mystery for everyone [how Milos will perform on clay],” confessed Blanco. “You have to keep in mind that he has only played about three clay-court tournaments in his life, and they were when he was a junior.
“Of course he will have to stay true to his style of play, but he must change his movement and the way he approaches each point. I don’t think he’s going to be a bad clay-court player, but he needs experience. What I am sure about is that the six-week clay-court season is going to help him a lot in progressing more on fast courts.”
rotfl
Ciekawe, czy Kanada naprawdę zwariuje, jak będzie w TOP-5. :P
THE MISSILE FINDS ITS MARKDEUCE EXTRA
Milos Raonic has made a meteoric rise in just the first couple months of the 2011 ATP World
Tour season, breaking into the Top 40.
Twenty-year-old Canadian Milos Raonic has made a big splash in just the first two months of the 2011 ATP World Tour season, with a booming serve and newfound maturity driving his meteoric rise in the rankings.
Asked how his friends might describe him, Milos Raonic points out there are “two aspects of me.” Away from tennis, he is subdued, relaxed, just another 20 year old who enjoys watching escapist comedies like “Due Date” and “Hangover”.
According to Raonic, “I don’t get too emotional away from the tennis court.” And on the tennis court, at least of late, he’s done a fine job of keeping calm.
But it’s not always so easy to put this principle into practice. Head back to February and the SA Tennis Open in Johannesburg – the first tournament Raonic played after his breakout run to the round of 16 at the Australian Open. Playing Simon Greul, Raonic found himself frustrated, and began to whine, mope and sabotage his competitive effort. Soon enough, invariably, he lost. But the outcome wasn’t what mattered to Raonic’s coach, former pro Galo Blanco. It was the process.
Blanco promptly drew a line in the sand. To lose, he said, was one thing. But to show such disrespect – not just for himself, not just to the game, but to Blanco as well – was unacceptable. 'If you don’t shape up,' said Blanco, 'I won’t bother coming to San Jose with you.' Instantly, Raonic saw the light. Said Raonic, “I need to do things that help me compete well, not things that do nothing to help me.”
Light travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second. While Raonic can’t match that, it’s uncertain which supersonic aspect of this Canadian’s tennis life is more impressive: the serve that regularly tops 140 miles per hour or the remarkable way he’s made his way up the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings. From January 1 to February 20, across four continents – Asia, Australia, Africa and North America – Raonic made one of the biggest splashes in recent tennis history, rising from World No. 156 at the start of 2011 to No. 37. In only his eighth ATP World Tour main draw appearance, Raonic claimed his first ATP World Tour singles title at the SAP Open in San Jose, then followed it up the next week with a runner-up showing at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis.
Raonic’s Memphis final versus Andy Roddick was arguably the most compelling ATP World Tour match of the year to date. After losing the first set in a tie-break, Raonic fought off three championship points in a second-set tie-break, at last winning it 13-11. Down 1-4 in the third, he rallied again to level the match. At 5-6, facing championship point number five, Raonic angled a volley – and Roddick struck one of the greatest shots of his career, a lunging forehand down-the-line winner."He's as exciting of a talent as we've seen in a while. You won't surprise me if he's Top 10 sooner than later."
But for the second week in a row, Raonic had played superb tennis. He’d served a tournament record 132 aces, including 32 versus Roddick. According to Roddick, “He's as exciting of a talent as we've seen in a while. You won't surprise me if he's Top 10 sooner than later.”
Amazingly, when 2011 began, Raonic had played in the main draw of only four ATP World Tour events. Seeded 26th in the qualifying of the Australian Open, he squeaked his way into the main draw with a tight 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 win over 177th-ranked Andrej Martin. There followed a run to the round of 16, Raonic’s victims including 24th-ranked Michael Llodra and Top 10 player Mikhail Youzhny.
Two weeks later, Raonic sat on a couch in the press room at the SAP Open in San Jose. “Australia was fun,” he said. “A lot of people made sure I didn’t get ahead of myself.” As Raonic reflected further on how he’d played well in Melbourne and took in the surroundings of an ATP World Tour event, his energy rose. “When you tell yourself you want to be a tennis player at a young age, it’s these tournaments you think of,” said Raonic. “These are the ones you dream of playing.”
Like many of his peers, Raonic has indeed given tennis his share of thought. Even more importantly, hours and hours of time. At the age of eight, attending a summer camp, Raonic held a racquet and it was love at first ball. The Blackmore Tennis Club (BTC) in Richmond Hill, Ontario was one key training spot during Raonic’s formative years. Said Casey Curtis, the coach who Raonic worked with well into his late teens, “I told him he’d have to work on the ball machine if he wanted to get good enough to be with the better players – and to his credit, he did just that.”
By day, Raonic’s father Dusan continued to work at his job as a nuclear engineer. But before and after his long shifts, the father did something the son finds deeply commendable. “Our parents were devoted to helping their children reach our dreams,” said Raonic, the youngest behind sister Jelena and brother Momir."Kids today don’t even know who Boris Becker is, but Milos was there reading about guys like Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzalez."
With prime-time indoor court fees as high as $24 an hour, Dusan arranged a special agreement with the Blackmore Tennis Club for lower rates at off-peak hours – times such as 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. So it was that father and son would head out into the cold, enter the indoor club and command a ball machine for hours on end. Dusan would also watch the boy’s lessons so he could absorb their wisdom and pass it on as Milos hit thousands of balls. Both father and son stress, though, that he was careful to mostly leave Milos alone and back away from becoming a micro-managing tennis parent. “Dusan is a tremendous guy,” said Curtis. “He told me that I was 100 percent in charge of the tennis and that he was in charge of his academics.”
The boy soaked up everything he could about tennis, from time on the ball machine to lessons, drills, matches and extensive study of the game’s history. Said Curtis, “Kids today don’t even know who Boris Becker is, but Milos was there reading about guys like Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzalez.”
Raonic particularly enjoyed watching videotapes of his hero, Pete Sampras. “I just liked the way Sampras was able to stay under control all the time,” said Raonic. “That’s something I’m always working on – to control what I can and not worry about the things I can’t.” Indeed, Raonic’s temper in his youth was explosive. According to Curtis, “I wanted to get him to a point where he wasn’t feeling the emotion.”
Most of all, said Raonic, “I enjoyed the individuality of tennis. I liked not being dependent on other people. I know that when it comes to winning or losing, it’s down to me.” Yet even as he honed his own game, Raonic participated with enthusiasm in Curtis’ various clinics and workouts. According to Curtis, “He’d hit with anybody, practice with whoever was there to practice with. When he was younger he’d fill in with adults in doubles, hit with older members. He talked about other kids in the program and cared about them. He just loved tennis. When he was 12, I told him he could be the best player in the world one day. He smiled the way kids do, but a year or two later he wasn’t smiling. He was believing.”
But Dusan and Vesna had a slightly different picture of what life would be. In the early ‘90s, as war ranged through their native Balkans, these two engineers had moved from Montenegro to Canada. Milos were three years old. “For us, education mattered very much,” said Dusan. Young Milos agreed. “I was always a good student, always really liked math,” he said. But he also made an arrangement as early as elementary school to leave school early so he could play tennis – and at the same time get his work done. By his late teens, Raonic earned a scholarship offer from the University of Virginia. Said Dusan, “We were really hoping he would take it.” But Milos convinced his parents it was worth giving pro tennis a shot."I liked not being dependent on other people. I know that when it comes to winning or losing, it’s down to me."
As patient as Raonic was, as much as he attempted to remind himself that the tennis life was not a sprint but a marathon, in retrospect he admits that it has taken him a while to mature. “When I was younger, I banged racquets, but mostly what I would do was talk non-stop, putting myself down, just rubbish,” said Raonic.
Early in his pro career, Raonic was coached by former ATP pro, Frederic Niemeyer, who was in complete agreement with Curtis about Raonic building an attacking game. Late last year, though, as it became clear that Raonic’s travel schedule would increase, Niemeyer explained that it would be hard for him to travel extensively. With that, in November, Raonic headed to Barcelona to train with Blanco at his academy. The two hit it off nicely. According to Blanco, “He’s learning about the game, about the game at the pro level, where you don’t necessarily always have to hit big but you must be consistent, smart, know the court.” Said Raonic, “Galo has so much experience and he has helped me put aside self-destructive behavior.”
While Raonic has had his moments of on-court volatility, in conversation he speaks with ease and tranquility, a matter-of-fact quality that is indeed reminiscent of the young Sampras. His speaking style is similar to his most notable tennis asset: an unhurried but fluid service motion that, like Sampras’, slowly gathers force and then unleashes itself with exquisite ease, variety and pinpoint accuracy. Not only is Raonic capable of striking massive serves down the center of the court, his breaking deuce court slice and astounding ad court kick pose incredible possibilities at such attack-friendly places as Wimbledon and the US Open. Said Roddick, “The good news for him is he's going to be able to learn on the job because that serve is going to win him a lot of matches...It's one of the bigger serves I've seen.”
Having made a splash in Australia, Raonic’s remarkable ride up the ranks continued in San Jose. On the first night of the tournament, he was at last able to meet Sampras, a face-to-face encounter evocative of the teenaged Bill Clinton meeting President John Kennedy. When 'Milos Met Pete' had been arranged by ex-pro Justin Gimelstob, on-site for ATP World Tour Uncovered, the weekly men's tennis television round-up. Though Sampras would confess to not having yet seen Raonic play, his interest was rapidly piqued when Gimelstob told Sampras that, “this guy has an arm almost as live as yours.” Sampras advised him it was vital to “work on everything...and that you must be able to win when you’re not playing well.” That a local instructor might have offered the same guidance was incidental to the reality that here at last Raonic had heard the words from his idol. Naturally, he paid attention like a monk at a shrine.
In San Jose and Memphis, Raonic earned a pair of wins over Fernando Verdasco, as well as victories over such veterans as Radek Stepanek, Mardy Fish, James Blake and Xavier Malisse. Throughout he showed exceptional poise – and, true to the spirit of Sampras, understated passion. “It’s going to come down to consistency, staying healthy, working and never being satisfied,” said Raonic about the keys to enduring success."He's going to be able to learn on the job because that serve is going to win him a lot of matches"
That Raonic comes from Canada is revealing. Though he is grateful to Canada’s tennis community and plans to do what he can to aid the game’s growth there, Raonic’s singular ascent and commitment show at one level that it’s very tricky to gauge if any kind of national system can truly yield great players. Said Raonic, “It’s great to be Canadian, but at the end of the day, it’s for myself, as an individual.”
So in large part, Raonic is a citizen of the New Tennis World Order: born in Montenegro, raised in Canada, offered an American education, refining himself in Spain and just commencing a journey that will likely see him circle the planet for the better part of a decade – an education far different than the one envisioned by Dusan and Vesna. Said Dusan, “We shall see how it works out.”
But if all his global underpinnings make Raonic thoroughly contemporary, there is one habit he has that is heavily old school. Raonic’s pre-match meal is not the pasta favoured by a great many players. Instead, Raonic prefers a thick steak. Now that he’s made more money, said Raonic, “the steaks have gotten better.” The stakes have also gotten higher.
RAONIC RECORDS FIRST MASTERS 1000 VICTORY
Milos Raonic is the highest-ranked Canadian in ATP Rankings history.
Milos Raonic earned his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 victory in front of a pro-Canadian crowd Friday at the BNP Paribas Open. The 20 year old, who failed to serve out the match at 5-3, built up a 5-1 lead in the tie-break and held on for a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory over Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan.
Raonic has been the breakout star early in the 2011 ATP World Tour season, winning the San Jose title (d. Verdasco) and finishing runner-up at Memphis the following week (l. to Roddick).
“It’s been two weeks since I played a tournament, so I was happy to be back feeling like I'm playing a lot better,” said Raonic, who has won 11 of his past 12 matches. “I didn't serve that well today, but I feel compared to Memphis and San Jose I'm playing another level from the baseline. I feel like it just gives me a lot more comfort that I'm improving that aspect.”
Raonic is making his BNP Paribas Open debut, and was appreciative of the support from the fans. If the crowd respects you and the crowd is behind you, it just makes those situations that much more enjoyable and it's obviously nicer to be liked by everybody. I respect the sport,” he said. “ I respect my opponents. I respect the crowd. It's nice to see that they're respecting me, also.”
Raonic next meets 2008 finalist Mardy Fish, whom he defeated in the Memphis semi-finals.
Raonic joins Federer in grass-court field in Halle
Five-time champion Roger Federer may find himself with some fresh competition when Canadian Milos Raonic joins the field for June's Halle grass court event, the only pre-Wimbledon tuneup ever utilised by Federer.
Raonic, 20, is now being billed as a next-gen breakthrough player after winning his first title last month in San Jose and rising to a 37th ranking. he suffered a slight setback in the Indian Wells third round with a loss to US teenager Ryan Harrison in three sets.
Federer has been the longtime king of Halle, winning five titles in five appearances before losing to Lleyton Hewitt in last year's trophy match. But the methodical Swiss likes to keep his schedule much the same year-on-year and will be making a predictable return to his happy hunting ground.
Also in the field for the event which begins the day after the French Open final will be Gael Monfils and the entire German Davis Cup team headed by Philipp Kohlschreiber. Raonic has some experience on grass, playing qualifying rounds last summer at Newport and also winning a Wimbledon junior match in 2008.
21.03.2011
Najwyższa pozycja w karierze: 34
A giant step forward for Raonic
Canadian Milos Raonic lost in the Indian Wells Masters to another young talent in 18-year-old American Ryan Harrison - but nevertheless it was a large and important step for him to take.
Raonic remains the big revelation of the early part of the season with 12 wins and only four losses to date. Coming through the qualifying rounds, he went on to reach the fourth round in Melbourne then won in San Jose and reached the final in Memphis. He is climbing the rankings like a rocket: 156th in January, he's now ranked 37 and most experts say he'll be top 20 and maybe even top 10 by the end of the year.
How can one explain this phenomenon; how a player who lost in the qualifying rounds for Chennai in January against Edouard Roger-Vasselin can, the following week, become the next big thing? Milos is not an unknown player - I've talked about him for a few years - but he's suddenly improved a lot. In fact he has gotten better over the last two years. He was never a target for sponsors and scouts because he was a bit behind Dimitrov, Tomic, Harrison, Krajinovic and Kuznetsov; plus, he was never dominant on the junior tour in comparison to other promising players of his age. Milos was unable to express himself on the court during this period: very nervous, easily angry, he often lost his mind while competing. He is now better at dealing with this frustration - and it is because of this that he is now on the rise. Only a year ago he was playing in Future events...
Raonic relies on a highly efficient first serve that has seen him lead the aces ranking. His second serve is probably one of the best on the Tour too because he can put a lot of topspin on it and his opponents are forced to play the return above the shoulder so they're basically playing out of the court on the advantage side. He has mastered the first-serve sequence: forehand down the line and move to the net. On the baseline, he doesn't miss much because he plays it safe thanks to a large amount of topspin. He is also very aggressive on his forehand, not hesitating to come to the net where he is also very efficient. He makes up for his relatively slow footwork by playing deep balls and hitting cleanly.
So why is this Raonic any different to what we've seen before? Since the Australian Open, his game has taken a big step forwards. He played the quallies there without really getting into gear, but then, little by little, everything clicked. With his confidence rising, he was playing the same way but with more belief in himself, and it worked: further proof of how this sport is played in the head.
Matches are part of a player's training - and can be considered the best session possible. While competing, the player is totally committed, physically and mentally. He puts in his shots and footwork with all the necessary intensity. He is focused on winning and so searches for solutions to increase his efficiency. He discovers new skills. He'll naturally find the areas of the game he's most comfortable in. It is during matches that a player can reach a new level. As Marcos Baghdatis often told me: "It's a very positive thing to hear you've got potential - but it remains abstract. We only really believe it when it's been proven and experienced." This experience is won in matches.
If improvements aren't tested in matches, they aren't a done deal - Training is important in order to set up tactical sequences - technical motions - for repetition until they are a part of the player's game. Yet, the process is not fully complete until they have been put into effect during matches. Competition is the only judge.
A point in a match can affect a player for months - A victory is often decided by a small detail, such as a point won or lost, while the difference between victory and defeat is often huge. How many first-round matches won after saving match points have helped a player reach the next level in his game in later rounds? Some players had to be happy with an average career because they came out on the wrong side of a few big turning points.
The first strength of a champion is his ability to win - Contrary to the common idea, champions are not always the most gifted players. Sure, Roger Federer is the best example of the opposite, but we cannot say the same for the past No.1s in both the men's and women's games. Their first ability is to win under any circumstances, playing well or not.
In January, Milos already owned that big serve, those same physical abilities and baseline shots. He was already familiar with the game style he liked the best. But he found a way to win one match and then everything came together: he seemed stronger, more confident and therefore tougher to beat.
He lost this week against a younger player than him, Harrison being born in 1992. For the first time in a while he was in the role of favourite against a player with nothing to lose. Harrison, struggling for several months, has raised his own game match after match; his talent and potential are also shining through now.
Raonic, Harrison, Tomic, Dimitrov, Kuznetsov, Krajinovic: the young guns are on their way now - and it's a pleasure to watch them.
Raonic getting his feet dirty on the clay
Canadian breakthrough player Milos Raonic has begun his clay-court preparation in the spiritual home of the Spanish game, training this week in Barcelona for his start to the European spring season.
The 20-year-old also took a few days off at home to wind down from the best three months of his tennis life, which has lifted him to a 34th ranking.
Raonic won the first Canadian ATP singles title in 16 years when he claimed the San Jose honours in February, but ran out of puff in Miami in the second round after months of intense tennis. Now, he's back and Tweeting about his progress on the red dirt.
"First day of clay court prep, feeling good and recovered, just got the socks a bit dirty," he said, adding that he will travel to Monte Carlo for the first of the clay Masters 1000 event starting in a week.
He also went to training for the Moto GP event in the racing-mad Catalan capital: "Watch the moto gp and learning a lot about it, it must take some serious guts to do what those guys are doing."
But the Raonic emphasis is on his tennis. He will play a full spring schedule in hopes of lifting his tanking the few notches required to assured of a French Open seeding.
Raonic learning as he goes with clay season about to begin
Canadian breakout king Milos Raonic has confessed that he has played only the bare minimum on clay as the No. 35 prepares to make his ATP debut on the surface at the Monte Carlo Masters.
The 20-year-old who won his first senior title in February in San Jose, has been training in Barcelona, where he is due to start at that event at mid-month.
Raonic's clay curriculum is scarce at best, with just seven Futures events and a first-round loss at the French Open juniors in 2008. he got in some valuable experience on the surface in a Davis Cup win last month in Mexico City over the hosts.
With Spanish coach Galo Blanco over seeing his progress, Raonic is ready to hopefully make an impression on what has been an unfamiliar surface.
But he's drawn praise form none other than No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who tips him as a player for the future who is fast moving towards the elite. "That means a lot to me, especially coming from Rafa Nadal," said the Canadian, who began the year at No. 159. "The most important thing now is to keep focused, work hard, stay healthy and progress constantly”.
Raonic has been living since October in the city's Sant Cugat area, where Blanco can keep a watchful eye on his training progress.
The youngster will play a full clay schedule, with entries in five events starting at the weekend in Monte Carlo, followed by Barcelona, Estoril, Madrid and Rome. “It's important to gain experience on clay and it will also help me to improve my game on other surfaces”, he said.
Added Blanco, a former player and clay specialist. "It's all gone very fast in the last couple of months for Milos. But he keeps surprising me - maybe he will do so on clay as well”.
Clay courts could be difficult for Raonic
Before the tennis season started, Milos Raonic and his coach, Galo Blanco, made a bet. They both wrote down what they expected his year-end ranking to be and put the paper in a sealed envelope.
“The plan was to open it at the end of the season and see who was closer,” Blanco said.
Raonic rocketed up the ATP Tour rankings during the first three months of the year, moving from No. 159 to No. 34. He is now No. 35. And during his ascent, which included an appearance in the fourth round at the Australian Open, Raonic let it slip to Blanco that his ranking estimate was No. 49.
Blanco refuses to reveal his guess. He will only say that it was better than 49.
“It is a little bet,” Blanco said in a telephone interview this week from Barcelona where the pair were training. “He will have to pay, don’t worry.”
And while Blanco is hopeful Raonic can continue his solid play, he has only modest goals for the clay-court season, which begins next week in Monaco for the Thornhill, Ont., native. The clay season will culminate in late May at the French Open in Paris, which is the season’s second Grand Slam.
“It will be a challenge,” Blanco said. “I don’t expect him to be like he was at the beginning of the year when he was amazing. I don’t know if he’s going to win a tournament on a clay court, but the experience will help his game.”
Raonic has only played four career ATP matches on clay, winning two. The 20-year-old’s success this season has come during the winter hard-court season, where it is easier for him to win points with his powerful serve. On clay, the serves that whizzed by helpless opponents will start coming back over the net.
During his own 11-year career, Blanco was most successful playing on clay. He is hoping to share some of his wisdom with Raonic.
“We’ve worked a lot on his patience and on working the point and getting his game ready to play one more ball,” Blanco said. “We are practising longer rallies. When you play on clay, you can’t expect to finish the point quickly … You have to expect the ball to come back one more time.”
But that does not mean Raonic is going to allow his opponents to extend points.
“He needs to go to the net more than even on hard courts, because if you play against players like [David] Ferrer or Rafael Nadal, the ball is always going to come back. I’m focused on having him be more aggressive than he is on hard courts, but with more patience.”
Last month, Raonic did win some matches on clay while playing against Mexico in the Davis Cup. Blanco does not think that experience will be helpful because of the difference in altitude between Mexico and the European cities where the upcoming tournaments will be held. Also, Raonic’s opponents in Mexico were not top-tier players.
And although Raonic will be an underdog in many of his clay-court matches this season, there will be an expectation — thanks to his strong start — that he will be able to string together some wins.
“Before he didn’t have pressure to win these matches and now he will start to face that pressure, because now everybody is expecting him to win every match, even when he plays against some top players,” Blanco said.
Raonic is determined not to become an afterthought during this part of the schedule.
“I want to get a lot better on it and be successful on it. If I want to achieve the goals I want I’ll have to continue improving on it,” Raonic told reporters during a news conference in Toronto last week.
“It’s going to take work, but the thing is with me work has never been an issue. It has never been an issue of putting in hours. I’ve never complained about it. I’ve just kept quiet and done it, because I know my team wants what’s best for me.
“I’ll go out there and fight for every point and we’ll see what happens.”
18.04.2011
Najwyższa pozycja w karierze: 28
Raonic again struggling to stay calm
Milos Raonic will spend time working to again tame his volatile temper after the Canadian admitted that he let his emotions get out of control in a third-round loss at the Barcelona Open.
The success story of 2011 who now stands a solid 28th on the ATP went down on the Spanish clay to calm Croatian Ivan Dodig 7-6, 4-6, 6-3.
Raonic is coached by Spain's Galo Blanco, who has had to work before on helping his charge stay calm in times of tension. Raonic had done well in recent months, but confessed that he suffered a "relapse" during his late-night loss.
"I let things get to me instead of looking for a way to win. I was not at all happy with my game and it showed — I was frustrated. "I wish I could have done better but I had a bad attitude," he said.
Team Raonic now head to Estoril for the next clay stop in the run-up to the French Open, which starts in a month. And the 20-year-old Canadian says he wants to prevent a repeat of what let him down in the struggle with No. 56 Dodig,a winner - like Raonic - of a first career title this season.
"He was getting to a lot of balls and staying calm as well. I have to stay level-headed and work on trying to win. It was little things in my game letting me down and I let them bother me," said Raonic. "I need to step back and not get angry, try to see the big picture in a match,"
25.04.2011
Najwyższa pozycja w karierze: 27
ESTORIL OPEN 2011
RAONIC TRAVELS TO HISTORIC SINTRA
Canadian Milos Raonic took time out from the Estoril Open on Wednesday to visit the historic town of Sintra, where Portuguese favourite Frederico Gil resides.
"It was really amazing, I got to do some awesome things," said Raonic. "It was a lot of fun. I got to see the culture, it was amazing to see how the town was thriving."
Raonic met with Dr Fernando Seara, the Mayor of Sintra, took a tour of the market square and visited the famous Piriquita bakery, where their pastry specialities include Travesseiros and Queijadas.
Sintra was designated a World Heritage Site on account of its architecture in 1995 and has since become a popular tourist destination.
Day-trippers from nearby Lisbon visit the 19th century Pena Palace, the ninth century Castelo dos Mouros and the summer residence of the Kings of Portugal.
Raonic is scheduled to play Portuguese wild card Joao Sousa in the second round on Thursday.
2.05.2011
Najwyższa pozycja w karierze: 25
The miraculous mystery of Milos Raonic
Ranked at number 159 in the 2011 ATP Rankings, Milos Raonic had a task ahead of him which he hit head on. With hard efforts put in with cheer talent and sportsmanship, the Canadian born youngster had jumped more than hundred places in the ranking ladder in the matter of months.
Raonic’s quest for improvement started at the time when his determined coach Galo Blanco directed him towards the right path. Raonic never attached himself emotionally to anything else but tennis and Blanco took full advantage of it. He said that to lose was one thing. But to show such disrespect – not just for himself, not just to the game, but to Blanco as well – was unacceptable. His words were, 'If you don’t shape up I won’t bother coming to San Jose with you.'
Raonic then braced himself to work on his weaknesses and harness his strengths to withstand the best players of men’s tennis. Soon he found himself reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open as he lost to Spain’s second best, David Ferrer. He then sealed his first ATP World Tour title in San Jose after defeating Fernando Verdasco and reaching the Memphis final only to lose a nail-biting final to American Andy Roddick. The youngster soon rocketed up to a career-high World number 37.
Raonic has developed a cannon first serve with which he can snatch a bundle of free points in any match. Moreover the tall Canadian can slash massive forehands from the back of court making recovery almost impossible in between any rally. His style of play has been winning him a lot of matches. Coach Blanco analyzes him as one unique talent that must be further nurtured.
“I do think he can win a big title, such as a Masters 1000 or a Grand Slam. However, I don’t like to set goals on this scale. I think we have to keep our feet on the ground and remember that two months ago he was World No. 150; when I started working with him he was No. 230 in the rankings. Time has shown us that with hard work, anything is possible.”
Blanco’s work with Raonic started in October 2010 and the Canadian soon made the decision to relocate to Barcelona and surround himself with Toni Estalella as a physical trainer and Dr. Angel Ruiz Cotorro as his doctor. “A change that took him a giant step forwards,” affirmed Blanco.
Blanco further added that Raonic always had the big serve in him but was unable to the come up with the right shots at the right time. Under his watchful eyes, Raonic has changed into one aggressive stroke machine with pin point precision. His timely forehands and tactical volleys have made him one lethal player on tour.
Raonic’s ranking has improved to 27 inspite of his early loss to Ivan Dodig at Barcelona. The Canadian’s performance on clay is still a mystery, but by the looks of this Missile’s performance on court he will always be cautiously tackled by the best of the game.
Raonic is all set to play the whole year and will try his best to get his place among the top ten at the end of 2011. With his determination and Blanco’s belief, this target seems very much within the grasp for the Big boy from Canada.
Milos Raonić po nieco ponad 30 rozegranych meczach ma lepszy procent zwycięstw niż najwięksi współczesnego tenisa, jeżeli chodzi o pierwsze pełne sezony w ATP Tour.
1. Milos Raonic - 2011, 23-9, 71.9%
2. Novak Djokovic - 2006, 40-18, 69.0
3. Rafael Nadal - 2004, 30-17, 63.8
4. Andy Murray - 2006, 40-25, 61.5
5. Roger Federer - 1999, 13-17, 43.3
Raonic Commits To Atlanta Tennis Championships
Milos Raonic will start his first
full Olympus US Open Series
in Atlanta.
Milos Raonic, the youngest player in the Top 30 of the world rankings at No. 26, has committed to play the Atlanta Tennis Championships, an ATP World Tour event that will open the Olympus US Open Series at the Racquet Club of the South July 18-24, Tournament Director Bob Bryant announced.
The 20-year-old Canadian exploded onto the scene this year by coming through qualifying to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open. He followed that performance up with his first Tour title at San Jose, becoming the first man from his country to win an ATP title in 16 years. The following week he reached the final at Memphis, falling to American Andy Roddick in three sets. This year alone he has defeated defending ATC champion and World No. 11 Mardy Fish and World No. 17 Fernando Verdasco twice, and World No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny once. His fantastic play has taken him from a ranking of No. 156 at the beginning of the year to a current ranking of World No. 26. His blistering serve regularly tops 140 miles per hour and he leads the tour with 433 aces this year.
“This will be my first time playing in Atlanta and I welcome the chance to play before the many enthusiastic tennis fans in Georgia,” Raonic said.
Bryant said, “It is rare that a talent bursts upon the scene as quickly as Milos has. He’s jumped more than 120 ranking spots in less than four months. That’s such an incredible feat on the challenging and demanding ATP World Tour. We look forward to Milos being a top player in a very competitive field.”
The tournament, in its second year, will be played at the Racquet Club of the South July 18-24.
Other players committed to play in the tournament are Fish, who reached the Top 10 for the first time last month; former All-American at the University of Georgia John Isner, who is best known for winning the longest tennis match ever at last year’s Wimbledon; and American Sam Querrey, currently No. 25 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings. These three Americans have 12 ATP World Tour singles titles between them.
In addition, weeklong ticket packages, which include tickets to all 11 sessions of the Atlanta Tennis Championships, are now on sale. Packages include Champion Courtside seats, which are the only packages that offer tickets located in the front row of the stadium. Along with their unparalleled proximity to the court, Champion Courtside seat holders gain exclusive access to the private indoor, air-conditioned Champion’s Club. Additionally, each ticket holder will receive a tournament program, along with recognition in the program. Individual session tickets will be available for Champion Courtside, Platinum and Gold seats, along with Reserved Stadium seats on June 1.
For more information about the event, please go to the official Atlanta Tennis Championships website here.
Milos znalazł się na okładce magazynu "Toronto Life".
Twitter Milosa:
http://twitter.com/#!/milosraonic
Part 1: Milos Raonic... A tennis star at 243 km/h
Making the difficult choice to pack up three children and leave beautiful Montenegro behind 17 years ago became the first of many family decisions to shape the path for rising tennis star Milos Raonic.
Today Raonic, 20, of Thornhill, Ont., is the sport’s fastest rising star, having climbed the world rankings from No. 303 one year ago to No. 26 today, as he prepares for the French Open next weekend. Raonic spent last winter training intensely at an academy in Barcelona, and announced his presence at the Australian Open in January by reaching the fourth round and inducing a tweet from John McEnroe: “He’s the real deal.” Moving on to the SAP Open, Raonic used a 240 km/h serve to become the first Canadian since Greg Rusedski in 1995 to win an ATP singles tournament, defeating top-seeded Fernando Verdasco in the final.
hallenge for us, we needed to go to Canada.”
They had a few friends in the Toronto area, but no family. They settled as independent immigrants in Brampton, Ont., when they first arrived.
Fluent in English, both engineers quickly found jobs, Mr. Raonic in research at the University of Waterloo, driving 70 kilometres west to Cambridge;, Mrs. Raonic at a bank in Scarborough, trekking 50 kilometres east. Jelena, 12, and Momir, 10, took naturally to helping care for three-year-old Milos, who spoke only Serbian, but was learning quickly.
“Our kids often tell us today, ‘You guys did a great job,’ because it was a big challenge to go overseas with three small kids,” Mrs. Raonic said. “They had everything there. We had to start with simple things. But we are so lucky, it all worked out so well.”
Tennis takes over
At 8, Milos began at the Blackmore Tennis Club in Richmond Hill, hitting away using a ball machine with his dad in the wee hours of the morning and late in the evenings when the court fees were cheaper and the club was quiet.
“I grew up loving it; it was just as much a love as it was an obsession,” said Raonic, whose family eventually moved to Thornhill, Ont. “It’s the only thing I wanted to do.”
By the time he was 10, the talented young player was so serious about the sport, it took a total family effort to accommodate his daily tennis routine: 5:30 a.m. wake-up, get to the club by 6:15; train until school started, then get a ride to school; pickup at 1:30 (eat lunch in the car since Milos took class through lunch period); train until 5:30; another pick-up.
His older siblings made as many trips to the club as their parents did. By the time he was a junior travelling to tournaments, his sister pitched in on some of the trips “That was my chance to spend time with him, he’s my baby brother,” his older sister said. “We’re really close.”
The Raonics allowed their tennis-crazed teen to enhance his course load and finish high school in three years so he could leave home to train full-time at the National Tennis Centre in Montreal. Fast-tracking involved Milos taking senior-level calculus at age 15. Mrs. Raonic remembers a parent-teacher meeting when the math teacher’s jaw dropped on learning that the excelling student wasn’t 18 like most of his classmates.
In Montreal, Raonic trained with coaches such as former ATP pro Frederic Niemeyer. There, the young player was billeted with the French-Canadian Chagnon-Lecours family for three years, sharing laughs with them during dinner or while rallying at the ping-pong table, often confiding in them about his tennis aspirations.
“We was shy at first, but we became very close. He was like an older brother to my son, but Milos still called home to his parents every night,” Isabelle Lecours said. “Milos loves to be around family, to consult with family. It anchors him.”
Raonic needed the ear of family more than ever when U.S. colleges such as the University of Michigan, Princeton and Northwestern offered him tennis scholarships. He chose to sign with the University of Virginia, hoping to study finance. Raonic got just shy of 2000 on his SAT, a number that typically puts a student near the top-10 percentile of scores. But two weeks before school was to start, he had a change of heart.
“He asked us, are you okay if I go to play professional tennis, and we said yes,” said Mr. Raonic, who holds a doctorate and works in nuclear engineering. He has always stressed academics while letting the tennis experts guide his son on the sport. “It was very tough. He took almost one week to decide and went pro.”
Raonic had determined after conversations with his parents and Tennis Canada that if he could crack the world’s top 100, he needed to try. His parents saw the potential, and he promised them he would take university finance courses online.
“Nowadays,” said University of Virginia men’s tennis coach Brian Boland, who recruited Raonic, “the average age of players on the ATP Tour is 26.2 years old, so in 15 years of recruiting players at the highest level in college tennis, I have only seen two guys turn down scholarships and then succeed quickly on the Tour: Sam Querrey [currently No. 19] and Milos Raonic.
“It’s a credit to him and to his parents. He took a big risk and it worked out, and I’m so happy for him. He’s the kind of guy that would have made it no matter what route he took. The Raonics are very intelligent people.”
Support on the road
It’s a rare stop on the ATP Tour when one of the Raonics isn’t there, quietly watching the matches and the hours of training, soaking up all there is to learn about the Tour, being there for conversations over dinner or a stroll around the city.
Having finished university in Canada, Raonic’s brother works in Montenegro now, as does his sister, who has twin babies, David and Ema. They are close by for a trip when Raonic is playing in Europe.
“My family is willing to do anything for me, so it’s very relaxed,” said Raonic, laughing that his family members adhere to his superstitions while staying with him at the players’ hotel. “They understand how busy I am and they never push for much. It’s nice to have someone there, someone you can trust so closely.”
In jest, Mr. Raonic calls his son “The Tennis Project” because this journey has been no one-man endeavour. Even when the Raonics are at home in Canada, they say the familiar sound of an incoming Skype call beckons them to their laptop each day for a chat with their son.
But there were more decisions to be made in order to help Raonic get to where he is today. To excel as a pro, Raonic needed bigger challenges than he was getting in Montreal. That was the start of another chapter for the budding tennis star.
Part 2: Milos Raonic thrives under a Spanish sun
Nestled among lush trees and set off beautiful rust-coloured cobblestone paths in the Barcelona suburb of St. Cugat del Vallès, Milos Raonic refined his tennis game last winter at a small academy in a tranquil setting, the kind place where a player can really work.
Many languages can be heard during a stroll around 4Slam Tennis academy, as a few exceptional teens from different parts of the world work meticulously on their skills. It's simple, but the opportunities have been vast: four clay courts, two hard courts, a clubhouse and a swimming pool with a gym and a modern student residence building a few minutes away by car.
From 17 on, Raonic trained in Montreal at Canada's National Training Centre, but to excel as a pro, he and his parents discussed the next step with Tennis Canada in the fall of 2010. They considered working with former American player Todd Martin or perhaps with Argentine coaches. They ultimately chose to work with former Spanish ATP pro Galo Blanco at the academy he runs with other ex Spanish pros.
The hard-working months in Spain in late 2010 elevated Raonic's game to another level, gave the now 20-year-old rising player new maturity, exposed him to the working habits of Spanish players, and kick-started his remarkable rise up the ATP world rankings.
“Once he met Galo and visited Spain, it was a good fit for him. It felt right away like family, and that's what he likes the most,” says his father, Dusan Raonic. “All of these top Spanish players accept him like family.”
Raonic settles in on a white leather sofa to do an interview in the private club lounge at the Real Club de Tennis Barcelona during a recent return to the city for a training day ahead of the Barcelona Open. His dark curls are still damp after showering off his morning practice. He's relaxed and conversational, but his day's work is far from over.
He feels at home in Barcelona, he says, listing off the many things he loves to soak in, like Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, along with the city's frenzied passion for FC Barcelona. He has an afternoon practice ahead and a fitness session too, not unlike the days he spent in Spain in the off-season, training, as his coach has often said, as hard as he's ever seen.
“What I love about it is the atmosphere and how competitive it is,” Raonic says. “I don't think in one place you'll find as many top players anywhere . Everybody here wants to be the best. It's a great atmosphere to be in and to improve in.”
PUTTING IN THE WORK
Blanco, the gregarious Spaniard, passes through the clay practice courts of the Barcelona Open, rarely passing a person he doesn't know on his way to an open fitness court where many players are working with trainers on a warm afternoon.
Trainer Toni Estalella is taking Raonic through footwork drills, speaking French, sharpening the Canadian's interest in languages. Raonic's size 14 Nikes travel in a flurry, on and off an aerobic step, shuttling around cones, hot-stepping through an agility ladder and racing from one sideline to the other, racquet in hand, as if lunging to make returns.
It's a small example of the kind of total-body physical work done last winter.
“The Milos explosion happened after very hard work,” Estalella says, noting that the 6-foot-5, 198-pound Canadian under his tutelage is built a little like basketball player Pau Gasol. “He has improved his mobility a lot and his athletic capacity. We're very happy and proud of his results.”
Proud yes, but satisfied, never, Blanco says. When he gets Raonic on court for a practice, he watches carefully to see where his player will go with the ball, even getting down to examine the marks left by the ball on the clay, studying Raonic's improving shot placement.
“When I first met him, he was hitting the ball good, but he didn't know how to play,” Blanco says. “Hitting it good is not enough. Now he knows how to play.”
Blanco stands off the edge of the clay court, peering through sunglasses, as Raonic plays a shot at the net and struggles to get back in position. His practice partner that day, Argentina's Juan Monaco, lobs it back, high over Raonic's head and beyond his reach. The Canadian loses the point, then swings his racquet in frustration.
“Why do you get upset at this point?” Blanco asks calmly.
“I feel like I've been beat on a lob a thousand times this year,” Raonic says, shaking it off and readying to receive the next serve.
“You have to accept,” Blanco says. “Don't get upset.”
Blanco presses Raonic to “play angry,” but that is not to be confused with losing composure. The Canadian could be combustible in his junior years, and balancing emotions has been one of their biggest triumphs together.
“The improvement of Milos in Spain has a lot of do with his growing maturity there,” says Louis Borfiga, vice-president of high performance athlete development at Tennis Canada, which orchestrated Raonic's move to Spain and is footing the training bill. “Galo has helped him a lot with footwork, with tactics and has improved his game technically.”
There were many more improvements made to Raonic's game, even to that thundering serve, the one that has always been his calling card and even impressed hard-serving American Andy Roddick during their February ATP final in Memphis. Putting it out of reach of the best returners in the game and learning the Spanish secrets of the tricky clay surface are still others Blanco would teach.
Milos Raonic takes time to enjoy ride
When Milos Raonic arrived to play at the Monte Carlo Country Club for the first time last month, his coach Galo Blanco urged the rising Canadian tennis star to climb to the top of the seats at the majestic venue and soak in the view of the pristine clay centre court that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
Blanco, a former pro from Spain who retired in 2006, remembers what it’s like to be a player, training, competing, globe-trotting for months on end, and once in a while, taking pause to drink in the stunning views along the way.
“This was probably the most spectacular thing, just knowing where I was, absorbing, understanding I’m actually here playing,” Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., recounted.
It was a small bit of advice that Raonic remembers and yet another sign that Blanco really understands the 20-year-old player. They have only been working together since last November, including a productive off-season in Spain, but they have engineered a rapid rise up the world rankings in Raonic’s first year of continuous play on the full ATP World Tour.
“On the court, I’m very tough with him, and I’m his coach. But when we’re finished on the court, I’m his friend, and I listen to him,” said 34-year-old Blanco, recalling a golfing outing the two shared during their travels to Indian Wells, Calif., and a safari visit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“You’re travelling, it’s just you and your coach, your family is not there, your girlfriend is not there, and you’re far away from home. I don’t think this is the case with many players and coaches, but for us, being friends works.”
Ranked No. 28 in the world, the 6-foot-5 Raonic has already bypassed Blanco’s career-best No. 40. As a player, 5-foot-8 Blanco had a 122-175 career record but had victories over players such as Tim Henman, and Raonic’s idol, Pete Sampras. He reached the quarter-finals of the 1997 French Open but today regrets the feelings of satisfaction that ultimately limited his playing career, a lesson he passes on to Raonic.
“That was one of my biggest problems as a player – I always had goals and I always reached the goals and then I relaxed,” said Blanco, who repeatedly tells Raonic to be better today than he was yesterday. “After you improve a lot on the ranking like Milos has done in three months, it’s easy to say, ‘I’m done, what I’m doing is fantastic and I don’t need to work any more.’”
At a recent practice session in Barcelona, the Canadian’s white shoes were caked in red powder as he slid from side to side across the court, chasing down balls under Blanco’s watchful eye. Raonic is new to clay, his only real experience being a few weeks on it during the Futures Tour two years ago. He’s learning that a gorgeous forehand that finishes a point on the hard court doesn’t do the same trick on the red stuff. One more ball is likely coming back. Luckily, this is Blanco’s favourite surface.
“He has taught me a lot from his experience as a player on tour and made the transition for me a lot easier, especially here on clay, there is a lot he can teach me,” Raonic said after the practice. “He can pinpoint things I don’t even see. On the clay, there’s still so much information I need to absorb.”
While the rest of the tennis-loving world might dote on Raonic’s speedy serves, Blanco does anything but, standing close in practice to eyeball the ball’s path as the Canadian lines up and rifles them across the net repeatedly. Blanco doesn’t care what speeds Raonic registers on his shots. He reminds Raonic that a serve down the line at 210 kilometres an hour is better than a bullet at 250 km/h down the middle of the court.
“The problem was before he was serving only hard – boom, boom, boom, only bombs,” Blanco said. “Now he knows how to mix the serves. Now he’s playing unbelievable returners like [David] Ferrer, so this is the more important thing.”
When the season is over, the two will open an envelope they sealed during a friendly bet last January containing their predictions for Raonic’s ranking at the end of the season. The loser will treat everyone, including coaches and family, to an expensive dinner in the country of the winner’s choice. It will be a celebration no matter who pays.
“He really cares. It’s not just professional, and it isn’t just a paycheque for him – it’s important to him, and he knows it’s important to have someone to turn to, to talk to,” Raonic said about the coach with whom he’s been working since November. “We enjoy going places and spending time together. It has to be fun to be on tour because it’s not easy to be on the road that many weeks.”
Raonic bound for Dubai
‘It will be a new experience'
Raonic, perhaps one of the hottest names in men's tennis, may play in next February's Dubai Tennis Championships.
"I have heard tremendous things about Dubai ... I am sure it will be a completely new experience for me to come and see such good things in Dubai," Milos Raonic told Gulf News from Canada.
Milos Raonic aims for grand slam glory with French Open
Canada’s Milos Raonic is creating waves in the tennis world. The 20-year-old player has eased from No. 156 at the start of the year to his current status of No. 28. He hopes to do well at his first appearance at a Grand Slam.
Dubai: Young Canadian tennis sensation Milos Raonic has promised to commence the pursuit of his dreams of winning grand slams starting with this week's French Open in Paris.
"Everything has come so quickly for me, but that won't stop me from pushing towards what I want to achieve in my career. I want more and more of success, especially in the grand slams and the big tournaments. I've always had dreams of winning Grand Slams and the big ones. Perhaps, I can control all the preparations for a tournament of this stature, but I cannot control the results that will follow," Raonic told Gulf News during an international teleconference from Canada yesterday.
With a serve that tops more than 200 km/h, everyone in the tennis world has been talking about Canada's 20-year-old player who made his way up the South African Airways ATP Rankings as he eased from No. 156 at the start of this year to his current No. 28. In only his eighth ATP World Tour main draw appearance at the start of this year, Raonic claimed his first ATP World Tour singles at the SAP Open in San Jose and then followed this by ending runner-up at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis.
"Going to Roland Garros is more trying to enjoy it and soak up the experience of being at a Grand Slam for the first time and that too being seeded," Raonic said.
"The most spectacular thing about Roland Garros is that it is a grand slam and it has to be treated with respect as these are the tournaments that you have to play your best tennis, and that is what I am looking forward towards," he added.
Raonic is considered a citizen of the new tennis world order: Born in Montenegro he moved to Canada when he was three due to the war in the Balkans, he then got an American education while choosing Spain as his destination to refine his tennis skills.
He first picked up a tennis racquet while attending a summer camp at the Blackmore Tennis Club in Richmond Hill, Ontario when he was eight years old. It was love at first sight and the rest is history that Raonic threatens to re-write.
Milos dostapił ostatnio sporego zaszczytu. Podczas RG trenował z Nadalem, a podczas Wimbledonu odbijał z Federerem. ;)
Cytat z twittera:
"At RG I got to practice with the King of Clay, and here at Wimby today I got a hit in with the King of Grass. Pretty awesome!!! "
Po przeczytaniu tego twitta nasunęła mi się myśl: 2 razy z Nadalem odbijał? :P
Dobre! :D Chociaż Władca to niekoniecznie Król. :P
Milos Raonic readies for Wimbledon
The 20-year-old tennis player is now ranked 28, the highest ever for a Canadian man
If an ace is the trump card of tennis, then 20-year-old Milos Raonic is playing with a loaded deck. Only six months into the season, the Canadian with the 140 mph serve leads the ATP with 445 aces. (His closest competition, Ivo Karlovic, has 379.) So it's little wonder that Raonic has won 78 percent of points on his first serve -- a rate not even Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic can claim -- and saved 66 percent of break points against him.
Last year at this time, Raonic was perched at No. 295 in the world. Now, heading into Wimbledon, he's sitting pretty at No. 28, the highest ranking ever for a Canadian man. Credit a focus that's as sharp as his serves. Coming into this season, he says, "my goal was to be in the top 50 by the end of the year." That pursuit started immediately in January, at the Australian Open, where the 6'5", 198-pound Raonic, ranked No. 152 entering the event as a qualifier, made a surprise visit to the round of 16, losing in four sets to Top 10 player David Ferrer. "It was an eye-opening moment to be in the fourth round of a Grand Slam," Raonic says. "That's when I started believing."
Three weeks later, in San Jose, he rolled through the field, then defeated top seed Fernando Verdasco (No. 9 at the time) for his first ATP title. It was almost the same story in Memphis the next week: Raonic lost a close, tiebreak-filled final to top seed Andy Roddick. "He uses that serve to keep him in matches, even if he's not playing his best," says Roddick, who often overwhelms his opponents with aces. "He's pretty much guaranteed 85 percent of his holds, and that's huge. It lets you learn on the job."
Raonic developed his lethal serve while growing up in Ontario. His parents settled there in 1994 after fleeing the war-torn former Yugoslavia. "There weren't a lot of kids to train with," Milos says. "When I was alone, I spent my time serving." These days, he's concentrating on rounding out his game. "I move okay for a big guy, but I'm not fast like Federer or Nadal," he says. "Better footwork would help. So would a less predictable forehand."
Those faults became evident this spring on the clay courts; the slower, stickier surface made Raonic's cannon serve far less effective. He lost in the first round of his three most recent clay court tournaments, including a disappointing debut at the French Open. But his luck should turn at Wimbledon, where the grass is better suited to his game.
Even if players know he has an ace in the hole, they still have to go all in.
Dzisiejszy krecz Raonić skomentował na Facebooku jednym słowem. Czteroliterowym na "f" ;)
Milos ma nadzieję, że badania nie wykażą czegoś bardzo poważnego. Kanadyjczyk z optymizmem zapatruje się na powrót do zdrowia.
Raonic awaits injury outcome after Wimbledon slip-up
Raonic awaits injury outcome after Wimbledon slip-up Hard-luck Canadian Milos Raonic will find out the status of his hardcourt tennis summer after a scan of the injury he suffered as he slipped and was unable to continue in his Wimbledon second-round match.
The big-server went down on slick grass, injuring his leg after 23 minutes on court against Gilles Muller. He was taken to hospital for a scan. "It's OK, it happens," said the 20-year-old. "I just hope it's nothing too serious.
"It could be just a minor bruising that could get better in a few days. Or it could be something more serious. But it's something pretty deep in the hip."
Raonic sat disgustedly on the court after his fall awaiting the trainer, who took him to the sidelines for a taping. after a few minutes on court, the No. 25 knew he could not go on.
"I didn't think I could even lift my leg, it was a pretty sharp pain. But as time passed, with the treatment, I was able to walk a bit. After the first serve, I could tell it was too much, at least too much for me."
A health update from Milos Raonic
Montreal, June 23, 2011 – The status of Milos Raonic’s (Thornhill, ON) health has been on the minds of many over the past 24 hours who have been waiting impatiently for news. It appears that while it is too early to deternine a possible return date, the first update is a positive one.
“It was an unfortunate situation in yesterday’s match, but looking forward to returning to Wimbledon in 2012,” Raonic said this morning. “I have since been working with the doctors, and I strained some ligaments around my hip and doing some more tests just as a precautionary measure. I am hopeful that I will be back practicing in the very near future and looking forward to Davis Cup”.
During his second round match yesterday at Wimbledon, Raonic slipped on the grass and took a nasty fall. He remained sitting on the court for a few minutes, grimacing in pain. He received treatment from the trainer who wrapped his right leg, but he was forced to retire from the match two games later. Raonic immediately made his way to the hospital to be examined by doctors.
Raonic hopes to bounce back from hip strain
Canadian Milos Raonic is already planning his return to Wimbledon in a year after being diagnosed with strained ligament after a fall on court which left him unable to complete his second-round match.
"It was an unfortunate situation in yesterday's match, but I'm looking forward to returning to Wimbledon in 2012," said the 20-year-old from Thornhill, Ont.
The mishap occurred after the 25th-ranked Raonic had broken Luxembourg's Gilles Muller for a 2-1 lead in the first set. The Canadian slid on the grass and went down awkwardly, ending his effort in pain after just 23 minutes.
Raonic went for scans at a local hospital. "I strained some ligaments around my hip and we're doing some more tests just as a precautionary measure," he said. "I'm hopeful that I will be back practising in the very near future and looking forward to Davis Cup".
Canada are to face Ecuador in an Davis Cup American Zone second-round tie July 8-10 in Guayaquil. Raonic would have played Rafael Nnadal in a third-round showcase match had he defeated Muller.
Milos nie zagra w meczu PD z Ekwadorem. Kanadyjski tenisista wciąż znajduje się pod troskliwą opieką lekarzy. Kolejny start: prawdopodobnie Atlanta.
Raonic hip slow to heal as hardcourt season approaches
Raonic hip slow to heal as hardcourt season approaches Milos Raonic has yet to fully recover from the hip injury which forced him to quit his Wimbledon second round match on June 22, with the national No. 1 now set to miss next week's Canadian Davis Cup zonal tie in Ecuador.
Raonic slipped on slick Wimbledon grass and fell on his hip against Gilles Muller. Though initial reports on his condition were optimistic, with the player travelling to his Barcelona base for treatment, healing has not been swift.
Canadian coaches had been playing up the story that their big man would play in hope of intimidating the opposition. But the mind games were over once Raonic's true state was inevitably revealed by team selection.
Raonic is still under doctor's orders on his hip problem, which he hopes will allow him to begin the North American hardcourt swing in just days. "No decisions have been made with regard to Milos' treatment," said a tennis official.
Raonic is due to begin his pre-US Open run in a fortnight at the Atlanta ATP tournament.
Czytałem, że w najgorszym przypadku wciąż możliwa jest operacja i półroczna przerwa...
robpal napisał:
Czytałem, że w najgorszym przypadku wciąż możliwa jest operacja i półroczna przerwa...
...
A co za tym idzie możliwy koniec kariery na najwyższym poziomie. Boże, tylko nie to. :/
Spoko, spoko. Dzisiaj medycyna jest na takim poziomie, że za miesiąc będzie kicać jak królik Duracell ;)
Złe wieści z "ćwierkacza"...
Raonić ma przejść operację biodra, czeka go co najmniej 6 tygodni pauzy. Niepewny jest występ w USO :/
A wyglądało to na zwykły upadek...
Chłopak ledwo rozpoczął karierę, a już zaczynają się problemy.
Tak, 6 tygodni przerwy. Najbardziej żal występu w Kanadzie, pewnie i on i fani ostrzyli sobie zęby na ten turniej.
Najpierw Berankis, teraz on. Po operacji biodra nie ma co liczyć, że będzie tak jak przed kontuzją.
Serenity napisał:
Po operacji biodra nie ma co liczyć, że będzie tak jak przed kontuzją.
Myślę, że powinien od razu zakończyć karierę... :angel:
Powiem inaczej. Nie osiągnie tego, na co go stać.
Nie róbmy końca kariery z powodu 6 tygodniowej przerwy... :| Zresztą, skąd wiesz, jak bardzo będą ingerowali w to biodro? Nie masz żadnych konkretów na temat jego stanu zdrowia, a już mu wieścisz koniec. Nie ogarniam.
jaccol55 napisał:
Nie róbmy końca kariery z powodu 6 tygodniowej przerwy... :| Zresztą, skąd wiesz, jak bardzo będą ingerowali w to biodro? Nie masz żadnych konkretów na temat jego stanu zdrowia, a już mu wieścisz koniec. Nie ogarniam.
Nie wiem jak bardzo. Wieściłem koniec kariery patrząc na to co działo się z Lleytonem i Nalbandianem. Operacja biodra pozostawia ślad. Może i przesadzam z tym, że to koniec wielkiej kariery. To już czas pokaże.
Tragedia. Pojawia się w 2008 roku młody Del Potro, który przebojem wchodzi do czołówki. W następnym sezonie jest wiodącą postacią roku, później poważna kontuzja, która zachamowała jego karierę. Teraz pojawił się Raonic, który przy dobrym zdrowiu, mógłby zakończyć sezon w Top 15, a kto wie co potem.
Miejmy nadzieję że kontuzję od tej pory będą omijać młodego Kanadyjczyka.
Raonic Undergoes Hip Surgery, Out Six Weeks
Raonic is the highest ranked Canadian in ATP World Tour history.
Canadian No. 1 Milos Raonic is expected to return to the practice courts in six weeks after undergoing hip surgery 5 July in Vail, Colo.
The 20 year old sustained the hip injury during his second-round match against Gilles Muller at Wimbledon and retired from the encounter after playing five games. He subsequently withdrew from Canada’s Davis Cup tie versus Ecuador.
The Thornhill resident has had a breakout season, winning his first title at the SAP Open (d. Verdasco) in San Jose and reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open as a qualifier. Since beginning the season ranked No. 156, Raonic has climbed 120 places, becoming Canada’s highest ranked player in history. He peaked at No. 25 on 2 May after advancing to the semi-finals of the Estoril Open.
Raonic has compiled a 26-13 record in 2011 and has notched nine Top 30 wins, three of which have come against Top 10 players.
