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Art · 01-11-2010 14:55:21

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.

DUN I LOVE · 24-12-2010 16:03:52

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

jaccol55 · 17-01-2011 18:32:57

W dniu dzisiejszym młody Kanadyjczyk, Milos Roanic, osiągnął swoją najlepszą pozycję w rankingu. Zajmuje obecnie 152 lokatę na listach światowych.

DUN I LOVE · 19-01-2011 01:31:22

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.

jaccol55 · 22-01-2011 15:27:54

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.

http://blogs.tennis.com/thewrap/2011/01/new-school.html

Serenity · 22-01-2011 23:30:29

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.

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/new … 37578.html

Serenity · 22-01-2011 23:58:27

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).

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/new … 22541.html

Serenity · 24-01-2011 15:56:55

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.

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/new … 55537.html

wikt · 24-01-2011 20:16:48

Ciekawe czy po AO jeszcze o nim usłyszymy )

Art · 26-01-2011 00:32:24

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.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/F … story.html

DUN I LOVE · 31-01-2011 18:06:48

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!

DUN I LOVE · 07-02-2011 10:33:56

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

Raddcik · 09-02-2011 17:03:18

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

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/09022011/58/ … -jose.html

Raddcik · 14-02-2011 10:32:24

# 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)

Widzu · 14-02-2011 11:38:59

Coś niesamowitego! Jaką ten koleś robi karierę w tym roku:) Czekam na kolejne trofea!

DUN I LOVE · 14-02-2011 16:28:14

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.

Raddcik · 14-02-2011 16:59:04

14.02.2011r.

Najwyższy ranking w karierze Milosa.

Joao · 14-02-2011 17:53:32

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

http://www.sportowefakty.pl/tenis/2011/ … e-w-tenis/

DUN I LOVE · 14-02-2011 20:32:01

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.

Raddcik · 14-02-2011 20:44:48

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.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis … aonic.aspx

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