THE MISSILE FINDS ITS MARK
DEUCE 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.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/DEUCE- … aonic.aspx

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.

http://www.tennistalk.com/en/news/20110 … d_in_Halle

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.

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/tennis/patri … icle/1447/

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”.

http://www.tennistalk.com/en/news/20110 … t_to_begin

18.04.2011

NajwyÂższa pozycja w karierze: 28

25.04.2011

NajwyÂższa pozycja w karierze: 27

2.05.2011

NajwyÂższa pozycja w karierze: 25

Milos RaoniÌ po nieco ponad 30 rozegranych meczach ma lepszy procent zwyciêstw ni¿ najwiêksi wspó³czesnego tenisa, je¿eli chodzi o pierwsze pe³ne 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

Milos znalazÂł siĂŞ na okÂładce magazynu "Toronto Life".

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.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/m … 232/page2/