Milos Raonic – Canada Fan Blog an (unofficial) blog about tennis and Canadian player Milos Raonic

30Jun/11Off

…but Milos won’t be heading to Ecuador

Despite being nominated to the team, Milos Raonic will not travel to Ecuador to compete for Canada in the Davis Cup Group I tie.

The announcement was made by Tennis Canada today, and it looks like Peter Polansky will be taking Milos' spot on the team. We were hopeful that Raonic would be well enough to play for Canada next week, but he is still undergoing examinations for the hip injury sustained during his second round match at Wimbledon.

It goes without saying that this is a bummer, but we will still be following the Canadian Davis Cup team as they take on Ecuador for a chance to make the World Group. Ecuador leads 5-1 head-to-head, although we have a good chance of improving that record in July.

It is unclear when we will see Raonic in action again, but hopefully he will be fit for the Rogers Cup in Montreal this August. There will be a lot of eager Canadian tennis fans looking to catch a glimpse of Milos bombing serves on a hard court this summer.

-multi

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28Jun/11Off

Raonic named to Davis Cup team

For the upcoming Group I match with Ecuador, Canada's Davis Cup team will include Daniel Nestor, Vasek Pospisil, Philip Bester, and Milos Raonic.

There was speculation that Raonic might not have been able to play Davis Cup this July due to the injury he suffered in his second round match at Wimbledon last week. That he has been named to the team is obviously great news. What's more, Daniel Nestor will be able to play this round after missing the tiebreaker with Mexico earlier this year. Vasek Pospisil has kept his spot on the team, with Philip Bester rounding out the squad.

Read more about the Davis Cup team here.

-multi

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24Jun/11Off

Milos Raonic Injury Update (good news)

Raonic positive about return to practicing in the "very near future"

Milos has said his injury seems to be "strained ligaments" around his hip and that he is going through further testing in order to be sure there is nothing more complicated or serious that should prevent or delay his return, according to Tennis Canada news release.  He is "looking forward" to the Davis Cup tie with Ecuador, set for 8-10 Jul, and sees a return to practice in the "very near future".

The Canadian Davis Cup team still has some time before they need to submit their team roster for the tie, and we will all be hoping to see Milos on the roster, perhaps even with Nestor in doubles as a preview of our new Canadian Olympic medal hopefuls.  Canada's Davis Cup record with Ecuador is 1-5, we will hope to improve it...

Luckily perhaps, July is not a terrible month to miss if you have to miss one as far as the ATP tour is concered.  Many of the tournaments in July are on the clay, so while it would be great practice it's not surface where we'd expect the best results, and they are all at the 250-point level except for one.

If Milos' injury is even more serious and keeps him out into August it would be very unfortunate for Canadian tennis fans who are hoping to see him in Montréal for the Masters 1000 series Rogers Cup starting on August 8th.  While Milos did play in last year's Roger's Cup, there is no doubt he has earned a lot more fans in Canada since who will be paying much more attention to his fortunes there.  Also in August is another Masters 1000 series tourney in Cincinnati, another part of the US Open series leading up to that Grand Slam starting at the end of the month.

Milos' Wimbledon injury

During his 2nd round match at Wimbledon on Wed, 22 Jun, Milos slipped on the grass and was not able to continue due to the pain and suspected seriousness of his injury.  See video from TSN coverage here.

-wacb

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22Jun/11Off

Canadians Exit Wimbledon

It was a disappointing day for Canadians at Wimbledon. Not only did Milos have to retire because of an injury, but both Rebecca Marino and Stephanie Dubois lost their second round matches today.

Marino was looking good at the start of her match with No.29 seed Roberta Vinci (ITA), taking an early 3-0 lead. But Vinci would fight her way back win the first set in a tiebreak. From there, Marino couldn't clean up the errors in her game and Vinci took the match in straight sets. (Match Stats)

Dubois split sets with No.11 seed Andrea Petkovic (GER), but quickly found herself down 0-5 in the deciding third set. She was able to get one break back, but Petkovic proved to be the stronger player and closed the match out as the light began to fade. (Match Stats)

Fans have been looking forward to the possible matchup between Raonic and Nadal in the third round, but it won't be happening unfortunately. It is not yet clear how serious of an injury Milos sustained during his match today. There is speculation that he may not be able to represent Canada in the 2nd Round of Davis Cup beginning July 8.

-multi

22Jun/11Off

Raonic retires due to injury

Milos Raonic was forced to retire from his match against Gilles Muller (LUX) at Wimbledon today due to an injury sustained after slipping on court.

After going up an early break and serving at 2-1 in the opening set, Raonic took a nasty spill on the grass and didn't bounce back up right away. This was actually the second time Raonic had fallen during the short-lived contest. This one looked like the kind of fall that could end a match, and judging by how long Raonic stayed on the ground that wasn't outside the realm of possibility. It took a few minutes for the trainer to come out and assess Milos before he even tried to stand up. Something appeared to be wrong as Raonic walked gingerly toward his chair. During the medical timeout Raonic appeared to take a pill, most likely a painkiller or anti-inflammatory. He also had his right thigh taped up before heading back on court.

All did not look well. Whenever Raonic didn't hit an ace or an unreturnable serve, he seemed to wince in pain as he chased down the ball. But Milos was able to get the hold despite the injury. It was obvious after Muller's next service game that Milos would not be able to continue. After just 24 minutes of play, Raonic retired at 3-2 in the first set.

Retiring was no doubt the right thing to do to prevent exacerbating the injury. I was surprised Milos was even able to play two games after hitting the ground, since those kinds of slips often result in serious hip/groin and knee injuries. This is the worst possible way to bow out of a tournament, and we all hope Raonic has a speedy recovery.

I'll update this post as more information becomes available.

UPDATE: From what I've been able to gather, Raonic has a hip injury for which he is receiving an MRI at a local hospital.

UPDATE AGAIN: Here is what Raonic has to say about his injury:

"I knew right away. I didn't think I could even lift my leg. It was a pretty sharp pain," Raonic said. "But as time passed, with the treatment, I was able to walk a bit."

Raonic, the 31st seed, saw the trainer again during the break and called it quits while leading the set 3-2. He spent just 23 minutes on court and went to a hospital for an MRI."I don't know anything," Raonic said. "It's too soon for a diagnosis on what it is. But it's something pretty deep in the hip.

"It's around both the inside and outside of the hip. A minor pull on the inside, but on the outside, it's [related to] the joint."

"I haven't had too many injuries, so I can't really tell, I don't know my body that well," Raonic added. "I'm really in the dark. "It could be just a minor bruising that could get better in a few days. Or it could be something more serious."

-multi

21Jun/11Off

Wimbledon Day 2 Recap – Mixed Results for Canadians

"Canada Day" at Wimbledon was held over from Monday due to rainy weather, but the four singles matches involving Canadians went ahead today with mixed results.

First, the bad news: Aleksandra Wozniak lost in straight sets in her first round match to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE), and Ricardo Mello (BRA) came back from two sets to love down to defeat Frank Dancevic this afternoon. Dancevic hit 23 aces during the match, but also racked up twice as many unforced errors. You can try to make sense of the match by checking out the stats here.

Now the good news. Stephanie Dubois, who was entered into the main draw as a Lucky Loser, rolled over her American opponent Irina Flaconi in a convincing straight sets win. You can view the stats here. Dubois served well and was perfect when approaching the net. Rebecca Marino's match was a little closer, but she still put her match with Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (AUT) away in straights. They played a lengthy second set, with Marino saving every break point she faced on her serve. Here are the stats for her match.

So Dubois and Marino are still alive on the Ladies' side, while Milos Raonic is the lone Canadian Gentleman left in the main draw. Raonic vs Muller will be the second match scheduled on Court 3 Wednesday, which is the new show court at Wimbledon this year. Marino is last on Court 17 tomorrow in her second round match with Roberta Vinci (ITA). Finally, Dubois is scheduled to play the No.11 seed Andrea Petkovic (GER) Wednesday evening, but they have not yet been assigned a specific court. They will be squeezed on somewhere when space opens up as the tournament directors are still trying to catch up after Monday's rain delay.

The Raonic and Marino matches will be streamed online here tomorrow: http://watch.tsn.ca/tennis/

-multi

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20Jun/11Off

Raonic through to second round at Wimbledon

Milos Raonic defeated Marc Gicquel (FRA) in straight sets today, 6-3  7-6(3)  6-3. That match took just 96 minutes.

Fabio Fognini pulled out of the main draw before his first round match with Raonic, so Marc Gicquel was awarded a spot in the main draw as a Lucky Loser. But he was a little unlucky to come up against the big serving Canadian, who was on fire throughout most of the match.

EDIT: See video of the match here and a video of what Milos had to say after the match here.

Here are the stats:

The serve wasn't the only aspect of Raonic's game that was working well today. The 25 aces certainly kept Gicquel at bay for most of the match, but the 1st serve points won by Milos was also key. Gicquel had only one chance to break, and it came at a crucial time in the second set. Had Gicquel converted that break point, he would have won the set and changed the entire trajectory of the match. But as is so often the case, Milos hauled out a huge serve to erase the break chance and won the second set tiebreak rather comfortably. Raonic then rode the early break in the third to victory, displaying some sound technique at the net and using the slice to great effect. Milos also didn't hesitate to serve-and-volley, recognizing that winning points on the grass involves more than just coming out on top in the baseline rallies.

Overall, it was a very promising performance by Milos and Wimbledon is taking notice. It was a quick match with few hiccups for Raonic, which will no doubt give him a lot of confidence heading into the second round. We're one step closer to the possible meeting with Nadal in the third round. Raonic will face Gilles Muller (LUX) in the second round, who defeated Tommy Haas (GER) in four sets today. Muller is ranked 98 in the world, and the two have yet to meet at the ATP level.

Hopefully the other Canadians can build on the strong showing from the Missile today.

-multi

20Jun/11Off

TSN to stream Milos Raonic’s first round match online

from TSN.ca

TSN has confirmed that they will be streaming Milos' opening round match versus Fabio Fognini online starting at 7 am Eastern Time (noon in London).  Milos will be up first on Court 14.

Try this link to find the stream: http://watch.tsn.ca/tennis/

There will probably be a number of streams - I remember there were up to 3 at a time during the Aussie Open, so one of the streams to select on the bottom should be of Court 14 tomorrow... bright and early.

There were no specific indications of coverage of the other Canadians, with Wozniak's match followed by Dubois' for the 3rd and 4th match on court 5 (probably starting around 12 noon Eastern) and Marino on court 6 for the 3rd match (probably starting at 1 pm Eastern Time).

-wacb

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20Jun/11Off

Fixed display problem with Headers using Cufón

So I just bought a new computer and I don't normally use Microsoft Windows for various reasons but in testing out the pre-installed Windows 7 for the first time I realized the headers in this website that use Cufón to put nice fonts in place of more jagged ones don't actually display in IE9.  I used the quick fix of telling IE to display the page in the compatibility mode for IE8 for now, because it worked before I downloaded IE9, but will look for a better solution later - it shouldn't be acting this way...  and the Cufón fonts do look much better.  See how much smoother they look in the comparison below?

Without Cufón:

without Cufón

With Cufón:

with Cufón

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19Jun/11Off

Wimbledon Preview

After many rainy days of qualifying at Wimbledon, Canadians Frank Dancevic and Aleksandra Wozniak have earned their places in their respective singles draws. Having lost her final qualifying match, Stephanie Dubois will be entered into the main draw as a lucky loser after the withdrawal of Kim Clijsters.

Dancevic is in the bottom quarter of the draw along with Söderling and Djokovic, and will face Brazilian Ricardo Mello in the first round. Mello leads 1-0 head-to-head, winning their only meeting back in 2007. Wozniak and Dubois are both in the same quarter section of the Ladies' singles draw, and haven't been drawn up against any top seeds in the first round. Wozniak could potentially meet (6) Francesca Schiavone in the second round should Aleksandra win her opening match against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE). Dubois will face American Irina Falconi in her first round match.

More on the Canadian qualifiers here.

Seeded No.31, Milos Raonic's first round opponent will be Fabio Fognini (ITA), a quarter-finalist at the French Open this year.

Raonic and Fognini have yet to meet at the ATP or Grand Slam level. Fognini is primarily a clay court player, so Milos should be able to use his weapons on grass to hit Fognini off the court. Looking ahead in the draw, Raonic would face the winner of Gilles Muller and Tommy Haas if he advances to the second round. More notably is the possible third round match-up with (1) Rafael Nadal, which is a scenario we're all hoping to see play out on the grass. The two have played before, and Nadal had nothing but good things to say about Raonic afterwards.

Rebecca Marino will face Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (AUT) in her first round match at Wimbledon.

Raonic and all the Canadian women will be in action on Monday, and they are all scheduled to play on the outer courts. TSN will have complete coverage of Wimbledon starting at 7AM ET on Monday morning, but since the Canadians aren't playing on any of main show courts I doubt we'll be seeing much of them on TV. Not sure if there will be streaming options for watching specific courts.

Good luck to all five Canadians!

-multi

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