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

Davis Cup vs. Spain this weekend in Vancouver followed by San Jose 250

SAP Open, San Jose, California

Milos is top-seed as well as defending champion here for 2013, the last SAP Open for San Jose, as the event will move (effectively) to Rio de Janeiro for 2014. Second seed is John Isner; Sam Querrey and Tommy Haas top the other two quarters, with remaining seeds Alexandr Dolgopolov, Fernando Verdasco, Kevin Anderson and Mardy Fish to spice things up.

But before that, as Daniel reported:

Davis Cup Tie: 1 - 3 Feb, Vancouver, British Columbia

Milos is scheduled to play Davis Cup in Vancouver the coming weekend against Spain before travelling to San Jose.

Guess what: Spains Top 3 Players are OUT: Nadal & Ferrer weren’t scheduled to play and Almagro is suffering from the Injury he sustained in the Quarters of the AO against Ferrer.

So the Spanish Team now consists of Marcel Granollers, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (who will replace Almagro), Marc Lopez and Albert Ramos.

If Milos can win his two Singles Rubbers Canada could beat Spain. The Doubles Rubber is a little bit dicey as Spain has the reigning ATP World Tour Finals Champs & AO Semifinalists Granollers/Lopez in their Squad.

Canada will play with Milos, Vasek Pospisil, Daniel Nestor and Frank Dancevic.

Milos Raonic. Roger Federer. Fourth time’s a charm??

How to Watch, Listen, or just Keep Track

Roger Federer impressively defeats Milos Raonic, 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-2.

How to Watch, Listen, or just Keep Track

The match will probably start around 5 AM Eastern (2 AM Pacific Time, 6:30 AM in Newfoundland) on Monday morning, January 21st.  This is going to be tricky for many who will need to keep track on the bus on the way to work, on the drive to work, at work, etc.  Or... maybe we'll all just call in sick in the morning.

Watch on TV

TSN: You can watch it on TV, in HD, in Canada on TSN.  Broadcast Schedule: http://www.tsn.ca/tennis/feature/?id=11098

Watch on the Internet

You can watch on AustralianOpen.com in many places.  Canada isn't one of those places.  Asia (except Japan), South America, the Middle East, and Africa are those places!  Click here for that: http://ow.ly/gY2TP

In the US there's some sort of thing going on with ESPN3, and they have weird things like allowing you to watch only if your ISP pays ESPN a certain amount or something...  but you can check that out here too: http://ow.ly/gY2TP

If you're in Canada: If you're in some place where someone has bought the rights to the internet streaming but chooses not to show it over the internet (Yay Canada and our telecomm monopolies!!!) you will just have to search for live streaming tennis on your favourite search engine and see what you come up with.

Watch on Mobile Devices

TSN (really Bell Canada) has this terrible MobileTV idea where they charge you extra to add a mobile TV app to your mobile phone or tablet, charge you exorbitant prices for data over the wireless data network, and usage blocks in hours for "MobileTV"...  I don't support restriction of content by those that own the content, the transmission infrastructure, the user-end devices, and the data services - but if it's your only option, click here: http://www.tsn.ca/mobiletv/

Listen on the Internet on your Desktop, Laptop, Phone, or Tablet

You can listen to AO Radio (official live audio stream from AustralianOpen.com) anywhere.  On a regular computer / browser, just go to this link and press "Launch AO Radio" (you need Adobe Flash capability): http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/interactive/radio/index.html

The official mobile website and mobile apps for Australian Open will allow you to listen to AO Radio. Click here for more info on all of them: http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/interactive/mobile/index.html

-- For the mobile website (best option for all mobile users, there's a link to AO Radio at the bottom): m.australianopen.com

-- For the iPhone app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/australian-open-tennis-championships/id345137837?mt=8

-- For the Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ibm.events.android.ausopen

If you don't have flash player, try streaming this (you'll need to play it as it downloads, so click "open" on your blackberry instead of "download" or "save"): http://ibm-ausopen-radio.akacast.akamaistream.net/7/316/32049/v1/auth.akacast.akamaistream.net/ibm-ausopen-radio.mp3

Remember, if you're listening to AO Radio, use headphones so you don't disturb those around you who are trying to work.

Track Scores

Desktop: The least interactive option may be your only option.  You open this in a tab of your desktop browser at work or at home, and it will update with live scoring (and if you click on SlamTracker, you get some more info that auto-updates as the match goes on, very cool even as a companion to watching the match): http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/index.html

Android and iPhone: Use the mobile apps to track scores if you have an iPhone or Android:

-- For the iPhone app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/australian-open-tennis-championships/id345137837?mt=8

-- For the Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ibm.events.android.ausopen

Other Mobile Devices: Also, on mobile browsers, you can get live scores here from the website (you will need to refresh or reload the page every time you check the score): http://www.australianopen.com/mobile/en_AU/scores/index.html

That's it!  If you have any other ways to keep up with the action, post a comment and I'll add it.

Schedule and TV Update

Federer v. Raonic will be the second match at the Rod Laver Arena night session on Monday, directly following the S. Williams v. Kirilenko match, which starts at 7:30 pm local time on Monday (3:30 AM on Monday here in Eastern Standard Time in North America). Tennis Canada is estimating the match will start at 5:30 am EST, Monday, January 21st.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Tennis_Canada/status/293056462199074817?p=p

http://www.tsn.ca/tennis/story/?id=414049

Match Preview - Milos Raonic vs. Roger Federer, Monday, January 21st, Aussie Open 2013

des nouvelles

Milos Raonic will meet Roger Federer in the Round of 16 (4th round) of the Australian Open 2013.  Milos defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber after a shakey first set in just under 2 hours.  Roger Federer is coming off a straight sets victory of his own versus another early-20s up-and-comer named Bernard Tomic.

Federer's been looking good, as expected, in the first slam of 2013.  He's gone through the first 3 rounds in straight sets (v. Paire, Davydenko, then Tomic).  Federer is 13-0 against players born in the 1990s so far (source), adding the latest win earlier this morning against the young Australian.  Wins versus Raonic count for some of those, but this streak must eventually come to an end.  Milos, born in 1990, will play to avoid becoming just another statistic and matching Bernard Tomic's 0-4 head-to-head versus Roger.

Here's what Milos'll be up against: footage from this (early) morning's match versus Bernard Tomic (AUS)

when?

We won't know the time until the schedule's released in a couple of hours, and I'll update later...  In the meantime, Tom Tebbutt predicts (wishful thinking?) that it will be a daytime match on Monday, in order to avoid Federer's having to play five night matches in a row (which means not too late for us in North America).  Follow his reasoning here : ).  Let's hope he's right, otherwise work on Monday will be a drag.

previous encounters

Roger and Milos have clashed 3 times before, on hard courts, clay, and grass, in Indian Wells, Madrid, and Halle respectively.  All of these matches were in 2012, and all of them went the distance - 3 sets.

Speaking in today's press conference, Roger said this of his previous matches with Raonic:

"I've had some tough matches with him in the past.  All of them went the distance.  Some of them I should have lost, maybe one or two.

Indian Wells, I felt like I was more in control than the other two.  In Madrid I was in a lot of trouble.  Halle was extremely close."  -- Roger Federer, Jan 19th, 2013 (source)

"Extremely close" is a good descriptor.  As I said, all their matches went "the distance" and they all involved tiebreaks, 4 in total.  Two of those tiebreaks came in the first set of Halle and of Indian Wells, and Milos won those.  The third and finals sets of Halle and Madrid were decided by tiebreak, and Roger won these.  Interesting to note, he won't be able to put Raonic away in a tiebreak in the final set if this match is as close as those; with no 5th-set tiebreaks at the Aussie Open, Federer will need to break Raonic's serve to advance.

Speaking of the possibility of a daytime match and the previous bouts with Roger Federer, Milos has this to say:

"I think that's better for me.  It just quickens up the situations.  The three times I played him have been either not great weather in Halle, which is pretty cool all the time, or both of the other times were night matches.

So a day opportunity I think would be good for me."  -- Milos Raonic, Jan 19th, 2013  (source)

And for those wondering whether the haircut roumors were true:

"Q.  I can't figure out whether you had a haircut since Kooyong.

MILOS RAONIC:  I had a hair trim (smiling)."  -- Milos Raonic, Jan 19th, 2013 (source)

history lesson from the Milos Raonic - Canada Fan Blog !

Here's the post-match blog post and commentary from the first match between these two, in Indian Wells in March 2012.  Re-reading it now, I can remember the excitement of watching Milos win the first set he ever played against the great Roger Federer:  http://milosraonic.ca/blog/2012/03/14/federer-bests-raonic-in-three-sets/

I note from the pre-match post from their second match in Madrid last year that Tom Tebbutt, blogger for Tennis Canada et al, predicted Milos would win (the link to the article doesn't work anymore since they retired lovemeansnothing.ca).  Well, he almost did, and here's the post-match analysis and run-down of the action from our blog.  Note that Milos had won 44 points in a row on his serve until the 2nd service game with Roger.  Something about Roger just get's people interested!  (Monday will surely be no different)

Here is a link to comments (17 comments in total, might be our most discussed blog post...) on the blog regarding the third match vs. Federer in Halle: http://milosraonic.ca/blog/2012/06/14/raonic-v-federer-redux-again/#comments

and beyond

If Milos wins this, he goes on to face the winner of the all-French match-up between Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in his first Grand Slam quarter-finals... but as we heard from Milos at the press conference today talking about his 2013 season so far...:

"Step by step, match by match, you try to get better."  -- Milos Raonic, Jan 19th, 2013 (source)

some retweets from earlier today

--WACB

Aussie Open Round 3 : Milos Raonic versus Phil Kohlscrieber, Court 3

Milos Raonic d. Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-4

Milos pounded 23 aces to take care of Kohlschreiber in straights in under 2 hours.

 

Here are some pics from Tom Tebbutt's blog (nice shot of Kohlschreiber's backhand):

TV coverage update 3:30 PM EST:

TSN Press Release: http://bit.ly/YduDDE

They say it's TSN2, as early as 11PM EST.  I think it'll be later by the time they get around to it, but at least we know which channel it will be on.  Milos' match is the last match on Court 3 for the Saturday, Day 6, session at Australian Open 2013.

 

TV coverage update 10 AM EST:

TSN staff say that the Raonic/Kohlschrieber match will be on TV tonight, "live on TSN". They did not estimate the time it would start, and their schedule just lists TSN2 as having Aussie Open coverage around the time of the matches this evening and into the wee hours of the morning. I'm sticking with my original guess of 1 AM and I suspect it will be TSN2 where we see the coverage. By the way, Kohlschrieber is ranked 19th in the world, not 17th as it says in the TSN article (he is seeded 17th in the tournament).

Timings/Coverage:

Milos is up against Kohlschrieber at the Australian Open, probably some time around 1 AM EST, on Court 3. It's a televised court, so hopefully it will be covered either on TSN's channels or streaming on their website.  When we know for sure we'll post an update/comment here.

The matches on court 3 start tonight at 7PM EST, and I'm assuming 1.5 hrs per doubles match, and 3 hours for the singles match to come to the 1 AM estimate.

Opponent: Phillip Kohlschrieber

Phil Kohlschrieber, of Germany, is 5'10", 154lbs (much smaller than Raonic) and is currently ranked # 19 at 29 years old.  He has a few tricks up his sleeve and great finesse on the ball that could make things difficult for Raonic.  I like watching his backhand, personally.

Kohlschrieber has not faced Raonic yet.  Most recently, he contested the final in Auckland against David Ferrer and lost.  He went down in the first set to a tiebreak, but was unable to keep it up in the second set and lost it 1-6, down in straight sets.  Kohlschrieber's matches so far at the Aussie Open have been wins in straight sets versus Steve Darcis and Amir Weintraub in the first and second rounds, respectively.

Phillip Kohlschrieber's been on a roll lately, this promises to be a great match.

Tweets

I had posted these last night... this is just to let you know that sometimes I'll retweet something and not have a chance to update the blog until later (not until this morning, for example).  You can check twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog or you have the option to "follow" @MilosRaonicBlog if you like.

 

Schedule Update: Milos Raonic to face Lukas Rosol tonight in 2nd Round of Australian Open 2013

Milos is scheduled to play Lukas Rosol on court 13, which is not a televised court.  It will start around 8 or 8:30 PM Eastern Time in Canada (around 10 PM in Newfoundland) since it follows a women's doubles match scheduled to begin at 11 AM local time in Melbourne.  I will keep an eye out for tweets and stuff to see if there's any updates or other info other than what can be found on the live scores page at AustralianOpen.com.  If you'd like, you can follow @MilosRaonicBlog on twitter, where I may also distribute info/pics/etc. if I come across any.

Milos' opponent tonight is famous for knocking out Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon last year.  He is ranked #75, 27 years old, and most recently lost in the Round of 16 and Qualifying Round 3 in Doha and Auckland, to Paolo Lorenzi and Benjamin Becker, ranked 64th and 65th, respectively.

GO MILOS!

Milos Raonic defeats Jan Hajek in 4 sets at Australian Open first round

Milos defeated Hajek with a 7-0 tiebreak in the 4th set. Time for bed : ). Our Milos is back!

Raonic Update – AAMI Kooyong Classic and Australian Open 2013 draw and schedule

Milos Raonic Australian Open 2013 Schedule Update: Tuesday Morning on Show Court 3 (Monday night in Canada/US time zones) versus Jan Hajek

New Update 10:30 AM Eastern: TSN is reporting they will air the Raonic / Hajek match on TSN2, unfortunately not streaming online on TSN.ca "bonus court" coverage.  They are estimating start time at 8:30 PM tonight as well.  Go Milos! 

Milos Raonic (CAN) will play Jan Hajek (CZE) in the second match on Show Court 3 on Tuesday, January 15th. He's up after the women's singles matchup between Kuznetsova and Dominiguez Lino. The women's match will start at 11AM Melbourne time (7 PM Eastern here in Canada on Monday, 14 Jan). Judging by how quickly these matches can be, we'll probably see Milos on the courts by 12:30 PM local time in Melbourne.

TSN will most likely be showing their usual Rod Laver Arena coverage (with the annoying ESPN-style commentatots) so don't expect it to be on TV. It will most likely be on TSN.ca bonus court coverage around 8;30 PM Eastern (10 PM in Newfoundland). If not, you will be able to find it streaming somewhere online (on australianopen.com if you're in the US or if your computer can pretend to be : ) ).

Milos Raonic loses to Fabio Fognini, 6-4, 6-4

Milos was broken to give Fognini the 2nd set.  Pics below from TennisTV.com (thanks!)

 

Milos down a set to Fognini (9:10 PM Eastern)

Milos lost the first set to Fognini, 4-6. Tough hold for Raonic in his 1st service game of 2nd set, followed by quick hold by Fognini. He will serve down 2-1, on serve, down a set.

Milos Raonic draws Jan Hajek in Aussie Open

Raonic is in Federer's quarter of the draw and will play Jan Hajek in the opening round of the 2013 Australian Open in Melbourne.  Raonic has not faced Czech player before, who is ranked just outside the top 100 going into the tournament and is 29 years of age.  Hajek lost in the first round of the Chennai Open in his opening tournament of the year, falling to the hometown favourite, Somdev Devvarman, in straight sets.

Other notable first round matches include Monfils vs. Dolgopolov and Hewitt vs. Tipsarevic.

Raonic about to play Fabio Fognini in Kooyong Classic

It looks like Baghdatis is about to consolidate an opening game break against DelPo in the Kooyong Classic.  Raonic will be up following the match, so I expect he'll step onto the court somewhere around 9:30 PM Eastern Time (11:00PM in Newfoundland), two hours from now.

Fabio Fognini has not yet had the pleasure to face Milos in regular ATP play.  The Italian lost his opening round match in Doha earlier this year, falling in a 3-setter to Grega Zemlja of Slovenia.  Fognini has yet to play in the Kooyong Classic, he has replaced one of the players who have pulled out of the warm-up event.

Milos Raonic back to winning ways at AAMI Kooyong Classic

Update: Milos will play tonight

Milos will play tonight, not sure of the opponent, as it wasn't listed on the Kooyong Classic site when I checked... (To be updated soon)

Milos Raonic defeats Ivan Dodig

Milos Raonic won his first match of the "season" (this is not ATP or ITF Tournament Play), he defeated Ivan Dodig, 6-4, 6-4, in Australia at the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne.  TennisEarth.com has the news:

"Canadian tennis sensation – Milos Raonic put in an impressive performance as the lanky right-hander brushed aside a listless Ivan Dodig today. The 22 year-old needed just over an hour to register a 6-4,6-4 win."

Read their entire article by clicking here:

http://www.tennisearth.com/news/tennisNews/Kooyong-Australia-Rampant-Raonic-brushes-Listless-Dodig-aside-140525.htm

In other news: Hewitt defeated Berdych

Again, not ATP or ITF play, but an interesting result at 6-3, 6-2 in straight sets...

AAMI Kooyong Classic

So Milos has made what looks like a wise choice this week in preparation for the Australian Open: a good workout vs strong opposition at the Kooyong (Melbourne, Australia) AAMI Classic. Draw will be announced Jan.8; play to start Jan.9. It's a "promotion/relegation" format, eight players only, three matches guaranteed. Other players: Berdych, Monaco, Tipsarevic, Baghdatis, Hewitt, Nishikori and Del Potro.

>>  http://www.aamiclassic.com.au/players.php  <<

Draw: Milos will probably be happy to learn that he plays home-town favourite Lleyton Hewitt first round: a chance to redeem the upset that Lleyton inflicted on him in their last meeting. If Milos wins he'll take on the winner of the Berdych v Nishikori match; if not, the loser.

Milos looking a little rusty to start 2013

Milos Raonic loses to Grigor Dimitrov, 6-3, 6-4, in 2nd round in Brisbane, Australia

We didn't see Milos at his best tonight (in more ways than one, was difficult to see his new "New Balance" digs with the only crappy internet stream I was able to find).  Dimitrov looked very good throughout the match, whipping around and not allowing Milos' power game get into a groove.

It will be more practice on the menu for Milos this week, with us fans hoping he'll try to jump into the Heineken Open in New Zealand next week alongside players like Ferrer, Querry, Kohlschreiber, Monfils, and Tommy Haas.

Rankings heading into the Australian Open

Obviously, not being able to defend this week's 250 points from the 2012 win in Chennai will hurt Milos, more the reason to jump into the tournament in Auckland maybe?  I hadn't considered this possibility as I didn't expect a loss today.  If anyone's done the math on the possibility of Milos dropping out of the top 16/17 seeds for the Aussie Open, and when the cut off is, let us know!

UPDATE: See comments below from Daniel, looks like Milos can't drop any further than 16th this week, sitting at 15 right now unless Simon betters his result from last year, where he had a QF result in Brisbane.

http://twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog/status/286701008086765568

--wacb

Milos Raonic opens 2013 ATP season in Australia in Prime Time tonight (but will it be airing on TV?)

Milos Raonic .vs. Grigor Dimitrov, tonight in Brisbane

So, Milos is on the order of play at the Brisbane International for tonight (Wednesday night here in Canada, Thursday around noon in Australia).

Raonic's match will start around 10 PM Eastern Time (11:30 PM in Newfoundland).  He's scheduled to face Grigor Dimitrov, who won his first round match against an American, Brian Baker, 6-3, 7-6(8).

Can we watch Milos' match tonight?

It's not scheduled to be on TV anywhere in Canada as far as I can tell, let me know by using the contact page or leaving a comment here if I'm wrong.  Sportsnet ONE has Hopman Cup coverage listed for tonight (USA vs. Spain), but maybe they'll surprise us and show Raonic on that channel or another one...  I'm not holding my breath.

My suggestion to keep track of the match tonight is to go to Google and type in something like:

Stream Live Tennis

and check out some of the results on the first page.  As always, make sure you protect yourself when browsing the internet... don't download or click on anything suspect!

Keep track of the score on your computer, live!

If you're interested in tracking the live scores, you can do so with the official ATP live score tracker by clicking here:

http://www.protennislive.com/frameset.asp?year=2013&wkno=1&lang=en&tabno=1&eventid=0573&ref=www.atpworldtour.com

Enjoy!  I for one am glad to be back on the Milos bandwagon : ).

--wacb

P.S.

Brisbane International ATP - Orders of Play and Draw Sheets: http://www.brisbaneinternational.com.au/draws-order-of-play