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

Roland Garros

May 31: Disappointing match: Anderson defeats Milos in straight sets, 75 76(4) 63. Anderson played solid tennis, especially receiving; keeping most of Milos' serves in play, winning 40% of return points. Meanwhile on this day every part of Milos' game was letting him down. Take out his 16 aces, he had 34 winners; but also 38 unforced errors. Full credit to Anderson who kept the pressure on consistently; he deserved the win today.

Milos:   http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Media/Videos/Uploaded/2013/5/31/Roland-Garros-2013-Friday-Interview-Raonic.aspx  <<

May 30: Milos is scheduled to play Kevin Anderson third-up on Court 7 (after Wawrinka vs Zeballos) so approx. 2pm Paris Time, 8am ET, 5am PT.

May 29: [Benoit Paire has defeated Marcos Baghdatis, so Milos Raonic is up on Court Susan Lenglen any minute now, about 8:30AM Eastern Time (10AM Newfoundland Time).] A good win for Milos today: tough, but good. Milos dominated for the first five games. But then Llodra stepped up his game, won the second set, and played even through the third. Fortunately, Milos found another gear to start off the tie-break: took three quick points and went on to win the set. He carried that momentum into the fourth set, which he won with two breaks. Overall a good, aggressive match, as evidenced by 75 winners, more than balancing out 42 unforced errors; 33 points won out of 46 (!) times at net; 39% receiving points won. Both Llodra and Milos served well, but Milos won the match on his return game: 75 36 76(3) 62. Next up: Kevin Anderson, probably Friday.

Matthew Cronin: http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/news/articles/2013-05-29/201305291369848427284.html   <<

May 28: Milos is scheduled to play Michael Llodra tomorrow: Wednesday, May 29, approx. 1pm or 2pm Paris time, approx. 7am or 8am ET, 4am or 5am PT.  Watch it on TSN2:  http://www.tsn.ca/tennis/story/?id=424171  <<

Also up tomorrow, about an hour earlier, will be Vasek Pospisil, finishing his rain-delayed first-round match vs Horatio Zeballos.   Milos on RG-TV:    http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/multimedia/2013-05-27/013ee58638f800000b3f.html  <<

May 26: The steak seems to have worked for Milos:  he had two sets, at least, of "red meat" aggressive tennis, before backsliding a bit to lose the third; but he took the fourth set in workmanlike fashion. Next up, probably Wednesday, will be Michael Llodra, who also took four sets to get past his first-round opponent, Steve Darcis.

May 25: Milos just tweeted "steak tonight" -- he and Xavier Malisse are first-up tomorrow on Court 1; will be shown live on TSN2 at 5am ET, 2am PT, repeating at 3pm ET, noon PT.

>> http://www.tsn.ca/tennis/story/?id=423975&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed#   <<  [Don't miss the link on the right "French Open: Ready to Roll" where Milos talks about Malisse and the coaching change.]

May 24:  Milos has drawn to the third quarter, with David Ferrer, in the bottom half, with Roger Federer. (Nadal and Djokovic are in the top half.) Milos' theoretical (no upsets) path to QF would be 1) Xavier Malisse (ATP#54) 2) Michael Llodra (#56) 3) Kevin Anderson (#25) 4) David Ferrer; if he could make it past David, Roger Federer would likely be waiting for him at SF.  Malisse is a tougher opponent than we would have hoped for in round one, but Milos should be able to handle him. Overall, probably not a bad draw.

>> http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/draws/ms/r2s2.html  << Updates daily.

Help Wanted: A Coach for Milos

Open post, since we have some unanticipated time on our hands before the Roland Garros draw, for news, speculation, gossip, etc. about the job opening on Milos' team. To start us off:

>> http://www.sportsnet.ca/tennis/former-tennis-coach-casey-curtis-says-milos-raonic-should-take-more-risks/   <<

>> http://www.10sballs.com/2013/05/15/milos-raonic-and-coach-blanco-separate/    <<

>> http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2013/05/raonic-splits-coach-blanco/47448/  <<

Internazionali BNL d’Italia – Rome 1000

May 13: Kohlschreiber d Milos 76(2) 64.  The first set was close: even on stats except for two df's from Milos. But in the second set Kohlscreiber won twice as many return points -- including one-third of Milos' first serves, and had 5 break point chances vs none for Milos.  >> http://www.tenniscanada.com/index.php?title=RAONIC-FALLS-IN-FIRST-ROUND-AT-ROME&pid=4598  <<

May 12: Milos plays Kohlschreiber Monday, May 13 at 7pm local time [1pm ET, 10am PT].

**Breaking News** -- Galo Blanco is no longer Milos' coach. They broke their relationship in Madrid, after two and a half years of success, which saw Milos rise from ATP#224 to #14, winning four titles along the way. The break is mutual and amicable. "I am grateful for all that Galo has done. He has helped me grow as a player and a person. Would not be where I am if not for him."  >> http://www.sportsnet.ca/tennis/raonic-splits-with-tennis-coach-blanco/ <<

May 11: Draw is out: Milos plays Phillipp Kohlschreiber (ATP#22) first round. Phillip has been playing well on clay recently: made it to the Finals in Munich, Semis in Barcelona. If successful first round, Milos would play either Albert Ramos (ATP#65) or a Jan Hajek. Ramos has also been playing well on clay, taking Stan Wawrinka to three sets in Oeiras, beating Nishikori in R16 in Barcelona before falling to Rafa in the Quarters. Milos' likely third round opponent would be David Ferrer.   >> http://www.internazionalibnlditalia.com/Share/Event-Draws.aspx?Year=2013&Draw=ms  << Updates daily.

Mutua Madrid Open 1000

May 7: Verdasco squeaked past Raonic today, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7). Up 4-1 in the 3rd set tiebreak, Raonic couldn't put it away:

“I had hopes when I led 4-1 in the tiebreaker and when I saved those two match points. But in the end I was missing shots by quite a bit or he was playing well. I was letting him get ahead in points. It all depended on me today.” -- from the Globe and Mail today

“I should have done better than I did here. I’m capable of much better and hopefully I can show that,” said Raonic, now 18-7 this season. -- also from the Globe today

May 6: Milos squeaked past Davydenko today 75 76(5). Only 44% of first serves in, 4 double-faults, and "only" 6 aces; so it was Milos' return game -- including 29% of first return points -- that kept him in the match. Milos converted 1 out of 5 break points, and saved 2, including a set point. >> http://www.sportsnet.ca/tennis/canadas-raonic-beats-davydenko-in-madrid/ <<  Next up: Fernando Verdasco, on home clay, tomorrow (Tuesday, May 7) at 5pm [11am ET, 8am PT]. Milos has beaten Verdasco twice on hard-court, lost their last two meetings, on clay -- but that was two years ago. Milos has been playing well on clay this year, but this will be a tough test.  Here's hoping Milos will be motivated to make Verdasco eat his words:  >>  http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/tennis/blog/busted_racquet/post/Verdasco-whines-that-Raonic-s-two-wins-didn-t-co?urn=ten-323464 << May 5: Milos will play N. Davydenko tomorrow (Monday, May 6) at approx. 2:30pm Madrid time [8:30am ET, 5:30am PT]. Joining Milos in the main draw will be Jesse Levine, who upset Igor Sijsling 63 64 in his second qualifying match today; Jesse will play Kevin Anderson tomorrow. Waiting in second round for Milos, if he wins against Davydenko, will be F. Verdasco, who beat D. Goffin today 76(2) 62. May 3: Draw is out: >> http://www.atpworldtour.com/Share/Event-Draws.aspx?Year=2013&EventId=1536&Draw=ms <<                           [Updates daily] Milos has drawn to Djokovic's quarter, but as 12th seed would probably meet Tsonga in R16, after Nikolay Davydenko (ATP#43)  first round, then the winner of D. Goffin (ATP#61) vs F. Verdasco (ATP#45), second round. Milos has teamed up with Grigor Dimitrov for doubles; will play T. Haas & R. Stepanek first round, then 8th seed J. Melzer & L. Paes. Likely QF opponents,  if they get that far, would be the Bryan Brothers. >> http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/1536/mdd.pdf <<

Also: by making it to the Munich F, Tommy Haas has picked up enough points to bump Milos down to #14 in the ATP live-rankings.   >> http://live-tennis.eu/   <<   Milos remains at #11 in the ATP Race, behind Nico Almagro #9 and Roger Federer #10, but if Haas wins Munich he'll overtake Milos in the Race, too. Movers and Shakers:  Jesse Levine is up 6 in the live ATP rankings, to 88, after winning his first-round qualifying match at Madrid. And Vasek Pospisil is up 28 (!) in the rankings, to 103, after winning the Johannesburg Challenger.