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

US OPEN 2013

September 2nd:

39 aces, over a hundred winners, 207 total points won to Gasquet's 195, about four and a half grueling, humid hours, but Milos Raonic was eliminated from the US Open by a scoreline of 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(9), 7-5 for Richard Gasquet. Gutwrenching to watch. Apparently this was the longest match of this year's US Open so far...

On to Serbia for Davis Cup! If we thought this was intense.....

August 31st:

Milos is scheduled to play Richard Gasquet 3rd up on Louis Armstrong court. There is a ladies match and a doubles match before him, and they start at 11am EDT, so his match will probably start between 2 and 3 pm Eastern...

Milos Raonic def. Feliciano Lopez:

More of the same, come on round of 16!

"@NewBalanceCan: On to the Rd of 16 for #TeamNB's @milosraonic at the #USOpen after beating Lopez 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Will face winner of Gasquet v Tursunov."

August 31st, again:

Some tweets to share with you regarding Milos' ongoing match with Feli Lopez (below). Currently a set a piece with Milos up an early break in the 3rd set.

"@SocialKeenan: Crowd on 17 seems 70-30 Milos-Feli and Davis Cup atmosphere! #teamcanada @MilosRaonicBlog @milosraonic @usopen #usopen #raonic"

"@SocialKeenan: This is awesome. Feli's camp has changed locations because they don't want to sit behind us! @usopen Go Milos! @MilosRaonicBlog"

August 31st:

Milos Raonic vs. Feliciano Lopez is 2nd on Court 17 following a Women's singles match. He'll probably start around 1pm EDT or a little before that.

Nestor continues to impress on the eve of Canada's Davis Cup tournament, winning Mixed and Men's doubles yesterday. He and Pospisil have the day off before facing the Bryan Brothers tomorrow. Here's an excerpt from a quick interview Tom Tebbutt was able to get with the doubles championship yesterday:

"Tom: Do you think that the whole idea of possibly playing the Bryans in the next round made you tight in the first set?

Daniel: No, where the heck do you get this stuff from? What the heck does that have to do with anything?

Security guy: (To Tom) Excuse me…back off.

Daniel: (interceding on my part). It’s okay.

Tom: (to the security guard) He does that to me all the time, don’t worry.

Daniel: Bad question, that’s why I got mad. Forget that question.

Tom: Obviously Vasek (in his singles) had a chance to play Nadal and he was sort of thinking ahead and it’s the same sort of thing.

Daniel: Vasek playing Nadal is a little different than me playing the Bryans after 50 times. 

Tom: How do feel about you two playing against them?

Daniel: I think Vasek’s playing great – so why not? Obviously we have to play our best match but nothing’s impossible. "

----full text: Tebbutt: Roger and Joe diMaggio

August 30th:

Check out Tennis Canada's Tom Tebbutt's post about Canadians in action yesterday:

"There have been a few sketchy performances by Milos Raonic over the past few weeks, but he was reassuringly solid in defeating Pablo Andujar 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the second round of the US Open on Thursday night.

When it was put to him after his two hour and two-minute win on the Grandstand that it was indeed a “real Raonic match,” – he agreed."

Tebbutt: A Real Raonic Match

August 29th, update:

Milos played great today, aggression, consistency, confidence, precision on those shots down the line, combined with the most powerful serves at the US Open. 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 for Milos in just over 2 hrs, very encouraging.

Nestor and Pospisil won their first-round doubles match today as well, also encouraging; their first Major match-win and excellent Davis Cup practice!

Here's a story from TSN, but best to check out Tom Tebbutt's report, which he's promised first thing in the morning:

http://www.tsn.ca/tennis/story/?id=430736

THURSDAY US OPEN BLOG - will be up first thing in a.m. Friday EDT. Milos pics and all the Canadians. Bon soir from NYC.

— Tom_Tebbutt (@tomtebbutt) August 30, 2013

August 29th:

Milos is up last on Grandstand today versus Pablo Andujar. It will likely be shown. On TSN or TSN2, so keep your eyes peeled... Andujar and Raonic have played once before on the ATP tour, on grass in Halle in 2011. Milos won that one 6-3, 6-1.

August 27th:

Milos Raonic v. Thomas Fabbiano will be televised on TSN (though I wouldn't be surprised if it moves to TSN2 or TSN.ca at some point, especially if it's a long one. The rain didn't let up, so Pospisil will try to win that match after giving up chances to serve it out- reminds me of what happened when watching the score ticker in Cincinnati unfortunately...

from Sam:

Good start for Canadian tennis. Fichman put up a fight against the finalist from Toronto and lost in the third set. Dancevic through to the second round after a win over Robin Haase in 4 sets. Bouchard through after a slow start winning after being down a set and a break. Pospisil a little tight trying to serve out the 3rd set twice before losing in a tiebreak. Now down 4-0 in the fourth looking to bounce back in the fifth tomorrow if the rain doesn't let up tonight.

Up tomorrow at 11:00 is Milos against Thomas Fabbiano. I don't anticipate much trouble in that match for him hopefully he can finish it quick and with a healthy shoulder. Fabbiano has yet to win a match at the ATP level.

Aleksandra Wozniak also in action later on in the day. Up against Vesna Dolonc who's ranked 90th.

There's going to be quite a bit of rain over night. Hopefully it finishes and doesn't affect play tomorrow so all of the matches can get in.

August 22:  [from Daniel]

Milos I’d have to say has gotten the best Draw possible.

Milos potential Round of 16 Opponent would be Richard Gasquet; His potential 3rd Round Opponent would be Feliciano Lopez. [2nd round, Andujar? ATP#55, 1st round, Qualifier.]

Milos US Open Quarter

[8]Gasquet v Russell, Qualifier v Qualifier, Struff v Rufin, Bedene v [32]Tursunov, [23]Lopez v Qualifier, De Schepper v Klahn, Andujar v De Bakker, Qualifier v [10]Raonic

[14]Janowicz v Qualifier, Sock v Qualifier, Andrey Kuznetsov v Sela, Cuevas v [18]Tipsarevic, [30]Gulbis v Haider-Maurer, Qualifier v Qualifier, Bautista-Agut v Bellucci ,Qualifier v [4]Ferrer

Can Milos make the most of the Opportunity and reach his 1st GS Quarterfinal?

------------------------------------------------------------

Here are our top 16 seeds for the US Open at Flushing Meadows in 2013, with Milos nestled nicely in there:

1. Novak Djokovic, Serbia

2. Rafael Nadal, Spain

3. Andy Murray, Britain

4. David Ferrer, Spain

5. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic

6. Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina

7. Roger Federer, Switzerland

8. Richard Gasquet, France

9. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland

10. Milos Raonic, Canada

11. Kei Nishikori, Japan

12. Tommy Haas, Germany

13. John Isner, United States

14. Jerzy Janowicz, Poland

15. Nicolas Almagro, Spain

16. Fabio Fognini, Italy

--Will

Posted by wacb from WordPress for BlackBerry.

Cincinnati, early rounds – Masters 1000 – Western and Southern Open

John Isner def Milos Raonic, 7-6(5), 6-4:

It was a fairly straight-forward match. Milos dropped his game during the 1st set tiebreak long enough to lose the 1st set, then played very well to go up a break in the second, before dropping his game long enough to lose that break and then to go down a break to Isner. Isner served out the match in his usual style and so ends Milos' Cincinnati run.

Next up is the US Open, where he'll probably be seeded 10th or 11th or so - we'll see how the rankings shake out. I don't think there's any way he could drop out of the top 12, which means he'll likely face someone seeded 5-8 in the round of 16, before meeting a 1-4 seed in the QFs. Long way to go before that though, we'll see how that road looks when the draw comes out.

Milos Raonic versus John Isner, now starting on Court 3 in Cincinnati (1:45pm EDT):

Watch Milos Raonic take on John Isner in the third round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati: http://t.co/FLstm7vUcX

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 15, 2013

There's no hawkeye on that court. But check this out on the big screen. Kinda cheesy, show's that Milos has hit the big time:

Check out this 1 minute New Balance commercial featuring Milos Raonic: http://t.co/zJZwqIMgRe

— milos raonic news (@MilosRaonicNews) August 15, 2013

Quick Update: Milos won in straights, fairly easy going, was in control the whole time. The Battle of the Serve starts tomorrow, rematch of Rogers Cup 2012 match that ousted Milos during his homecoming. Luckily, Pospisil took care of Isner to avoid the same fate. Let's see if Raonic can do a little better at Cincy 2013.

Quick Update:

So close!!! Vasek Pospisil goes down to David Goffin in 2nd round of Cincinnati Masters 1000. 5-7, 6-1, 6-7(6). #CdnTennis @VasekPospisil

— MilosRaonic Fan Blog (@MilosRaonicBlog) August 14, 2013

Pospisil can't convert multiple match points & falls 8-6 in a third set tiebreak to Goffin at #CincyTennis. #CdnTennis

— Tennis Canada (@Tennis_Canada) August 14, 2013

Update, August 14th:

See the comments below (click here) for some post-match commentary.

Timings for Canadian players today (2nd round, in chronological order):

Vasek Pospisil is up first on Court 6 versus David Goffin (a qualifier).  The match starts at 11am Eastern (1100h EDT).  There's no video coverage.

Eugenie Bouchard has a date with Serena Williams as the second match on the Center Court.  It is listed as not before 1pm Eastern (1300h EDT) but it might be later if the Youzhny/Murray match runs long...

Milos Raonic is up third on the Grandstand court versus Janko Tipsarevic.  The preceding match starts at 1pm Eastern (1300h EDT) (Isner/Gasquet), so Milos' match will likely be 3pm Eastern (1500h EDT).  There is video coverage of this court, but the order of play notes that there is a "Possible Court Change", so if the two preceding matches run long it may be moved to a non-video court.  Not sure whether Sportsnet will show this coverage online or on SN1 or SN360, etc...

Daniel Nestor plays alongside Robert Lindstedt versus Lipsky/Gonzalez as the final match on the Grandstand court following a women's match.  The ladies start not before 7pm Eastern (1900h EDT) so Nestor will be on around 8:30pm Eastern (2030h EDT).

order of play from cincytennis.com: OP_(2)

Galo Blanco News

I didn't know, but JaxonX tipped us off that Galo Blanco is now coaching Jurgen Melzer.  Here's a copy of the Sportsnet.ca article, which also talks about the emotional side of the break-up between Raonic and Blanco (article link).  The article mentioned that Raonic planned to play alongside Melzer in double in Cincinnati, but the Order of Play shows Mardy Fish, noted as "[PR]" before his name.  Does anyone know what "[PR]" means in front of a players name? 

Melzer said he was "very happy" to have Blanco in his corner, calling it a "fresh start".  (adapted from an article from an article written in German at zeit.de)

One more thing...

I'd like to share what someone sent via  the site's contact form following the Montreal final:

To: Site Owner & Admin

From:
Doreen ---------
----------@rogers.com

Message:
It may have been a clinic today but you made us proud.
Lots of class in your interviews. You're my new Gretzky!

Sent from (ip address): 174.114.--.---
(-----.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com)
Date/Time: August 11, 2013 10:14 pm

---

Tomorrow (Tues, Aug 13th) Milos will play the evening session on the Grandstand Court in Cincinnati. Vasek Pospisil is 3rd up on Court 7. Eugenie Bouchard, the other Canadian we're keeping our eye on, played today and defeated Monica Puig 6-3, 6-4, making it to the 2nd round of two Masters 1000s in a row.

Milos Raonic will face Jack Sock at 7pm (1700) EDT, and it should be available to be televised, so hopefully Sportsnet chooses to show it. The Center Court will have the likes of Sharapova, followed by Roger Federer, starting at 7pm. Pospisil's match won't be televised, but he'll have a tough task against Gilles Simon. He has entered the tournament on a special exemption due to his recent success in Montréal.

Sock has already defeated Raonic once this year, knocking Milos out of Memphis in the round of 32. That's been the only meeting of the two on tour so far... Jack Sock, an American, is a couple of years younger than Raonic and the two young stars carry much of the hope for future tennis greatness in their countries. Jack Sock gained entry to the W&S Open via a Wild Card.

If Pospisil wins tomorrow, he'll face qualifier David Goffin, and further success will likely mean a Davis Cup semi-final preview versusu Djokovic. Raonic would move on to face Tipsarevic if he wins tomorrow (another upcoming Davis Cup tie preview), followed by a likely 3rd round match with Richard Gasquet.

Eugenie Bouchard will face Serena Williams in the 2nd round. Ouch. I expect we'll see another match similar to Nadal vs. Raonic- might be painful to watch.

Draws, Schedules, and other stuff is available at cincytennis.com

http://mobile.cincytennis.com/draws.html

Posted by wacb from WordPress for BlackBerry.

Good comment from Sam I'd like to share: Nadal really is on a level of his own at this time with Djokovic slightly behind him I believe. Would have liked to see a bit of a closer match but hopefully Milos does take some positives of out this and learn from it in the future. In his post match interviews he seemed pretty happy despite the tough loss which is promising and it looks like he has gained some confidence that he can carry through the remainder of the season.

Vasek has an interesting first round matchup against Gilles Simon who hasn't been sharp of late. If Vasek can carry over his form from the last few weeks I think he can pull out a win.

Milos has a rematch with Jack Sock in round one who beat him in the first round back in Memphis. Should be better prepared this time around assuming there's no hangover from reaching his first ATP 1000 final.

Both matches I assume will be on Tuesday as they are not on the schedule for tomorrow.

Both Milos and Vasek are drawn into Djokovic's quarter so maybe if we are lucky we can have a preview of Davis Cup for both players and even if they do come out on the wrong side they can take some notes of how to better approach that matchup in the Davis Cup.

Rafa Nadal gives Raonic a “clinic” in Rogers Cup Final at Montréal

Milos Raonic, the first player born in the 1990s to be in the ATP top ten, went down 6-2, 6-2 today to Rafael Nadal.  I'm sure you've all watched it, so I'll just put up a pic (a few other good ones on the CBC.ca article it came from).

And this tweet was great:

... this one was pretty good too:

Cincinnati is up next!

--wacb

Two (2) Canadians make the Quarter-Finals at the Rogers Cup Masters 1000 in Montréal, Québec!

Update, Aug 9th: Both Canadians, Raonic and Pospisil, into the semifinals!

Had to watch the match late today, will not be able to watch it live tomorrow either... Staying away from any electronic communication will be hard, but the excitement when I do get to watch it will be worth it! In case you haven't heard:

From Daniel:
"
We've an all Canadian Semifinal folks. Vasek Pospisil won due Davydenko retiring at 3-0 for Vasek in the 1st Set.

Milos toughed out an 7:6 (3), 4:6, 6:4 win over Ernests Gulbis.

If World No 1 Novak Djokovic beats Richard Gasquet in todays Nightsession Milos will vie for a Top 10 Spot tomorrow.
"
So, The Canadian bits of the Order of Play for tomorrow in Montréal looks like this:

Not before 3:00 p.m.
[WC] V Pospisil (CAN) vs [11] M Raonic (CAN)

Not before 6:00 p.m.
[6] R Lindstedt (SWE) / D Nestor (CAN) vs
C Fleming (GBR) / A Murray (GBR)

Then Nadal and Djokovic will face off (not before 8pm) to see who gets to face off against the Canadian finalist (any predictions?)...

Update:

Pospisil and Raonic will play the first two matched on Court Central tomorrow vs. Davydenko and Gulbis, respectively. Vasek starts at noon (12:00) Eastern (EDT) and Milos will follow, not before 2pm (1400).

Wow, happy to be back in business.  Raonic has dismissed a less-than-100-percent del Potro in straights, he and Vasek Pospisil will take on opponents they both have a very good chance of defeating in their quarter-final matches tomorrow (Gulbis and Davydenko, respectively).

Both players worked hard for their victories today, and put on great performances, giving Canada a one-two punch in the Quarter-Finals of the Rogers Cup for the first time since 1989.  If they both win tomorrow, they win a date with each other in the semi-finals!

Regarding his visit from the doc and the trainer, Raonic said it was a loss of strength in his arm, a numbness feeling, something he had to get under control.  He said he'd managed to find his way through it by battling through, and that he should have no problem getting under control for tomorrow.

Montreal: Rogers Cup 1000

August 8th: Milos is up at 6pm, 1800hrs, Eastern (EDT). Pospisil should be up shortly, perhaps in 45 minutes (2:15pm, 1415hrs). He's on Banque Nationale court after the Paire/Matosevic, which is currently into the 2nd set.

August 7th - Raonic def Youzhny:

Anyone else think the old Milos is back? 6-4, 6-4; Milos Raonic (CAN) puts away Mikhail Youzhny with a style and confidence not unlike last year and the early parts of this year. Pospisil was also impressive today, putting in another great win. Eugenie Bouchard will follow the Williams/Schiavone match with is currently in the 2nd set. Fichman, Peliwo and Dancevic went down (barely) with valiant efforts, and Levine, a victim of the draw-gods, was only able to muster enough to take two games from Nadal, falling 6-2, 6-0 on the Centre Court (Court Central) in Montréal.

How awesome is it to have two Canadians in the third round here at Canada's Masters 1000 tourney??

That Raonic/Pospisil one-two punch will hopefully pay off in Serbia versus Tipsarevic and (maybe) Djokovic...

Aug 7th (morning): Milos Raonic (CAN) is up against Youzhny on Court Central not before 6pm, EDT. There's a good many Canadians to look out for though in Montréal today:

At 12:00 noon Vasek Pospisil (CAN) is up against Stepanek on the National Bank Court. Dolgopolov will take on Berdych following that match, then Frank Dancevic (CAN) will take on Janowicz as the 3rd match on court.

Not before 2pm EDT, Jesse Levine (CAN) takes on Rafa Nadal on Court Central. Levine (CAN) follows the Murray/Granollers match. After the Levine (CAN) match, Milos Raonic (CAN) will take on Youzhny on the main court, but not before 6pm EDT.

Following the Fognini/Gulbis match starting at 12:00 noon on court 9, Filip Peliwo (CAN) will take on Istomin.

Finally, as the final match on Court 5 (maybe 6pm EDT??), Frank Dancevic (CAN) and Adil Shamasdin (CAN) will take on Dimitrov and Kohlschreiber.

Then in Toronto, we have Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) against Kvitova (defending champ) as the last match on Centre Court (following S. William vs, Schiavone, which starts at 7pm EDT). We don't want to miss that.

The 2nd match on Grandstand will be Sharon Fichman (CAN) vs. Jelena Jankovic; Fichman defeated Stephanie Dubois (CAN) yesterday.

As the final match on Court 1, sometime after suitable rest, Sharon Fichman (CAN) and Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) take on Pavlyuchenkova and Safarova in doubles.

That rounds off the Canadian action today - quite a lot for a Masters 1000! Make us proud guys and gals!

Aug 6th (quick post-match comments): Wow, some tense moments between flashes of brilliance. Milos needs 3 sets to defeat Jeremy Chardy of France. Historic day for Canadian Tennis though, with 5 men making it to the 2nd rnd, and 2 women. Pospisil was great against Isner, that match was a joy to watch. Bouchard continues to impress - hope to see more of her as the tournament progresses (though her next opponent will be difficult).

Aug 6th: Milos off to a good start - opens with a break against Chardy.  On Sportsnet now!!!

Aug. 2:  Draw is out:

>>  http://www.rogerscup.com/men/pdf/draws/2013/MDS_aug3.pdf   << ...and it's a tough one for Milos:   1) Jeremy Chardy ATP#28 2) M. Youzhny #27 or J. Melzer #32 3) (likely) 6th-seed J. Del Potro. Hopefully Milos will rise to the occasion.