Stockholm 250
Oct. 17th:
Next up for Milos will be QF vs Benoit Paire, "not before 6:30pm" local time tomorrow; i.e. approx. 12:30 noon ET, 9:30 PT. [UPDATE: Looks like it will be on Sportsnet: on the live-schedule, e.g. for taping/viewing, not on web.] Paire is currently ranked #25, near his career high of #24, and has had a couple of notable upsets in the last six months (Wawrinka and Simon) but has lost a half-dozen times to players ranked #50+. Oddsmakers favour Milos at about 4 to 1; but Paire can be dangerous. Head-to-head: http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Head-To-Head.aspx?pId=PD31&oId=R975 <<
Oct 16th:
[From Daniel: Raonic d Johansson 6-2 7-6(3)] More decisive than the score might appear: Milos faced no break points, had 7 break points in the second set (five in the fourth game!) but was just not able to convert. A serving duel, which Milos won without really being challenged. >> http://www.tenniscanada.com/index.php?title=RAONIC-REACHES-QUARTER-FINALS-AT-STOCKHOLM&pid=5074 <<
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Raonic vs. Johansson will be "no later than" 8pm tomorrow (Thursday) in Stockholm, Sweden. (2pm Eastern EDT Time, 3:30pm in Newfoundland - they're 6 hours ahead of Toronto/Montréal time)
Obviously no previous matches between these two, their careers haven't overlapped until this return to the ATP tour for Johansson, the former top-10 Swedish tennis pro.
Funny article from Sportsnet: "Raonic could upset at ATP Tour world (sic) finals", Oct 14th:
"...guys like Nadal and Djokovic will be shaking in their boots if they are drawn against Milos and his gargantuan serve indoors.". --http://www.sportsnet.ca/tennis/raonic-could-upset-at-atp-tour-world-finals/
Oct 15th:
Looks like Alejandro Falla will face Swedish qualifier Joachim Johansson for the chance to face Milos Raonic in the 2nd rnd.
It would be interesting if Milos were to face Johansson, who is making a “one-off” return to tennis for this tournament in his home country. Johansson made it as high as #9 in the world in early 2005 after making it to the SF of the US Open in 2004. He retired from Tennis a few years later, in early 2008, due to a nagging shoulder injury.
What’s more interesting still is the playing style (from Wikipedia): “He held the record for most aces served in one match as he aced Andre Agassi 51 times in the 4th round of the 2005 Australian Open (though he still lost the match in four sets). In the post-match press conference, Johansson said he felt he could have served better.”
Falla has faced Raonic once before, in Barcelona, 2012. Milos won that bout in straights, though the 2nd set required a tiebreak and he didn’t make a lot of first serves (see the blog post for a trip down memory lane: http://milosraonic.ca/blog/2012/04/23/raonic-off-to-winning-start-in-barcelona/ )
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Milos has taken a spot in Stockholm this week, trying to earn a few extra points before going on to the final tournaments of the year. Qualifying for ATP World Tour Finals is still a long shot, but not impossible. At the very least he should be able to hold on to the alternate spot.
Raonic will get a bye in the first round then face either Alejandro Falla or a qualifier. He is seeded against [6]Benoit Paire in his quarter of the draw, and the seeds he could face in the semi-finals are Grigor Dimitrov and Kevin Anderson.
Seeds on the other half of the draw include David Ferrer, Ernests Gulbis, Jerzy Janowicz, and Ivan Dodig.
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October 25th, 2013 - 16:56
Paris draw has been announced. Only way for Milos to make the World Tour finals without someone else withdrawing is to make the finals and get a little help with 2 of Gasquet, Tsonga, Wawrinka and Federer not going deep into the tournament. His draw is ideal in my opinion. First Round bye, second round istomin/qualifier, third round berdych/pospisil/monfils, quarters ferrer/simon, semis nadal/tsonga
Berdych is a guy that Milos has been able to beat, Ferrer I believe is the most beatable on this surface out of the top 4 seeds, and Nadal typically has not been as dominant at the end of season tournaments. Obviously a tough ask to make the final but a good season none the less particularly the second half.
As for Pospisil, who’s made the semis this week in Basel, he gets a tough first round opponent in Monfils and should he get through that a rematch of his big Rogers Cup victory over Berdych. I would love to see a Milos/Vasek R16 showdown to finish one of their seasons off in Paris, but of course Vasek has Federer to worry about tomorrow first.
October 26th, 2013 - 12:28
Pospisil down a break early in the semis… Will be a tough task for him!
October 24th, 2013 - 18:26
Pospisil into the quarters in Basel having beaten Haase and Karlovic. He plays Dodig tomorrow at 10am and should he win it will put him into position to be seeded at the Australian Open. With no points to defend before the next grand slam it looks like he has a pretty good chance of reaching that top 32 seed, which would give Canadian tennis 2 seeds in the main draw for the men and likely another in Bouchard for the women.
Peliwo also announced that he will be working with Galo Blanco starting next month. Let’s hope he can do the same for Filip as he did for Milos.
October 19th, 2013 - 02:00
Looks like Milos isn’t playing in Basel. Maybe his plan all along to get a week’s rest before the final Masters event of the year where the big more important points will be available, which is why he decided to play Stockholm instead? Maybe something (hopefully minor) crept up in Stockholm that is keeping him from playing next week? I’m hoping its the first reason, but I haven’t heard anything about why.
October 19th, 2013 - 08:24
I was sure this would happen… If Milos had only played Basel and reached the final would of been equal to winning Stockholm and final in Basel as he has only one room left for points to grab. Now its over unfortunately only a miracle draw can take him up till the final of the last master in order to qualify. Im very dissapointed on his team should of known better when to take a break… Well all the best for him but its almost sure he wont make it in London this year and wont even finish in top 10…
October 19th, 2013 - 18:32
Who knows why. In retrospect maybe he would have been better not to have gone to Stockholm. Or maybe it will be better, given that he would have been seeded in 5-8 bracket at Basel, to skip it, rest and deal with issues, and do his best at (mandatory) Paris. He’s likely to be more than 360 points away from that last WTF spot; but have a long-shot chance, i.e. if he can make the Paris final. Personally I’m still happy to see Milos having made it (so far) as an alternate: a seat in the stands to celebrate a successful 2013 season, and motivation to be out there playing, in 2014.
October 20th, 2013 - 02:55
But what would we be saying if he’d won Stockholm? That it was a good decision? It’s hard to say. It was going to be a long shot anyway after last week. We’re disappointed but looking back it’s hard to see why. Compared to his peers he’s way ahead, and he’s continued to rise except for that turbulence with the coaching change this year.
The future is still bright, even if he just misses the 2013 World Tour Finals. There’ll be more…
October 18th, 2013 - 15:58
PRETTY SLOPPY PLAY by MILOS
Again & Again POOR Service returning on 2nd serves.
Feeling like a broken record
October 18th, 2013 - 15:56
As i said really bad decision from Milos to go at Stockholm one of the worst losses of the year from him lossing against someone like Paire in straights indoor…
October 19th, 2013 - 01:57
Pretty harsh to call it one of his worst losses of the year considering his clay and grass season. Definitely a disappointing result, but it is not as if Paire is a nobody. He is trying breakthrough into the top 20 and actually played pretty fantastic today going after his shots and not really taking advantage of Milos’ second serve. That was pretty much the difference in the match. His first serve was lights out as usual and his return game was about the same as the recent past, only thing different today was that he was only able to win 28% of his second serves compared to his season average of about 54%. It was an uncharacteristic serving performance and one that we don’t expect to see too often.
October 19th, 2013 - 02:01
I meant really taking advantage of Milos’ second serve.
October 18th, 2013 - 14:31
Milos has really struggled on his second serve in the first set. Paire has been all over it and Milos has won just 29% of his second serves. It cost him the tiebreak and will likely cost him another should it get there. Almost better off going for two big serves if Paire continues to tee off on the second serve.
October 17th, 2013 - 20:30
Milos beats Johansson 6-2, 7-6.
October 15th, 2013 - 08:29
Looks like Alejandro Falla will face Swedish qualifier Joachim Johansson for the chance to face Milos Raonic in the 2nd rnd.
It would be interesting if Milos were to face Johansson, who is making a “one-off” return to tennis for this tournament in his home country. Johansson made it as high as #9 in the world in early 2005 after making it to the SF of the US Open in 2004. He retired from Tennis a few years later, in early 2008, due to a nagging shoulder injury.
What’s more interesting still is the playing style (from Wikipedia): “He held the record for most aces served in one match as he aced Andre Agassi 51 times in the 4th round of the 2005 Australian Open (though he still lost the match in four sets). In the post-match press conference, Johansson said he felt he could have served better.”
Falla has faced Raonic once before, in Barcelona, 2012. Milos won that bout in straights, though the 2nd set required a tiebreak and he didn’t make a lot of first serves (see the blog post for a trip down memory lane: http://milosraonic.ca/blog/2012/04/23/raonic-off-to-winning-start-in-barcelona/ )
October 15th, 2013 - 21:44
Looks like you get your wish! Johansson d Falla pretty decisively: 6-1 6-3, 73% service points won, 46% return points. Milos will play Johansson Thursday.
October 16th, 2013 - 02:16
Yup, he beat him in 54 minutes. Should be a big match on Thursday!