Raonic pulls out of Malaysian Open
Sportsnet has reported that Milos Raonic has withdrawn from the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. Raonic will be "out indefinitely."
It appears things are a little worse than they appeared after Raonic pulled out of Davis Cup and the following tournament in Metz. His return is being put off for at least another week, and there is no word as to what his schedule will look like for the rest of the season.
While the report states that "it was apparent that [Raonic's] hip was bothering him" during his Davis Cup loss to Weintraub, Raonic did not cite it specifically as an issue when he withdrew from further play. Regardless, there are a couple of big tournaments coming up in October, specifically in Tokyo and Shanghai (the latter being an ATP Masters 1000 event). Raonic is currently on the players list for Tokyo and would be seeded No.8 were he to play.
We eagerly await further news.
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2012 Davis Cup World Group Draw Announced
The draw for next year's Davis Cup World Group was announced this morning, and Canada will play France in the first round.
France is a seeded nation, having lost in the 2011 World Group semi-finals to Spain last weekend. Canada, however, will have the advantage of being the home team and will have choice of ground. This is good news for the team since they've been the visiting team all year starting with the North America Group I ties in Mexico and Ecuador, then playing in Israel for the World Group playoff tie.
The first round tie is set for February 10-12 of next year, but the location and venue has yet to be decided.
It goes without saying that France will be a tough team to beat in 2012. Not only did they reach the semi-finals this year with three Top-20 players (Tsonga, Simon, and Gasquet), but they were finalists against Serbia in 2010. But Canada will have the home crowd cheering them on in February. Assuming they are all healthy, fans will get to see the likes of Milos Raonic, Daniel Nestor, and Vasek Pospisil play for Canada on their home turf. The team nominations are obviously a long way off, but those names will no doubt be at the top of captain Martin Laurendeau's list.
More details on the Canada vs. France draw here.
Canada to join Davis Cup World Group in 2012
Vasek Pospisil carried the Canadian Davis Cup team to victory in their tiebreak vs. Israel with a straight sets win over Amir Weintraub, 6-2 7-6(3) 6-4. Canada has earned their spot in the World Group for Davis Cup in 2012.
Israel evened the tiebreak at 2-2 after Dudi Sela defeated Peter Polansky in the first rubber match of the day. Polansky had to step in for Raonic who withdrew from play earlier today. Then it would all come down to the deciding match between Pospisil and Weintraub.
Building off his epic 5-set victory against Sela in the first round and the doubles win with Nestor yesterday, Pospisil came out firing in the final rubber. Vasek's serve was working well, winning lots of free points from aces and unreturnable first serves. Weintraub made a push in the second set and managed to go up a break. But Pospisil stayed with him and got the break back, eventually taking the set in a tiebreak. There would be no comeback for Weintraub in this one, and Pospisil was more than happy to win it in straight sets to secure Canada's spot in the Davis Cup World Group for 2012.
It's been a great weekend for Pospisil, who has had some very positive results this summer at the Rogers Cup and the US Open. Vasek won both of his singles rubber matches, as well as the doubles rubber with Daniel Nestor. It's one of the best individual performances by a Canadian in team history. Mission ImPospisil is the first Canadian since Nestor in 2000 to win 3 points in a Davis Cup World Group tie. Pospisil got on a roll at just the right time, and his reward is to see Canada join the Elite 16 teams in the World Group next year.
Canada hasn't been in the Davis Cup World Group since 2004. We will find out next week who Canada will face in the first round of World Group play in February, 2012.
“Vasek beat the state of Israel this weekend,” said Canada’s captain Martin Laurendeau. “It wasn’t just a quality team. It was the opponent and the heat and the crowd. It was just a gutsy effort from our horse." (source)
Well done, Vashy!
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Raonic Wtihdraws from Davis Cup / Metz
Milos Raonic has withdrawn from Davis Cup and next week's tournament in Metz, France. (source)
Raonic admits that he may have tried to come back from injury too soon. While he says his hip is fine, he is certainly feeling the effects of his tough 4-set match with Amir Weintraub on Friday. No doubt the food poisoning has prevented Raonic from making a smooth and manageable return. This is what Raonic has to say about how he feels on court:
"It's like all these little problems now seem so big. I get a little sick, and it seems to make such a big difference. I'm feeling a little slow out there, and suddenly it feels like I can't think the game as I play."
Pulling out of a the Davis Cup match is bad enough, but Raonic is delaying his return to the ATP tour for at least another week. He was entered into the upcoming tournament in Metz, but now Raonic feels that he is not ready to play.
Peter Polansky is now playing instead of Raonic, taking on Dudi Sela who lost the opening singles rubber of the tiebreak to Vasek Pospisil. Polansky is currently down a set to Sela. Pospisil will take on Amir Weintraub in the final rubber. Team Canada only needs to win one match today in order to advance.
Go Canada, go!
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Davis Cup on Sportsnet ONE
The Davis Cup World Group Playoff round between Canada and Israel starts this Friday, Sept.16. Sportsnet ONE will feature live coverage throughout the weekend beginning at 7AM ET on Friday.
Milos Raonic announced a few weeks ago via this tweet that he would make his return to competitive play at Davis Cup. The official team roster was revealed recently, with Vasek Pospisil, Peter Polansky, and Daniel Nestor traveling to Israel along with Raonic. The most well known player on Team Israel is Dudi Sela, who is ranked inside the Top 100 and recently lost in the 2nd Round of the US Open to semi-finalist Roger Federer. Sela was easily dismissed by Federer in straight sets.
In other news: http://samprasvsraonic.com/
Canadians at the US Open [Update]
Vasek Pospisil is the lone Canadian left in the Singles draw at the US Open. Both Rebecca Marino and Aleksandra Wozniak lost their opening round matches, and Frank Dancevic retired from his first round match after completing the Qualifying Grand Slam this year.
Mission ImPospisil is trying to keep Canadian hopes alive and is currently on Court 10 with Lukas Rosol (CZE). You can view live scores here. Also in action today is Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi (BLR), who are seeded No.2 in the Men's Doubles draw. Canadian Adil Shamasdin is in the same section of the Doubles draw with Nestor, who is teamed up with Slovakian Igor Zelenay.
Rebecca Marino will be playing Women's Doubles as well. Her teammate is American Christina McHale, who defeated Aleksandra Wozniak in three sets on Monday.
I wonder if that'll come up in conversation before they hit the courts.
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Canadians Qualify for the US Open
Raonic may have withdrawn from the US Open, but we have some Canadian players who have qualified for the main draw at the final major of the year.
On the Men's side, Frank Dancevic will face Marsel Ilhan (TUR) in the first round. The two have yet to meet, but if you recognize Ilhan's name it is because Raonic defeated him earlier this year at Indian Wells. Coming off a solid performance in Montreal, Vasek Pospisil has qualified for the main draw and will have Lukas Rosol (CZE) as his first round opponent.
As for the Women, only Aleksandra Wozniak was able to make it through the qualifying rounds. She will face the young American Christina McHale to open the tournament. Rebecca Marino was entered directly into the main draw and will be up against Gisela Dulko (ARG) in the first round.
Wozniak vs. McHale is currently the only match involving a Canadian scheduled to go ahead on the first day. Of course, that is subject to change due to the effects of Hurricane (now Tropical Storm) Irene.
EDIT: According to this update, the tournament should start on (or close to) schedule tomorrow with play starting as early as possible. Good news for ticket holders and stay-at-home fans alike!
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Raonic Withdraws from US Open
According to this tweet, Milos Raonic has decided to pull out of the US Open and delay his return until Canada's Davis Cup World Group Playoff with Israel in September.
This is bittersweet news, as we were hopeful for a comeback at the US Open next week. However, Raonic says he is "feeling great" and that he is hard at work with his coaches preparing for Davis Cup. Milos was an integral part of the Canadian team that defeated Mexico in the first round of Group 1 player earlier this year, but was unable to travel with the team for the tiebreak against Ecuador.
Playing for Canada in Davis Cup will be a great way for Raonic to come back, even if it means the fans will have to wait a little longer for his return. If nothing else, it is good to have a definite outline for when Milos will be able to compete again. So in the coming weeks as we are watching the US Open and wishing Raonic was there lighting it up with his serve, we can at least look forward to his return in the very near future. Hopefully he will be able to finish strong this season and put an exclamation point on what has been a great year overall, despite the obvious setbacks.
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Milos Raonic to play Pete Sampras in November
Milos Raonic announces that he will play against Pete Sampras in an exhibition tennis match at the Air Canada Centre (ACC) in Toronto, ON - 17 November 2011
Milos Raonic wasn't able to play at the Rogers Cup in Montreal this year, but that didn't stop him from making news. During the broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet, Raonic announced that he will playing an exhibition match this Fall versus hall-of-famer and tennis legend Petros "Pete" Sampras at the Air Canada Centre (ACC) in Toronto. He announced that the match with Pete Sampras is scheduled for November 17th of this year and that he was excited about the opportunity. The event has yet to be listed on the ACC website, and there is no word as to when tickets will go on sale.
While on his way to winning his first ATP tour title in San Jose, Raonic got to meet Sampras. The tennis legend gave the young upstart some advice on his game, later saying that Raonic is "the whole package". Needless to say, the exhibition match between these two will be a hot ticket in the fall.
As for when Raonic will make his return to competitive play after the Wimbledon injury, there is still no definite timeline. We are hopeful that Milos will be ready for the US Open, which is fast approaching. Despite the surgery, Raonic is optimistic about his return stating that he will be able "to reach another level" when he comes back.
Obviously, we are very eager to see that.
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Raonic: Surgery “sucked”
In this video, Milos Raonic reveals that having to undergo surgery on his hip "sucked". Because of the injury, we haven't been able to see Raonic play since Wimbledon. While there is no definite timeline for return yet, we have known for some time that Raonic will miss the upcoming Rogers Cup in Montreal. After that tournament, there is Cincinnati and then the US Open at the end of August. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a comeback on the hardcourts in New York.
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