General 
/ Sean Calvert / 24 February 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Milos Raonic has already upset some big names
"The thing that first struck me about Raonic - other than his massive serve - was his confidence and calmness under pressure."
Sean Calvert discusses the rapid rise of a young Canadian player who is starting to make real waves...
Quiz question: Who is the best Canadian (male) tennis player of all time? No, it's not Greg Rusedski or even Frank Dancevic. It's Milos Raonic.
That's according to the rankings and despite having only in the last month appeared on most observers' (including mine) radars, the 20-year-old has blasted his way to number 37 in the world from 374 a year ago.
Pedants may point out that Rusedski reached number four in the world and a Grand Slam final, but he had long since 'defected' to play for Great Britain by that stage (he was ranked 47 when he switched) and on the looks of this year's evidence thus far, Raonic may go on to better those achievements in any case.
I was first alerted to Raonic in Melbourne this year when I noticed his results against Michael Llodra, Mikhail Youzhny and Ferrer and that effort was followed up when he won his first event in San Jose without dropping a set, beating Fernando Verdasco in the final.
On the back of that I advised him as my bet in Memphis and was fortunate enough to take someone's generous lay of [80.0] although he was generally available at [20.0].
I watched all of his matches at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the thing that first struck me about Raonic - other than his massive serve - was his confidence and calmness under pressure.
This kid can not only hit a first serve at 150mph - that would make him just a slightly better version of Ivo Karlovic - but he can play as well. He'd be a handful to many in the top 20 without it.
The comparisons with Karlovic and John Isner are obvious, given their similarity in stature and their ace counts, but Ivo has little else to his game while Milos moves well and hits thunderous winners off both wings.
His inside out forehand reminds me a bit of Del Potro's, while some of his backhand winners arrowed down the line are like those of a Youzhny or Wawrinka, although two handed, so perhaps Djokovic might be technically a more accurate comparison.
He can volley too and with a reach like his, he's not an easy guy to pass at net, though he loves a target himself and drove Andy Roddick to distraction with one delightful top spin lob to go with passes down either line in Memphis.
So, he has all the shots, but the thing about his serve is that it's not just a flat 150mph down the middle blaster, Raonic often throws in a slow kicker out wide on first serve or a body serve - the variety left Roddick clueless.
OK, so Roddick's not the best returner, but the point is that the average receiver has no clue which way it's going and at what speed or trajectory.
Before we get too excited, there are chinks in his armour, but they should be able to be ironed out by coach Galo Blanco in the fullness of time.
He had a tendency to drop his level in his matches once ahead in Memphis and against Roddick he became too passive and was waiting for his opponent to cough up the error too often, whereas his strength lies in going for his shots.
The service motion is dead set, with eight bounces of the ball on first and second serve - no more, no less - and it looks an action that won't break down unless he tinkers with it.
The Montenegro-born Canadian, who turned 20 in December, reminds me a little of his boyhood hero, Pete Sampras, in the sense that he can be 0-30 or 0-40 down on serve and not get flustered, rather he comes up with a few aces and he's out of trouble.
The temper is there - you will see him hit his racquet on his shoe often in matches - but otherwise nothing seems to faze him.
Another interesting thing is his eagerness to compete on clay to improve his all-round game, something that most big servers don't bother with (and Roddick is a case in point there).
Verdasco got his knickers in a twist after losing to Raonic twice in a week and was quoted as saying: "For me that's not a real match in tennis. I hope to play soon against him in clay court to show him what it is to play tennis, and play rallies, and run, and not [just] serve.'
No sour grapes there then. If they do meet on clay, Verdasco might just find that Raonic can play a 'real tennis match' and play it rather better than he expects.
With no points to defend, top-20 looks a certainty for Canada's best player and he'll be a huge threat indoors and on quick outdoor hard-courts.
Sean Calvert discusses the rapid rise of a young Canadian player who is starting to make real waves......
The women's game has lost many of its biggest names either to injury or retirement in recent times. Guy McCrea asks if we are finally about to witness a new group of women regularly contend at the Grand Slams......
It's been a year of ups and downs on the WTA Tour. But what were the most important moments? In the first of a two-part series, Guy McCrea selects five highlights from the opening half of the 2010 season ......
No comments:
Post a Comment