|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
WIMBLEDONJune 26, 2014Milos RaonicLONDON, ENGLAND M. RAONIC/J. Sock THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Seemed right from the getgo, simple to say, you were better than him? MILOS RAONIC: Um, yeah. I found a rhythm. For me, the most important thing, especially on grass, is finding that rhythm on second serve return. I found that quite early on, and I was able to stick through it. Both of first two sets I was able to get early breaks, which helps. I was clean off my service games. Q. So this is your best showing at Wimbledon to date. How does that make you feel? MILOS RAONIC: Might sound a little bit harsh, but not too much feeling for it. I want to do much better than I have to this point and than I have today. Q. Do you feel that grass is not a natural surface for you? I mean, if you had to teach yourself to play on it. If so, are you now feeling that you're now comfortable? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I'm more so comfortable. I don't think really for anybody that's it's a surface that anybody can say they play their best tennis on grass. I think it's a matter of playing less worse than you do on other surfaces. It does take quite a bit of adjustment. For me it's difficult. I got long legs, so my center of gravity is pretty high. So for that movement aspect it takes a lot of adjusting, especially after clay. I've just sort of focused more so on the ways I start the points, and then everything else has come together following. Q. What's it been like for you as a young player to see the domination of the big four, where it's so hard to break through at the majors? They've won all but two majors for nine years. What have you learned, and how has that affected your approach to the game? MILOS RAONIC: It's not just what you see them do on TV. It's how you see them prepare, train, what they do in the locker room. There is a lot you learn from, especially my first two years on tour. You sort of just‑‑ those four guys, you sort of have an eye over them the whole time, and you pick up an understanding of what's required to be able to get to that point. Other than that, it's really difficult to do what they're doing. But at the same time, I feel like this year around, even though they have been pretty much winning most of it, there has been a little bit more space for guys to break through. You see a lot more conviction and positivity between the contenders and young guys. Q. What are some of the specific things you would point to? You mentioned it's not just what they do on TV but you see other things. What are some of the other things? MILOS RAONIC: Their efficiency and intensity during training. How they go about things. How they manage their time with the time they spend on court to the time they spend with media to the time they have as obligations to their endorsers and all those things. You sort of pick up all those things that many people don't see and many people don't understand. If you don't deal with those things right, they can be quite distracting and quite inefficient if you're, let's say in a way, spending too much energy where you shouldn't be. You got to leave it all pretty much so that you can compete, and if need be, suffer on the court. Q. Is Court 3 just another court to you now? Any bad lingering memories? Is everything gone now? Just another place to compete? MILOS RAONIC: It is possibly after today. Previous years‑‑ this time I didn't really ask for. I don't know if anybody on my team ‑‑ I have requested not to play on that court, especially later in the day. Shade from the players restaurant area covers the side closer. If it's humid like it has been‑ not today, but the other days ‑ it can be a little bit slippery. But I really didn't feel any discomfort there. At the same time, I feel like the courts are a little bit more dried out quicker than I have seen in the past years. Q. Did you feel more mature than him today? He got frustrated early and showed it, whereas obviously you were doing well from the beginning. He seemed a little bit temperamental. MILOS RAONIC: I felt like the last two times, specifically more so the last time in Miami when I played him, he doesn't have necessarily comfort of playing against me. I can't say I necessarily do against him as well. What you show your opponents can go long way. I just sort of stayed upon what I need to do and focused upon that and let everything else sort of, when it was difficult, slide by. I made sure all my energy and focus was on the right things. Q. Seems like Canadian tennis has really come on in the last three or four years. What's behind that? What's been happening? MILOS RAONIC: There is a good program in place, but I believe a big part of it is one person breaks through and then a whole belief system follows, a belief in the system. And then those days you're tired and you don't want to wake up you got to go train, you got to go run, you got to do weights, you got to play on court for a few hours, they seem a lot easier when you have a belief in the system because you see that somebody is already succeeding through that system. Q. I have one last slightly ridiculous question. It's about the pronunciation of your name. MILOS RAONIC: Which name? Q. Both. So the question I was going to ask, does that bug you when your hear your name pronounced incorrectly? MILOS RAONIC: No, because I think it's a tribute to doing much better that it's pronounced much better most of the time actually now. At first there was... Q. Can you tell us how it's exactly pronounces? MILOS RAONIC: Milos Raonic. Most of the time people even look at me‑‑ my friends are like, How come you introduce yourself as Milos? Just to not have to go through the explanation of in Serbian, the S with a little apostrophe, a little V on the top, that gives it the SH sound. Maybe I make the mistake, but I always pronounce my last name the right way, the way my parents raised me to pronounce it. Sometimes I'll get lazy and cheat with the Milos. Q. Does it make you want to grab the microphone and say, This is how you say my name? MILOS RAONIC: No. I have other things to worry about. Q. Did you hear Milos in the crowd today? MILOS RAONIC: Was it you, Tom Tebbutt? You don't cheer. (Laughter.) Q. No, it was a guy to the right of your chair. MILOS RAONIC: No, Milos is understandable. Some people go up to me as Miles. I don't know how that one comes across. Q. Kubot or Lajovic in the next round. I am not sure. I didn't see if they finished. MILOS RAONIC: They were in the fourth set. Yeah, both are going to be difficult. Dusan I've never played before, but I know him from juniors. Actually, both my coaches, if not at least one of them, is out there watching now. So I got to provide a certain level for myself and then I got to do the other things I need to do to adjust. Q. And Kubot? MILOS RAONIC: Same thing. Q. Ever played him or practiced with him? MILOS RAONIC: I practiced with him many times. I know what he likes to do. He likes to dictate. He likes to come forward. He likes to do a bit of everything. But if I can sort of take the rhythm away from him, I feel like I can give myself the possibility to do well. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|