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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL PRESENTED BY SUNCORP

January 7, 2016

Milos Raonic

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

M. RAONIC/I. Dodig

6-7, 6-1, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Tight one and a long one.
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I felt like I was doing a few things well, and just happy with the way I carried through to the end.

I felt I got better through the match, so that's the thing I'm most pleased with.

Q. Feel a little bit rusty at the beginning, first set?
MILOS RAONIC: A little bit, but I think, you know, I had the opportunities as well. Yeah, he played well on them. A few maybe mid-game sloppy mistakes in that sense.

I'm just happy with the way the sort of progress went along. The goal is always to get better throughout the match.

Q. How do you look at the start of this year? You were at a career-high early last year, and then got derailed. Do you feel like you're picking up where you left off last year or do you still have to climb quite a ways at this point?
MILOS RAONIC: I think I'm further along than where I was. I think I just sort of need matches like today to sort of reset myself in that position.

That's the on thing, because it was nine months until sort of today that I wasn't playing a match for points in complete health. So that was a nice change.

Q. Did you feel in complete health now?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah.

Q. Seemed like you were coming to the net a lot, more than you would normally come. Was it to keep him back a bit? Seemed like you were rushing in a lot more than normal.
MILOS RAONIC: It's something we worked on adding to my game. I think I'm still maybe working out the understanding of when I can use it better and how to use it better.

I felt I was pretty efficient at the net. Maybe a few sloppy mistakes, but I felt like I'm improving there. I want to spend more time up there.

Q. Carlos Moya wouldn't seem like an obvious fit in terms of how he played and how you usually play. Wondering why you thought he was the guy for you at this point.
MILOS RAONIC: Well I think he can add a lot, especially on sort of the basis that the work is going to happen. It's not like full time, but it's still quite a few weeks.

I got to know him a bit and he's a good person to spend a lot of time with as well. Also, at the same time, I think he can add a lot of perspective to me, not only what I need to do better on the court, but also what I can do better off the court.

And just from talking, the way he sees that I should move forward with my game. We found a lot of common ground there, so it's just about finding ways to exploit it better.

Q. What are you adding to your game then?
MILOS RAONIC: I think it's just mixing it up a little bit more on my service games; coming in a bit more; finding ways to come in; opening up the court a bit more with my forehand, which sometimes I would more look for the chance to hit hard rather than create an angle or so forth.

So I think those kind of things are the goals to sort of make instinctual rather than something I need to think about.

Q. You used to watch Carlos on TV when you were a kid. He won his slam. Were you too young?
MILOS RAONIC: When he won his slam, yes, but many times after that I did watch him play. I started playing tennis in '99, so just missed it by a bit.

But, no, I did watch him play. I would say probably the most significant aspect that I saw was probably from 2002 on. In that period of time is probably when I saw him play the most.

Q. And he had a lot of variety more or less, no? Forehand?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. Well, people obviously talk a lot about his forehand, but he had a very good serve and he played smart with it. He wasn't necessarily somebody that would blow you off the court with his serve, but he played smart with the serve.

He used his backhand, especially the one up the line, to give him more perspective to control with the forehand, all these kind of things which I think I could keep improving on.

It sort of maybe not mirror matches what I want to do. Maybe in different ways. But sort of I want to get to that same objective that he did. He was always trying to play to get the short ball on the forehand side in the middle of the court.

So I think finding ways to do that differently, but same goal.

Q. Youngest guy on tour who has won a Masters title is still Djokovic; he's almost 29. You think that will still be the case through this year? You think your generation, the generation behind you, whatever you want to call it, is getting closer to that?
MILOS RAONIC: I believe we are. It's, you know, hopefully something that will change sooner than later.

I think my level is there that I can really make big affect on the top tier tournaments. Just need to put it together.

Q. I particularly liked your compression sock being the same color as your shoes.
MILOS RAONIC: Is that a question? I like it too.

Q. My question is: do you have an array of colors?
MILOS RAONIC: I do, but I think I'm going to stick to the matchy-matchy game for now.

Q. How much effort do you put into your on-court look in general? You seem to pay more attention to detail than maybe your average player.
MILOS RAONIC: I don't think I put specific amounts. I think there are people me around that make put that attention to it.

Q. You have a stylist team or...
MILOS RAONIC: Well, I'm not going to make it sound like it's a big fashion house or anything. But, no, I have good people that work around and that help me and that actually enjoy that aspect more than I do.

I just get dressed. My job is simple.

Q. Do you have goals for this year? Kei said he wants to win a Masters title this year or make a slam final or something like that. Do you have any...
MILOS RAONIC: I think I want to make a true breakthrough at a slam. The slams are really the biggest goal for me this year.

Rio is a significant goal, alongside -- obviously Toronto for me has a special meaning compared to all the other slams just because it's home. So I think those are the six sort of the moments I would like to peak at this year.

Tough to peak for six moments but any of those six would be special.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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