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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2017

Milos Raonic

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

M. RAONIC/G. Simon

6-2, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Are you feeling better than last time?
MILOS RAONIC: To some extent, yes. It sort of just managed -- I had a rough last 48 hours. But, you know, I got my energy up today much more.

I can sometimes get winded a little bit quicker. But that's improving.

Q. What were the rough parts of the last 48 hours?
MILOS RAONIC: I had a bad fever. I didn't come here yesterday. I just slept pretty much all day. Yeah, everything was aching. Just sort of those kind of symptoms.

Q. You seemed to have revived a bit in the fourth set today, a little bit of a lull in the third.
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, you know, I was controlling things. I'm up a break in the third. Then he started playing a bit more aggressive. I became a little bit too passive.

Then I sort of got that back on my own terms, had sort of a little bit of a dÃ©jÃ vu, didn't hold right after I broke again. But I was able to get back on sort of and just close it out. So I have to be happy with that.

Q. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a match where you went almost exclusively to the slice except for a couple of little periods. You'd be the ultimate authority on that. Was that a specific plan? Can you remember doing it to that extent before?
MILOS RAONIC: You're talking about slice?

Q. On the backhand side.
MILOS RAONIC: No, I think that's what got me in trouble. I think I got too comfortable with that. Then he sort of realized that if he sort of pushes me around a bit, which I allowed him to, there was that one point that led me to get down I think 15-30 to 15-40 in that game that he broke me back after I broke at 2-1. They weren't even good slices. They were just fluffs in the middle.

It wasn't necessarily a great thing. But I was trying to keep him off balance, not give him the same thing too much. I obviously gave him too many slices.

Q. Except you got the first two sets following that strategy.
MILOS RAONIC: I got the first two sets and a break ahead following that strategy. But what he did then is he started being more aggressive, started pushing me back. It was working in the first two sets because I was hitting a few slices, and then I'd get around to a forehand. Eventually I was getting stuck to too many slices.

Q. Was there any time that it hit you that you were running out of gas a little bit?
MILOS RAONIC: No. I think that's also why I was trying to really push myself emotionally and with good, like, maybe over the top, just to not have that happen to me.

It was more just a dip in sort of dictating. It wasn't a physical dip of any kind.

Q. Are you surprised you held up so well today?
MILOS RAONIC: Yes and no. I think I had it within myself, but I didn't know how I was going to come through with it. So yes because of that. Did I think I could have done it? Also yes.

Q. Do you plan tomorrow to have a similar day as previously and take it easier than you normally would?
MILOS RAONIC: Well, it's going to be definitely a lot easier than I normally would. It's going to be a last-minute decision depending how I manage tonight and how I wake up tomorrow morning.

Obviously right now the most important thing for me is I can manage my tennis if I can just have my full capacity and I can figure out tennis throughout the matches. The most important thing for me right now is just to get myself a full capacity or as close to it as possible.

Q. Do you still have a fever, do you know, at this point?
MILOS RAONIC: I'm managing it. I'm sure I'll probably get something after today's match. I've been managing it to try to avoid having it.

Q. Bautista Agut.
MILOS RAONIC: It's going to be a little bit similar to today. Obviously they both hit pretty flat. Bautista tries to take over a little bit more with the forehand. Also, you know, doesn't suck you in as much into his game.

So I've been able to find the solutions for him a few times in the past before. It's going to be a match that I'm going to have to step up and dictate and take it on my terms. That's going to be the most important thing.

Q. The stat sheet said the last match you served and volleyed once.
MILOS RAONIC: Today?

Q. For the last match. You served and volleyed once. You must have served and volleyed 30, 40 times today.
MILOS RAONIC: Me?

Q. Yes.
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, well, he was changing his position quite a bit. He's not one of those guys that can really heavily spin it. So when he was going back, it just gave me a lot more time to get close. It was really about keeping him out of rhythm. A plan that I thought would be pretty sufficiently working for me.

Q. What are you most pleased about in your game today?
MILOS RAONIC: Just the attitude and the way I stuck through it. The game will always come if I give myself a chance with it.

Q. Do you take confidence out of being able to move up and down gears?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. A lot comes from experience and going through a lot of different things over the last few years which you can't sort of cheat or just understand through discussion. I'm just a lot more aware of those things as they happen. I really try to focus on things that are important to me.

I always try to see, am I the one that is controlling play. Am I behind because I'm not executing or am I behind because I'm letting him be the dictator. That's sort of what I look out for.

That was my issue towards the end of that third set and a little gap in the fourth set. But I was able to get that back.

Q. Are you still taking stuff?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah.

Q. Same stuff you mentioned the other day?
MILOS RAONIC: Yes.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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