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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2017

Milos Raonic

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

M. RAONIC/D. Brown

6-3, 6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How much did you have to get used to the heat out there? Or was the worst of it gone by the time you got on court?
MILOS RAONIC: I don't think it was really too much of a factor today.

Q. How do you assess your performance?
MILOS RAONIC: It was what it needed to be. It's obviously tough to have necessarily a solid performance all the way through, but I did what I needed to.

I took care of my serve. I broke quite early in all the sets. Just dropped off a little bit where I faced a few sort of dangers on my service games in the beginning of the third, end of the second.

But other than that, I returned pretty solid when I had to. I stepped up, and I played well.

Q. Straight sets. Would you say it's the best possible start to this tournament?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. Obviously you want to get in and get out and play as well as you can. Starting off, obviously it's not easy, but I played solid and I was efficient out there, which I'm happy with.

Q. How easy is it to play against a guy who most people are watching to see whether he pulls off some amazing shot, but he can also throw in some rubbish, as well?
MILOS RAONIC: You know, the main point for at least myself was I really had to focus on myself. He's very capable of going very high up with his level, but that can also drop quite quickly.

It's about really providing a solid level for myself, and hopefully that weathers the storm.

Q. He talked about how well you served today, how hard it was to play you. What indicators do you have from him that you're getting to him a bit that way?
MILOS RAONIC: Well, I think for me even the last time I played him I was able to take care of my serve. There was just a little bit of a lapse in the beginning of the match.

But the most important thing was what I did different today compared to then was I was much more solid on the returning. Once I was getting the return in, if I was sharp before the point started, I was always getting it deep down the middle. I was able to neutralize quite well.

I missed a few opportunities to break, but I broke because it sort of just got to him. He went for a big second serve. I got a double towards the end of that first set.

So that's sort of when I could notice it, when I felt like he was sort of playing with smaller and smaller margins.

Q. This is the first match in Melbourne after the semifinal last year that ended in a fairly heartbreaking way for you. Was there any weird feeling? Was there anything in your mind?
MILOS RAONIC: Not at all. This is a completely new tournament.

Q. When you played Brown at the US Open, he had done in his ankle at the Olympics, and I don't think he had even played for five weeks. And yet you took care of him far more routinely here than when he was hampered back then. Do you think that that's more on your play?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I think so. I think I do things quite a bit better on both ends of the court, returning and serving, definitely much better, stepping up and taking care of return games, even just throughout this whole year so far, end of last year.

It hasn't been really coming down to many tiebreaks. And even if it has, I have been able to get many chances, if not break, to get to that point in matches.

I think I'm taking care of both ends and just putting more pressure on.

Q. Why are you returning better?
MILOS RAONIC: I think I'm just more aware of what I need to do.

Before I used to sort of rush and sort of hit the return and try to rush over to the other side in sort of a defensive mindset. Now I put a lot more attention on -- it's a lot more important I hit a good return and take my time. If I hit the good return, I won't have to rush over to the other side.

Q. I read the other day that you're sort of looking into how you sleep and your recovery process. How deep do you go into all that? How much research have you done?
MILOS RAONIC: How much research? Well, I read about it just out of pure desire, and I prefer to know that kind of stuff. How important it is to me, today, as a tennis player and something probably I'll continue to pay attention to one day when I'm not playing tennis so much.

I'm always looking to try to just do things better, whether that be sleep or many other aspects in my life. I try to take care of it.

Q. Possibly Gilles Muller in the next round. He seems like the kind of guy you have to beat him. He's a pretty solid player.
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I have struggled with him. I think we have played twice. He beat me twice. First time obviously was getting hurt at Wimbledon, which was unfortunate.

But, you know, he had a great, phenomenal week last week. For him it was something very special, and obviously it was pretty special to see, as well, that final and his reaction to it.

But I've got to take care of my own end of the court, serve well and try to create some opportunities on his. Obviously, it's going to be a bit more predictable match than today, but I will have to step up and take it to him rather than expect him to give it to me.

Q. You follow culture with some care. The great Canadian songwriter and poet, Leonard Cohen, passed on a while ago. Were you at all familiar with his work, his approach to life?
MILOS RAONIC: Well, not so much his literature. I was actually surprised reading about him how many books he actually wrote. I'm sure when most people mentioned his name they were completely or pretty unaware of.

But I liked his music for a long time, but I wasn't really too aware of his philosophy. I guess, in a sad way, I do like that darker perspective on music.

Q. Any particular song?
MILOS RAONIC: "So Long, Marianne," and "Bird on a Wire."

Q. Are you one of those players that looks at the draw quite extensively, trying to understand what the path could be? Or you just go match by match?
MILOS RAONIC: I hear about it, but I don't really, let's say, break it down too much. I'm not doing the math outside of what's sort of within my control.

Right now I was watching a little bit of the guys that I'll play next, and that's pretty much about it.

But, yeah, I also watch other aspects of people I know that are in my end of the draw, but also watch guys who aren't. I enjoy watching tennis.

Q. Your fastest first serve was 229 and your fastest second was 235. I didn't see every single point in the match. Do you remember how that happened or which second serve you hit so big?
MILOS RAONIC: I think I was up 40-15. I had some space to go for it a little bit.

Q. Did it feel good?
MILOS RAONIC: Did it look good, Tom? Were you watching?

Q. I was there for two sets.
MILOS RAONIC: Thanks, Tom. I appreciate it (laughter).

Q. You got so close last time. Is that a motivating factor at all?
MILOS RAONIC: It is. It is. It's a perspective. It's emotionally, as much and as painful as it was, you sort of understand that there is that other side of the spectrum where you can have that kind of joy if you can go through on those moments.

So it's something I'm definitely itching to experience, and obviously this is the tournament that, yes, I made finals of Wimbledon last year, but this is a tournament I have performed consistently my best at throughout my career.

So I always do feel good coming here, and I want to see what I can do to try to have that experience.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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