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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS WIMBLEDON

July 12, 2017

Milos Raonic

Wimbledon, London, England

R. FEDERER/M. Raonic

6-4, 6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Do you ever wonder what you have to do to beat Roger Federer, if he's ever going to slow down at all?
MILOS RAONIC: You know you have to do a lot. It's a stiff task. I guess you can know what you have to do. It's a lot harder to do it than just to know it.

Q. He just seems to come back every time, doesn't he, play the most incredible shots?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, he's moving well. I think the thing I was most impressed with, at least the years I've been on tour, he was extremely sharp mentally always in the right moments, just always on top of things. He kept a very high gear the whole entire time without giving many real glimpses. I think that was the most sort of defeating thing.

Q. How about you mentally? Last year you had some disappointments. Any this year?
MILOS RAONIC: No. I did everything I could. I tried. He's doing a lot of things well.

Could I have been a bit more efficient at the net, a few volleys? Yes. But he kept the pressure on me. It wasn't just like I was sitting there volleying and there was nobody at the other side of the net. He was doing great things to keep pressure on me all the time.

There will be some things I will look back at. But I can't really right now at this moment say, without a fact -- well, I can say with a fact I did everything I could to try to find a way to win.

Q. Can you describe what you were feeling during that third set tiebreak. You got off to a good start. He almost didn't let you touch the ball and the crowd was going crazy.
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, maybe just that one time at 3-0, I believe, when he got one of the mini breaks back I had a change. He still came up with a good shot. I had my racquet on it. Other than that, he had a forehand winner off a return, another one I came in on, the one down the line, he hits it back, that I challenged. I hit it back on the line, then he hit it back on the line.

I can't be necessarily too disappointed with myself. Those moments you sort of try to keep making him have to do it again and again. And he did.

Q. Were you frustrated? Amazed? What was it like?
MILOS RAONIC: I was sort of moving on, Okay, let's see if he can do it again. Let's see if he can do it again. He kept doing it.

Q. You played a great semifinal here last year and you won in five sets. How would you compare Roger this year to last year?
MILOS RAONIC: I think the most significant thing is he's mentally sharper and I think he's moving better. I think we looked at some stats compared to - I don't know today what it was - but compared to last year at Wimbledon to this year. I think he only was hitting 3% more over the ball. I think he's just in better position. He has more freedom to do it.

I think he's just mentally on top of it. There's really no glimpses. You can see there's not much doubt in his mind. He's feeling it.

Q. Is there anything from this match that makes you want to rethink some of the things you're doing going forward, your training team?
MILOS RAONIC: No. The one thing I have to -- obviously right now, for a guy that hates losing as much as I do, it's hard to look at it that way.

The one thing I'm most happy with is I have gotten through another set of tournaments healthy. Until really after Paris, where I played consecutively, I didn't really have a chance to think about tennis. Everything was, How am I doing things? What am I doing? Am I getting out of the end of each week healthy?

It's a relief now with a certain training block and recovery block, that I have the pieces in place, that I'm doing the things, at least what seems to be in the right combination at this moment, and I can just focus on tennis.

I got to give it time for it to really work out. Hopefully it gives me a little bit of mental relief that I don't have to always be worrying about how I'm going to end each week.

Q. You feel healthy now, you feel good?
MILOS RAONIC: Yes.

Q. Would Roger be your tip to win this now on Sunday?
MILOS RAONIC: I don't know who won. Doesn't matter who won. Regardless who is in or not, I think he's been playing the best tennis this year. One at a time.

I guess as much as you can say about sport, which is probably one of the least unpredictable things, but he has it within his grasp, let's say.

Q. First set, he ran wide for a shot, the passing shot landed in by a foot, did you have no chance to volley it?
MILOS RAONIC: I covered the line. He sort of handcuffed me. He went at my right shoulder. I had to get out of the way. I knew it was going in, but sort of the way I was leaning, the way he was leaning, he sort of hit it in the right pocket. I guess if it was off by another foot or two, maybe I could have reached it with the backside of my racquet. It was sort of a part of the body I couldn't really protect.

Q. I don't know if you know this, but Djokovic retired, saying he has an elbow injury that he's had for the last year and a half or so, and he might not play for the rest of this year. I think you played him in Madrid last year. The other times you've seen him or played with him, did you notice something about that?
MILOS RAONIC: I didn't know he had an ongoing thing consistently. I knew there were a few times last year where there was mention of an elbow and these kind of things. I didn't know it was a thing that was a hindrance week in and week out.

Q. Immediate plans, plans through the rest of the summer?
MILOS RAONIC: I think, so I don't get any penalties, I have to play a 500, so I'll probably ask for a wildcard in Washington. Obviously Montreal and then the mandatory ones following.

Q. Your coaching situation going forward, do you know what it is?
MILOS RAONIC: As it is now.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about working with Mark.
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, we've spent now -- it's been almost three and a half weeks, but he had to leave for a little period of time, so let's say two and a half weeks together, during probably the most stressful time for me of the year, because it's where I want to do the best. So we had little glimpses of time to work on things. Didn't have too much.

But for me the most important thing was the communication was good, the perspective was good, the idealogy going forward was good. Hopefully now we have a period of time after some rest to put some work into it, then sort of try to iron out those things that he sees in my game, and that I believe I need to improve, as well.

Q. With Andy being injured today, Novak having to retire, I believe there were 10 players that had to retire. What are your thoughts in terms of rules, ranking points, that players lose when they're injured? Do you think there's something within the system that should be more flexible to give players more time to rest? The tour is long.
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I guess that's the one thing, the tour, everything is about sort of equality week in and week out. Everybody has the same standards they have to play against.

I guess now, over the last few years, there's been this standard that if you're above a certain age, have played a certain amount of matches, or certain years of service, you can start missing out on Masters, these kind of things, without any penalties.

I find myself in that sort of situation right now, where I do have to find a 500 to squeeze into my schedule so I don't sit with a zero for 52 weeks. Sitting with a zero for 52 weeks is something else. I sat with a zero because of Indian Wells for 52 weeks.

I guess that's the only thing. I think it should be the same rule for everybody. As long as you're playing on tour, for obvious equality, everybody should be expected to show up at each and every tournament if that's the standard, or nobody should have to have it as a mandatory event. I don't think there should be any differential, which there is at this moment.

Q. Looking forward to the US Open, last year you had a big loss against Ryan Harrison where your body didn't work the way you wanted it. How is your feeling right now concerning your body? Do you have the trust?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. Since I started on clay, I started my clay season later than I normally would, but I've been playing many weeks now without any major hindrances, other than little aches, which is normal from playing tennis. Nobody said playing high-level sport is the healthiest thing in the world.

But I'm happy with the way my body's progressing. I'm happy with the things I'm doing. I'm happy sort of having that motivation. Looking forward to try to do better than I did. The tournament I would like to think I have my better chances at that I probably played the worst at.

Q. 6-4, 6-2, pretty one-sided for him. You showed some grit at different times in the tournament. Any consolation in a hard-fought third set?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I think I had more glimpses than he did in the third set. I just tried to put it all out there.

Obviously, Roger is a phenomenal player. When he's ahead, even more phenomenal because he plays more freely. I sort of tried to claw my way back into it. Gave myself a few opportunities. He played them well. That's how sort of the cookie crumbles.

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