ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

November 3, 2020

Milos Raonic

Press Conference

M. RAONIC/A. Bedene

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I'm curious what this past couple of months have been like for you? How would you describe them?

MILOS RAONIC: There has been a lot of negatives, obviously, because at the end of the day it's not just about myself. So I think there has been a lot of negatives.

You know, I can look at the tennis and say there is a lot of positives, but I think that's probably one of the least important things at a time like this.

Personally, for me, I haven't seen my family, seen my parents one entire year, who I'm quite close with and I spend a lot of time with. When I can between tournaments I am with them.

So those kind of things weigh on you, and I think another aspect that weighs on you is you don't know when the next opportunity is. You know, you don't have something to look forward to.

But outside of that and outside of all the other hardship, I can say some positive things about my tennis and about trying to really make the most of the time that we had during the hiatus to try to get better, to improve, and get healthy.

Q. Not seeing your family, I guess you have been in Europe for two months more or less. How has that...

MILOS RAONIC: It's not just that. I didn't see my family before. As soon as we got canceled at Indian Wells, you know, we stayed in the U.S. trying to see if Miami is going to happen. I think that was about a week, within like three to four days that got removed.

Then you have other events that sort of didn't allow me to go home. My parents are a little bit older. Especially at the beginning we didn't necessarily know everything about the virus, about testing, the security of testing, how to go home. I didn't want to be around them at the beginning, and then before you know it a lot of the places have closed. Canada right now, which I believe is sort of the right thing, when you go home it's a two-week quarantine, no questions asked.

It hasn't necessarily been something I could work into my schedule if I also wanted to focus on tennis at the same time.

Q. Has it been difficult focusing on tennis or getting motivated for tennis, given what you just said?

MILOS RAONIC: Yes and no. I think once you sort of got past the first aspect of when we stopped and you sort of had something to look forward to, once we knew the US Open was going to happen -- obviously anything could have changed in the last minute and here could have changed in the last minute last Thursday when France went on a -- that's sort of the norm we are having now, are tournaments continuing and so forth.

So when you have something to look forward to it's easy to get motivated. Obviously with everything else going on, it's a bit more difficult. But as tennis players, you know, we're always the center of our own bubble. You know, when we go somewhere, we have coaches and staff that's there to take care of us in every single way possible as much as they can. So we're treated like sort of princesses, and it keeps us separated.

You know, that aspect and the people around me I'm thankful for that have been able to help keep my head on right and keep me focused.

Q. Can you just talk about today, how you felt you played and whether you're thinking about London at all, even though I know it's mathematically possible but it's kind of a long shot? What's your mindset towards that?

MILOS RAONIC: That's far from my mind. I think I'm just thinking -- you know, I had to stop in the last tournament I played, I wasn't sure if I was going to be ready for here. And to play well today and to play efficiently on court and to not have any of those physical issues, that's sort of what has occupied my mind the most.

You know, there is a long ways to go and a lot more hopefully tennis to play.

Q. You mentioned that you don't know how many opportunities you'll have. Does that change decisions you make, I don't know, about whether it's scheduling, practicing, I don't know? What does that change?

MILOS RAONIC: Opportunities to play tennis or to see my family?

Q. To play tennis.

MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I think it's hard to know exactly looking forward, because as of now I think we know this new two-year ranking system goes through till I believe Indian Wells.

It's going to be interesting to see how many tournaments can be on the schedule next year, what is allowed, what is not. Everything around the world at this moment is getting worse, you know. It's hard to know what our future looks like.

But if a two-year ranking system has to continue because there is a lack of events or maybe there is not a fair amount of events for players to be able to consistently defend, then there is going to be more opportunities to stop and play, because you'll have 250s or 500s, and then you'll really try to focus on the Masters and the Grand Slams, because those you sort of take a hit when you don't play them a bit more directly.

So I think in the future, it's going to be a bit of an adjustment learning and seeing how this new system goes about.

Q. In terms of planning the off-season, obviously things are still difficult to plan and with travel and everything, so for you, are you already thinking about that and Australia and all that?

MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, you know, we're waiting to hear what the final decision is on Australia. Obviously you hear little things through the grapevine, but who knows how much is rumors, how much is fact.

From what I understand we will have to be there quite early. I have three plans in place for the off-season. I have one that I'd really like to do, which would be good for my tennis and my mind, and then I have others that, you know, could be option 2 and option 3.

Until the day or the moment I say, Okay, my season is done and I've got to figure out which of those is possible, which is sort of a gamble. It's not about which of those is possible now but which of those is possible in whatever it is, four, five weeks to be able to get out of as well. So you have to play the odds and hope those go to your favor.