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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 19, 2012Milos RaonicMELBOURNE, VICTORIA M. RAONIC/P. Petzschner THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Was it a little patchy from both of you today? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. I didn't serve too well, but I managed to take care of my serve, which is the most important part. He was doing a good thing. My goal was to make him hit a lot of volleys when he came in. He was doing a good thing there. I was struggling a little bit, I don't know why, when I was running forward. I don't know why I was struggling exactly. At the beginning he started with the volleying. He started well and just put a lot more pressure on me because I know he can play really well. My goal was really just to stick with him till I get my opportunities. I felt like I was getting a lot of even games, like 30‑All or 15‑All. I was really the one letting it slip up too many times so I was quite frustrated with it. Q. How do you explain three or four breaks towards the end there? MILOS RAONIC: I got a little tight, for sure. After he had the Love‑40 game, towards the end of that set, then I broke him after that. He was doing the right thing between making me just play and also putting the pressure on me. So he wasn't letting me get into any kind of rhythm on what to expect from him. So that definitely made it tough. It's always tough to close out a match. Especially for me a big part of closing out matches is my serve. I don't think in the first game I put in any first serves. If I did, I put in one, and he returned it high and deep. In the other game, I think I was just tight after the first game. Q. Did you feel him drawing you in throughout the match? He was egging you on a little bit. Was that something you were able to work on during the match? How frustrating was that? MILOS RAONIC: It was frustrating in the manner that I felt like I was getting to a lot of them. I think I was thinking more about his positioning rather than hitting the shot. I think I was just, instead of focusing on that shot, because a lot of them I felt like I got there with quite a bit of time, I think I was just thinking more so about the next shot after. I think I was thinking too far ahead rather than that shot. After you miss a few, you start to doubt a bit when you go out there to hit them. Q. You felt okay about your movement and getting to those balls? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I was moving well. I think I'm moving better than I did last year here. I think I didn't serve nearly as well as I did last year, or even last week. I'm just taking care of the things I need to take care of. I'm giving myself not always opportunities, but close, like half opportunities. I just need to find a way to commit more on those. Q. You don't look ahead, but do you know what happens next? MILOS RAONIC: I think the play the winner of Andy and Lleyton. Q. How do you feel about that? MILOS RAONIC: It's going to be good. I played one of them before. It was a really long match. Two quite opposite players, yet at the same time they both have a lot of experience. They know how to win. For me it's really going to be, again, as always, every match it's about imposing myself whoever I play, taking care of my serve, looking to try to dictate on the return games when I get the opportunities. I feel the thing I'm doing much better this year is returning a lot better, getting a lot more returns in, giving myself that opportunity. Not always converting after it, but it's something I'm still working on. I'm at least getting the point started, getting myself in the point. That will obviously be the goal against either of the two that I play. I'm going to have to work on a few serves tomorrow and also work on the first shots after the return of the serve. Q. What are your memories of that final against Andy? A lot of us recall the match point. MILOS RAONIC: It was a match, it could have gone either way. I had set points in the first set tiebreak. He had match points in the set second tiebreak. Really we were both pretty much on the edge throughout the whole match. There were a few breaks. But there was a lot of opportunities. I think the tennis level was quite good in that match. But I think it's going to be quite different here. The courts do play a bit slower. I feel like I'm moving well. I haven't really watched what either of the two guys have been doing in their last rounds. I've watched them over the years. I don't think really it's changed too much. But I remember in that match what I was doing was taking care of my serve and taking care of what I needed to do, trying to be the one imposing rather than being the one running around. Q. You were running around on the backhand side to hit forehands today. Is that something you do consciously? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. It's something we've worked on. It helps me dictate. It was a little tough because he has not an average slice. His slice goes a bit more into the body, so you have to give yourself even more space than normal. Then he was also mixing that dropshot in with it. So it was a little tough. I never really got the feeling of hitting it a hundred percent. I felt there were sometimes opportunities and I was just hesitating, making him play another ball, where I would have liked to have gone for it more, gone through the ball more. In the end of the day I think it's something that can help me because I can do a lot more damage with my forehand than my backhand. Q. Do you like the fact that the pressure is now on them? First two matches you were supposed to win. You might even be the underdog. MILOS RAONIC: I don't think that really matters. I think at the end of the day I play and I expect a lot from myself. Doesn't matter who it is. It doesn't mean I'm going to go out there, just because they're expected to win, free wheeling and swinging. No, I have my game and I just need to follow through with it. Q. How were the conditions out there for you today? MILOS RAONIC: They were good. It was more of a calm day today. It wasn't as windy. That definitely helps. I think really the environment was great. There was a lot of people. It was fun to play in. But I just wasn't really too pleased with specific parts of my performance. I think the way I managed to get through it is the most important part. But I think I'm going to step out tomorrow, I don't feel really that tired at all, so I think I'm going to step out for a more intense hit tomorrow and work on a few things. Q. In this tournament players are breaking their racquets on the court. What are your thoughts on that? MILOS RAONIC: I have 10 racquets. I need to play with 10 racquets. I don't have any to break. I don't know. I never really broke racquets too much often. But last year I played the first half of the year with three racquets and the second half of the year with four racquets. I think that also made me settle down with the breaking racquets. Now I have a few more racquets, but I don't feel the habit or anger to break them. Q. Do you know why players are doing that more? MILOS RAONIC: A way of release. I don't know. I don't know who's been breaking racquets. I saw yesterday Marcos. I don't know who else has been doing it. I think it helped him out. He played a bit better after that. I guess you got to ask them why they're doing it. Q. How are you enjoying your time in Melbourne at the moment? MILOS RAONIC: It's been good. We stay at the Hyatt. It's really a nice walk. You can walk close to the river. You have a lot of good restaurants on the side where the whole exhibition place is, down that walkway, a lot of great restaurants. We really haven't been doing too much. It's been more focused on the tennis, just getting out for practices. I don't know why, but I've been sleeping a little more than usual since I got here. I've been sleeping so I haven't gotten out to do too much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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