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SONY ERICSSON OPENMarch 23, 2012Milos RaonicMIAMI, FLORIDA M. RAONIC/A. Clement THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How is the body feeling? MILOS RAONIC: The body's good. I think with this time in between Indian Wells and this week I have been able to work on a lot of things. I feel like I'm moving really well, and I feel like I started off with a pretty good level with my first match. Gives me a lot of good things to build off of. Q. You had a great beginning to last season, first time on tour winning some titles, and then succumbed to some injuries. Now you're getting back at it, building up the body, like you mentioned. How is it defending the title, and what are your goals for the coming year? MILOS RAONIC: No, it's good, especially how serious the injury I was dealing with is. It's nice to be able to play at this level again right now and just put it behind me. It just takes a lot off my mind. And I guess for myself and people from outside, also, it gives you a clear mind. But then I feel like I'm doing well. I feel like I'm doing a lot of good things and I feel like I'm just getting better. I know the ranking will follow. So I haven't put any numbers on it, but I hope and I believe I can get close to top 10. Q. Because of that, do you feel that your mind towards tennis is totally different now? You enjoy it a lot more? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. Q. You have worked very hard to get where you're at. MILOS RAONIC: No, for sure. I think it makes you appreciate things more. I think it's a big learning point just to accept things for what they are more so in the moments, and realize that the most important thing is to win. Doesn't matter how bad you're playing, how bad you might be feeling when, and you can get better. Because you don't know what can happen, what slip can happen and how long you might be sitting out. Just try to make the most of those moments and try to get better on the go and take things for how they are and just keep aiming to improve. Q. First set was a very long set, one hour. How did you feel out there? There were weather conditions; it was a long set. MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, it was. But I felt good. I felt like I was hitting the ball well. I felt like I did a lot of basic things well, but I just wasn't picking the right shots always. I was getting in a bit of trouble, but I was moving low. I felt physically really good. I don't feel like there were any doubts in my mind about the physical aspect of it. So it's good to get by that and hopefully work on tomorrow a few things. And then obviously shot selection is a mental thing, and that can change really quickly. Q. Andy Murray, your next opponent, somebody I think you haven't played before. What sort of match do you expect? Do you have to do anything differently in your game to combat him? MILOS RAONIC: Um, obviously I have to serve well, take care of my serve. That's my job against everybody I play. I'm fortunate enough that I have the type of game style where it is to impose and to dictate. So I don't feel like I need to change too much. I feel I just need to clean up a few things, hopefully do them well, and I know if I do that I will have my opportunities. Q. The way you've been playing, if you had to gauge your level of standard of play, how much higher realistically do you want to be compared to what you're doing at the moment? How much more do you need to improve to come up against somebody like a Murray? When you got through today, was it a case of doing what you had to do to get through? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. I think there's a lot of improvement, and I think it's motivating because I do see a lot of parts of my game that I can get better. Work has never felt tedious to me or has never been a bother, so I'm really happy to do the work, to put in the hours. I feel the benefits that are coming from it, and I feel like I'm a much better player and I am getting closer to these guys. I feel if we do play many, many times, obviously they'll win most of them, but I will have my opportunities on a few times. So it's just a matter of those days clicking, the right things happening. And when those opportunities do arise, you make the most of them and you go for them. That's why I try to do as much as I can. Q. Does that in one sense add to the excitement of your potential and what you feel you're capable of doing? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, for sure. My inspirations and my aspirations are to be one of the best players in the world. They are to be competing consistently for titles like this. And if you see how consistently the top guys do it, they're in the semis pretty much every week. If you want to win a title like this, you have to beat at least one or two of them. You have to be good enough to beat these guys. You're not going to squeeze by them in the draw. They're going to be there, especially in the big events. That's where I want to be. It's the kind of events I want to be winning. It's the kind of the events I want to be contending for. I'm going to do the work to I need to to be able to be in that position. Q. How do you like playing in Miami? MILOS RAONIC: I like it a lot. It's fun. It's a great city. Definitely a change from the previous two weeks in Indian Wells. I'm pretty young and it's a city that bodes well to young people. So it's fun. There is a lot of great things to do. Obviously I have a lot of good memories from juniors coming here and playing Orange Bowl. Trying to build more memories as far as tennis is concerned. Q. What was the difference between the hour‑long first set and the second set? MILOS RAONIC: I felt that I just‑‑ I felt I played well in the first set, and I sort of dropped off there for a bit, a little bit at the end of the first set. Just too many mistakes that one game I got broken. Even the game before I was fortunate enough to get out of with only pretty much second serves. So I just cleaned up a few things and they just came together for me. Q. To follow up, who do you think has the biggest serve, you or John Isner? MILOS RAONIC: I think his serve is more effective, let's say. I think I'm able to serve harder, if you look at the numbers, but I think he creates a lot of better angles from it. I think it just comes down to stats, the way you look at it. I have been doing a very good job not only with my service but backing it up with good baseline play, and it's allowed me to win a lot of percentage of my first and second serve points and hold a lot of the time. Q. Are you learning a little bit from him watching the way he serves? There's the height thing. MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, for sure. But when it comes to serving, I don't really even‑‑ I don't even‑‑ I just stick it to myself. With my coach we talk about placement and stuff, but we don't really talk about technical stuff. I know what I need to do to serve well. I have my own routines and I just stick to that. It's something I work on on my own, and I don't really look for too much outside because I know the way I need to serve when I serve well. I feel like when I'm serving well I can compete with anybody. Q. Who's the first famous tennis player you ever remember meeting, and your greatest and most painful moment in your career? MILOS RAONIC: Tommy Haas, I think. I probably embarrassed myself. I think I had a photo with him and Nick Bollettieri, and I saying, Tommy, we've met before, we've met before. Will you please sign my picture? I remember that. Probably not Tommy. Um, greatest moment, winning San Jose and then defending it. First title and then able to back it up is amazing. Worst moment, the pain you feel when you make that slip and when you realize how long you're going to be out for during Wimbledon. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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