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ROGERS CUP MENAugust 10, 2012Milos RaonicTORONTO, ONTARIO J. ISNER/M. Raonic THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. What do you think made the difference in the first set? MILOS RAONIC: I just didn't execute. I got fortunate to get the first break. He didn't make any first serves in that game, I did well in that game, and then I didn't do too much well after. I sort of was able to sort of stick around in the tiebreaker and sort of get close to creating a few opportunities, but not really making the most of them. I just didn't do a lot of things that well. I just competed and tried my best and tried to make the most of the way I was playing. Just wasn't good enough. Q. He suggested that he was lucky to have had more matches, that you might have been a bit rusty because you had the day off and didn't play a match today while he already had. Do you think maybe that showed in your game a bit? MILOS RAONIC: Um, no. It can make a difference, maybe one or two points in that tiebreaker having played a little bit or having played an extra match, but I think in general he played better than I did. I didn't do that many things‑‑ my serve was not there by any means, which is a big part. Just wasn't putting enough pressure on him. He was able just to chip and sort of play, and then I would give a way a lot free points. I double faulted a lot more than I normally do. So just a lot of things. I just wasn't able to put pressure on him the way he was able to put it on me. Q. What was his serve like compared to what you would have expected beforehand because you hadn't played him before? MILOS RAONIC: The thing that's very difficult about his serve is it's the point where you make the contact. It bounces up on you when it gets very high. I'm pretty tall, and I was still having to make a lot of contact almost head‑height or above. That's the part that makes it most difficult, because you feel that you can't just pop it up after that because he's hitting the first shot well, especially with his forehand. So you feel like you have to come down with it. It's hard. You don't have that much margin really hitting down on the ball from a meter or two behind the baseline. Q. Talk about the disappointment of losing at home. MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, it's disappointing. It's disappointing in a lot of ways. But I don't think it's disappointing that I lost at home. It's more so disappointing for me that I lost in general and sort of the playing way I lost. I think obviously maybe it's a factor. You want to play well obviously at home and stuff, but maybe it's a 1% or 2% more edge that you want to play better. For me it's about playing well every week. I play tennis for myself. I love the support I get. I love the support I was getting tonight. But I'm frustrated with myself, not because I played poorly in Toronto. I'm frustrated with myself because I played poorly today. Q. At what point do you start to feel like you're not really having a good day? Do you get an inkling before the match or is it during the match? MILOS RAONIC: No, it happens throughout the match. The thing is I was trying a lot of different things and trying a lot of different things really just to get into the match and hopefully be able to just destruct him a little bit. Normally when I don't play well, at least my serve helps me and gives my a little bit of freedom. It just sort of takes a little bit of pressure, and then I can just start swinging more freely and it just gives me a little bit more, let's say, a relaxed sense about the amount of time I have to start playing where will. Whereas today I wasn't serving that well, so I felt like everything was more and more just rushing, rushing, rushing, to start to play well. I don't think I did really any damage on his first serves. I was okay on second‑serve returns, but the fact that I couldn't create any pressure on his first serves made him realize that he didn't really have to hit close to the lines. Obviously he was hitting close to the lines, but he wasn't forcing himself to hit close to the lines. Q. What is it that made you realize that your serve wasn't there? What time did you realize that? MILOS RAONIC: I think the double faults that I made; the way I struggled that first game after I broke; the way I struggled in the game I got broken. Everything was floating long. I wasn't snapping hard enough. I wasn't hitting the ball. I was trying to guide it a little bit too much, so everything was going long from first serves to second serves. Most of the problem was the fact that I was hitting loaning. Even when I was hitting it in, other than the wide serve on the deuce side, which normally you just guide away from the opponent, the other ones‑‑ because I wasn't snapping and really hitting the ball. Didn't have much on it. So when he was able to get his racquet on it, he was able to put it in comfortably and also maybe create a little bit more. Q. With the pressure of playing in Canada, do you feel like you can use tonight as a learning experience if you get into bigger matches to know you can handle the pressure amongst a crowd that can be so raucous like tonight? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, obviously I think I'm pretty low on experience in many different parts of tennis, from match play, playing at home, playing with different kinds of pressure and whatnot. But the thing is I'm going to take this match and try to learn as much as I can from it. But there is not really too much of a long turnaround. It's pretty much trying to do the things I can over the next day or two or three and prepare as best I can for the next tournament. I feel like I can do well. Just have to do a few things better than I did today. Q. What do you do when the crunch is on in a match? Stick with the shots that you have practiced, or do you play your opponent's weaknesses or... MILOS RAONIC: No, you stick to routines pretty much. You know the few patterns you have that work well for you, and you just stick to that. You go through the paces. I was trying a lot today, and I was able to, but just a few times sort of I wouldn't‑‑ because I hesitated a little. I wasn't feeling necessarily completely comfortable. I was overthinking it a few times in critical points, and justsplit‑second of doubt can make a big difference. Q. You got back to 6‑All in the first‑set tiebreaker, but the floater you let go that landed in, what happened on that point? MILOS RAONIC: I don't think I could even reach it from the way it happened of. It's hard to lunge forward and hit a lob. I thought it was going out, but I don't think I really had a play on it. Just a shot that ended up being too good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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