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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPENAugust 16, 2012Milos RaonicCINCINNATI, OHIO M. RAONIC/T. Berdych THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. That was some of the hardest hitting I have seen guys go at it in a long time, especially in the second set. Do you prefer that kind of pace when you play someone like Tomas? MILOS RAONIC: I think he prefers it more than I do. I think that was the issue with the second set: I was just trying to play a little bit too flat and hard through him. I wasn't using height and sort of angles to pull him off the court. I think he does that better than I do. So I think that was an issue with the second set. But it was a good match for me. I did a lot of things well, and I'm happy with the way I closed it out after I had a really bad lapse in the second set. But after that, happy with the way I closed it out. Q. Do you think this was your best result of the year? MILOS RAONIC: I don't think so. I don't know. There's a lot of different ways to look at it. I thought maybe Barcelona was a little bit better just because it's in an environment that I really don't feel too comfortable in. Takes a lot of adjusting and so forth. So I beat a very good clay‑court player there, Almagro, who was having a really good start. I think it's between these two, but I think I'm on the right track. Q. 30 to 5 in aces in a three‑setter. How were you reading his serve? Really well? What was happening there with your returning? MILOS RAONIC: I was standing a little bit far back so it was giving me a little bit more time. He serves pretty hard, but he wasn't necessarily hitting his spots all the time. I think he was struggling a little bit with first serve percentages, as well. So I was able to get my racquet on quite a few more balls than him. Q. This was a marquee match, and yet you guys were on the court with no shot spot. I know he had more of an issue with it than you did. How do you play a match if you know you can't go up to the challenge booth if it doesn't exist on this particular court? MILOS RAONIC: Myself personally, I don't really say too much. I will be vocal for a few seconds about it, but I try just to forget it. Because it's just like if I miss a shot it can frustrate me and can get me in a lot of trouble with myself. I sort of try to push it aside as much as I can. Q. You're often lumped together with a bunch of other guys in your generation: Harrison, Dimitrov, Tomic. I think you're seven top 10 wins in your career, and the other guys have I think three combined. Do you feel like you're separating yourself from the pack of some of those players? MILOS RAONIC: I think that's for everybody else to worry about. I'm not comparing myself with them. I'm comparing myself with what I need to do to be the best. That's for other people to decide. Q. Are you able to talk a little bit about your coaching situation and what you're looking to extract from your current coaching situation? MILOS RAONIC: No, I'm very comfortable with it. I think there's three of us that are a really big part of the team. Galo for everything pretty much tennis related. I have Tony that's here with me this week. For this week as well as leading into the US Open. I trust him very much very, very much as far as physical preparation goes. And then I have John who travel with me full time as well that takes care of prevention treatment and recovery. So it's these three guys, three guys that I feel very comfortable with outside of a professional manner, as well, as friends and guys I trust and rely upon and guys that want the best for me. That's very important. I don't want to be, say, a second‑tier priority. For me it's about being a number one priority to them, because tennis is my number one priority. These guys, they put their families aside and everything because they really want to help me. I know they're there to help me, and I know they're very capable of helping me. I know they can bring a lot to me. Galo, with the tennis, there are a lot more things we work on. People talk all the time about my serve, but I think I'm improving in a lot of other things, as well, through time. Obviously I had the serve always so it will shine more than the rest, but it's about taking it pretty much step by step and improving consistently. And then I think I've been able to stay healthier and move better. That's thanks to John and Tony. Both of them have been very dedicated to me, very strong, and very helpful in the progress I have been making. I think that's been more in the spotlight the last year and a bit before that. Not too many people are looking at what I was doing. Q. You got most of your success earlier in the year: Memphis, San Jose, even Indian Wells. Why do you think you have played your best earlier in the calendar year? MILOS RAONIC: I think I'm playing pretty good right now. I don't have too many events where I have been picking up 180 points. I get a lot of confidence from work and having the six weeks of offseason. Outside of match play it gives me a lot of confidence directly. I work very hard. I don't skip any days. I can be sick some days. I can have a minor tear in my quad last year, and I was still training all those days. I don't skip any days. I know how important those weeks are. Knowing that I do them to the best of my ability and that I am doing the right type of work gives me a lot of confidence. I think that helps me out with the beginning of the year. I hope that in the future, I can, after Wimbledon perhaps, like the top guys do, be in a comfortable position with ranking and so forth and be doing well through French and Wimbledon, that I do have time to stop and be able to do many preseasons; whereas this year I didn't have that chance because I was going to Newport and I was going to Newport and obviously Olympics was another big week. I hope I have that comfort that I can give myself more training weeks to be able to consistently progress and also give my confidence, not just at the end of the year. Q.  If you could change one thing about the US Open to make it sort of your dream US Open, what would that be? MILOS RAONIC: Doing well. (Smiling.) I don't know. Tournaments are the way they are. I don't think there is really too much I can say over stuff I don't have a control over. Make the ride shorter. Make the tournament Central Park. Put up a massive stadium there. But that's not gonna happen. Q. What about your next match? Can you look ahead to that? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I think he's very capable. He can hit hard off both sides, especially his backhand stands out. I think I'm going to have to try to make him ‑‑ obviously serve well is a big part of it. That's going to give him some discomfort, but I think if I can sort of dictate and put myself in a front running position, I'm moving around, getting a lot of forehands, and even going to his backhand, not fearing it too much, and trying to open up the court like I did against Richard first match, I think I will have my opportunities. Q. Canada had the Wimbledon girls junior and boys junior champs as well as the girls double champ. Do you have any communication, dialogue, with the younger players in Canada? MILOS RAONIC: Not really. I knew them well from before when I was at the National Training Centre. Obviously see them train every day and so forth. Since I moved to Spain for training purposes I haven't really been to Montreal, so I don't have any real direct contact with them. I'm on good terms with them. I will say hi and I will speak with them and see how things are when it's at an event. But outside of events, I don't have really too much contact with them. Q. So you're based in Spain. When did that take place? MILOS RAONIC: October 2010 before I started doing well. That's when I started working with Galo. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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