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BNP PARIBAS OPENMarch 12, 2013Milos RaonicINDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA M. RAONIC/M. Cilic THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Did you lose your rhythm a bit in the tournament, getting that bye and maybe it took you a few minutes, few games, to sort it out when you started? MILOS RAONIC: I don't think rhythm in the tournament. I think it's more I didn't have any rhythm. I didn't have a match really to pick up off. Especially against Marin, he plays really well. He plays very consistent. He changes up quickly, so he moves well for a tall guy. I was trying to force a little bit too much. Q. I think you made a bunch of gets at one point in the second set and he finally missed a smash. Obviously went up a break in that game. That seemed to be one that kind of turned it your way a bit. MILOS RAONIC: I think so, maybe. I think I played ‑‑I just ‑‑the first two points of that game I missed a forehand return, but I went for it. In that game just from the start I had a different mentality on how to approach that game. I just didn't get a chance because I was coming back from a defensive situation in both the first points. There wasn't really a chance for me to incorporate it. Then later in the game I was able to. I think it just showed me he was maybe a little bit tight at that point. Q. The forehand was not there for a while, and obviously you seemed to get it back as the match went along. MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, just about finding a little bit‑‑ rushing in the beginning. Wasn't getting good position; wasn't moving well. It was just everything in that sense connected to poor shot selection and poor execution. Q. Can you think ahead to the Tsonga match, a little preview? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah. I'm going to have to serve well, take care of my serve like I was able to today, especially after the first game of the second set, and try sort of to get ahead on his second serve points. When he's making his first serves he serves really well, and it's tough. But when I get a chance, just to be aggressive and try to get ahead in the points as early as I can. Q. You're a basketball fan. Do you watch it at all or take an interest in the college NCAA tournament here in the States? MILOS RAONIC: Ah, I think that if I went to school in the States maybe I would have had more interest. But for me, I'm pretty ‑‑it's hard to follow just because I don't follow before March Madness starts. I only follow what I'll hear on some sports channels. Q. Looks like you have some tape somewhere under the shirt. Is that an old strain or something new? MILOS RAONIC: No, the muscle has been feeling tight and just to get circulation there more often. Q. So an abdominal muscle? MILOS RAONIC: Yes. Q. So how, I mean, how would you assess your level today not having played that much? MILOS RAONIC: Hope to be better tomorrow. (Shrugging.) Q.A lot of Canadian fans supporting you today. Do you get that kind of support from Balkan fans, too? Montenegrins? MILOS RAONIC: There's not too many Montenegrins in this world. I think the population in the country is like 600,000, so I don't know how many of them come out to tennis events. No, I do. In general, I get good support from the Canadian fans, the Balkan fans. It's nice.  It makes a lot of tournaments that are far from home a little bit more homey. Q. Why did your parents choose to come to canada, and are there any many other Montenegrins in Canada? MILOS RAONIC: At least my parents are probably friends with all of them. Why Canada? My father had been to Boston before so he had the sense of what to expect. Both are engineers, and in '93, '94 engineers were quite in demand as a profession, so why not? Q. Do you like the conditions here? The heat? The way the ball travels through the air? The surface? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I do. I think the conditions for playing are great as far as ball surface and facilities provided. I think the atmosphere is good. I think in general just everything you can do with in this area, it's pretty quiet and pretty it's productive towards good tennis. Q. Do you think it matches your game? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I do. It bounces pretty high, so it allows me to get on top of the ball, and especially with my serve to be able to change it around more with different spins. Q. Probably will never happen, but five days of a tournament go by and you don't play. What was it like? Do you think about all those days and not actually playing in the tournament? MILOS RAONIC: Boring. I lost early in Memphis so it's almost three weeks. It wasn't like I was taking days off. It was training all the time. So at the end I was getting a little bit sick of training. I just wanted to play. Q. Did the doubles help in any way? MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, it did. It just got me a sense of getting a little bit gritty and competing a little bit since it had been a while. Q. Is it true that your parents were also looking at Australia when they were deciding to move and they chose Canada because of less paperwork? MILOS RAONIC: I don't know how true it is but it's definitely an ongoing joke with my dad and that's what he tells us. Q. Did you ever consider going into engineering? Did they ever talk to you about it? MILOS RAONIC: They advised against it. It's not as in demand as it was before. (Smiling.) They don't like how much they work and how much they got paid for it. I think that's a way of telling me. Q. So earlier in the week, Madison Keys said that both of her parents were lawyers and when she said, I want to be a lawyer, they said, Heck no. Is that a trend among parents with tennis... MILOS RAONIC: I'm sure the guy that has the massive law firm with 5,000 employees in NewYork will tell his son to be a lawyer, so I guess it all depends. Q. Tsonga, how do you see the matchup and how much does that match at the Olympics sort of come back to you now? MILOS RAONIC: Not much. Different surface. I think ‑‑I don't know about him. I know I'm definitely a lot more comfortable on hard courts. He's playing well. He's been playing well consistently since the start of this year. I've just got to get out there and focus. We're both going to be trying to get ahead in the points early. He's very athletic. I just have to go out there and try to get ahead and play as much as I can on my terms. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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