Milos Raonic may have lost his first-round match at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament on Monday, but he thinks Canadian players - himself included - are a ball bounce or two away from being competitive against the best in the world.
At only 19, he's the youngest player at the Rogers Cup this week, but he's a strapping 6-foot-5, has a big serve and has looked big-time players in the eyes before and won.
And his world ranking is climbing, just hovering above the 200-mark at 217. He's No. 2 in Canada and he's determined to be much more than that. Try No. 10 in the world some day. That's where he wants to go.
Canada's top-ranked player, Peter Polansky, 22, is currently ranked No. 207, but he has been sliding down the ladder from his high of 164 last October. Canada's highest-ranked player of all time, Andrew Sznajder, reached No. 46 in September of 1989. Greg Rusedski attained No. 41 as a Canadian, but then switched to play for Britain.
On Monday, Raonic faced Victor Hanescu of Romania who bounced the young Canada out of the singles tournament by defeating him 6-4, 6-4. Raonic did return late Monday night for a doubles match with partner Vasek Pospisil, but he couldn't have picked tougher opposition (or a better learning experience): Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, the world's two top singles players.
"We have many players on the right track," Raonic said after his singles match. And since last fall, he has had former top Canadian Frédéric Niemeyer in his corner as coach.
Niemeyer retired last November after once reaching a world ranking of 134, getting to the second round at Wimbledon, and playing his final match against former world No. 1 Roger Federer last year at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. Niemeyer tested the Swiss star to the limit and now he's handing the torch to Raonic, who also made a name for himself at the Rogers Cup last year.
Raonic and his parents came to Canada from Yugoslavia when he was three, and he spent his early days playing street hockey at his townhome complex in Thornhill. Ont. But often, he'd get cut up, and because he didn't particularly like the idea of getting stitches, he'd just fail to come home. His father, an electrical engineer, wasn't pleased and steered him toward tennis.
But court fees were expensive, so Raonic and father would take the cheapest times: he'd play for at least half price early in the mornings before school, and again late at night, until 9 or 10 p.m. Currently, he's taking university courses online in the finance field, at a leisurely pace, about four credits a year. He intends tennis to be his full-time job in the future, but his father advocates education..
Raonic went into the Rogers Cup last year ranked No. 679, but he defeated two world-ranked players in qualifying to advance to the first round, then had to hook up with Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who had been ranked No. 11 at the time. He lost to Gonzalez in three sets, after reaching a match point. Crowded stands cheered his every move.
"It was surreal in the moment, because I had never really put myself at that level," Raonic said on Monday. "So last year, it was just in the moment. What happened, happened.
"I was really happy with the way I was playing," he recalled. "I was just going through the paces. I wasn't really thinking too much. about too many things. I was just playing my matches."
This year, he admits, it's different. On the grandstand court, a small group of people watched him play, just before the rains hit. He felt more pressure and expectations this time. "But I'm up to it," he said. " I don't feel it's got into me. I feel I've been playing well this summer. I've played a lot. I think this time around, I know more what to expect."
Playing Hanescu taught him this: the guy on the other side of the net was hungry, players at this level don't give you an inch, you can't be sloppy for a minute and get away with it, he can read when you're tight and blast away at your weaknesses without mercy.
"There's not really a big level difference in shot ability," Raonic said. "But how consistently they can come up with the shots."
The big kid said he needs to tweak a few things, ramp up his strategies, his fitness and an ability to stay in the game much longer.
If he does, he feels he's not far off playing with the big boys all the time. "I think it's a few good weeks and I get my ranking up, and I can play at these matches more often," he said. "And the level is gonna come gradually."
It will come, he said, with a wisdom seemingly beyond his youth. "If I just stick with my progress and keep working on it, don't get too far ahead of myself, thinking it will come easy, just get out there every day...I don't think it's really far-fetched to even think about it."