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Don't look down, Milos!

Acrophobiac Milos Raonic got his heart racing on Monday, on a day off from the Portugal Open.

The Canadian scaled the 100-foot mast of Team Alvimedica’s boat with WTA star Elena Vesnina.

Raonic, the youngest player in the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, joined Vesnina in a tour of the professional sailing boat, with American crew members Charlie Enright (the skipper) and Mark Towill, who are training in Portugal ahead of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Raonic and Vesnina both wore heart rate monitors as they went up the mast.

Raonic said, “It takes a little bit to get used to, but after you pass half way the rest seems a little bit easier. It’s fun and it was a good experience. My heart rate monitor went up to the 140s. I’m not good with heights so I’m happy I did this.”

Raonic reached the Portugal Open semi-finals (l. to Verdasco) in 2011, on his last visit to the Estadio Nacional. He will play Pablo Cuevas or Aleksandr Nedovyesov in the second round.

At 23 years of age he has one of the best serves on the ATP Tour and bags of talent. Milos Raonic is destined to be one of the stars of tennis in the near future, and before another appearance at the Mutua Madrid Open, he answered some questions for Madrid-Open.com from Portugal, where he is playing in the Oeiras tournament. The Canadian took a look back at the highlights of his career so far and his elimination at the hands of Fernando Verdasco in last year’s Masters 1000 in Madrid.

Milos, last year you had an extraordinary game against Fernando Verdasco at the Mutua Madrid Open, what do you remember from the match?
I remember a very difficult match in which we were both very motivated to win. I feel we both play a good solid match. There are moments I wish I would have been more aggressive and tried to take control of the match. Fernando was the better player that day but I feel I was able to learn a lot from that match.

A few months later you reached the finals of the Montreal Masters 1000 and played Rafael Nadal. How special was it to play in the final of a tournament that is so dear to your country in front of a home crowd?
It was maybe the greatest moment so far in my young career. To play good tennis at home is difficult but always a great moment when you are able to. This was my first Masters 1000 final and for it to be at home was so special, as well it propelled me into the top 10 for the first time which was very important to me.

In 2013 you lead your country to the semi-finals of the Davis Cup for the first time in 100 years and got very close to making it to the final. What did it mean to you to lead Canada to success in a tournament like the Davis Cup?
We had the fortune of playing two ties at home and the semis away in Serbia. Those were the most enjoyable and fun ties I have participated in Davis cup. I was fortunate to be able to win 5 of my 6 singles matches in such a high pressure situation and to play well consistently throughout the year in Davis Cup. It gave me a lot of confidence for other tournaments I participated in.

One of the standout aspects of your game is your powerful and effective serve. Is it something innate or have you acquired it with a lot of training? How have you worked on it throughout your career to make it more effective?
Often I get this question. Yes I am fortunate to be tall and have a good shoulder to support my serve. But most of the credit belongs to the time and effort I put into my serve since I was 9 years old. It was common for me to just go to the court and serve for two hours working on my technique and accuracy.

You’re in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings. Did you dream of this when you first started playing tennis?
No, my dreams and goals have drastically changed throughout my progress over the last years. But I always wanted to be able to achieve this as a kid dream but that was not always reasonable.

What is the dream you would like to achieve during your tennis career?
Be the best player in the world!

Is Milos Raonic The Future Of Men’s Tennis?

That’s what Men’s Journal asks in the headline of a new, in-depth profile of the World No. 9. The article, written by Kevin Gray, labels the 23-year-old Raonic as the ATP World Tour young gun who “rattles the most nerves”, chronicling his rise from his early days in the suburbs of Toronto. Men’s Journal also joins the Canadian in New York City, providing a glimpse of his interests and life off the court.

Read Full Feature on MensJournal.com

Here are a couple of excerpts from the story:

If Raonic feels the pressure, it’s not evident as he sprawls out in an upstairs booth at the Spotted Pig, a West Village haunt of New York City’s actors, rappers, media moguls, art dealers, and fashion photographers. “I should eat more pork,” says Raonic, as his burger without bun, plus salad, arrives at the table. “Apparently something about beef’s not great for me, but pork is,” he says. At least he skipped the bun. “I can’t have gluten either,” he adds. He recently saw a sports nutritionist (the kind that suggested Djokovic shift to a gluten-free diet just before he became No. 1 in the world), had his blood work done, and was given a strict diet. “My body doesn’t respond optimally to some foods,” he says. So no salmon, tuna, mandarins or nuts — “other than macadamia and Brazil nuts,” he says. A diet full of veggies and white meats is a big change for Raonic who hates trying new foods. (It took one friend weeks to convince him to try lobster. “Now, I love it.”)

It's here in New York City that Raonic says he feels most at home (aside from actually visiting his parents in Toronto). When he can manage it — a few times a year — he'll squeeze in week-long trips to Manhattan, sandwiched between 12-hour training days in Monte Carlo, and monthly tournaments around the world. He'll couch surf with friends in New York City, visit art galleries (studying up for future purchases); drink wine (up to three glasses a day with the new diet), and indulge in his other sport passion, basketball, on the city's courts. But such luxuries happen when it's not Grand Slam season (from the French to the U.S. Open) when he's working on his returns, volleys, fitness and, of course, his serve.

Men's Journal: Wawrinka Crashes The Party

Raonic recently bought a two-bedroom, 1800-square foot condo with an outdoor deck, in a historic skyscraper — the former home of Imperial Oil — in downtown Toronto. He is overseeing the remodeling himself. While he is new to the world of art and culture — up to this point, it’s been all tennis — he’s passionate about one day soon buying his own art, though he’s not yet sure what genre or period it will be. But he is thinking it through with typical force, telling his decorator he wants to curate it all himself. “Somebody comes over, I want to be able to tell them about a piece,” he says. “I might not know anything about any other piece in the world, but I’ll know about that piece.” He is just as logical about not wanting a girlfriend during these hard-working years. “I would be attracted to a girl who is ambitious, like me, and competitive, an artist or an actress,” he says. “But I can’t ask someone like that to travel with me and sit around while I’m in the locker room. How can you do this? Then she’s not ambitious.”

Ambition is everything to Raonic, and as such makes the taste of defeat so much more potent than the taste of winning. “I hate to lose," he says. "I hate to lose more than I like to win. It’s weird, people always say that it makes it seem like I don’t enjoy anything." There are times when he’s been so frustrated with his game that he’s flown halfway around the world — once from Rome to Toronto — just to get away for a few days. When he was struggling at the French Open last year, he again wanted to go home to his parents. But his mother calmed him down over Skype and convinced him to go instead to Monte Carlo by train and take it easy. “I get very disappointed,” says Raonic. “It’s a process, and all I’m asking is….” He trails off and looks around the crowded streets. “I can be hard on myself,” he says. “But I’m getting better every day. And I believe if I do so, I will eventually get to where I want to be. So I have to be patient. My coach is always telling me, ‘Don’t worry, it’s going well, it’s going well.’”

By sticking to his strengths, Milos Raonic is focused on breaking into the Top 5 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Bill Tilden, who won 10 Grand Slam championship singles titles in the 1920s, used to preach his dual commandments of never change a winning game, but always change a losing game. The theory is still true 90 years later.

While today’s stars of the ATP World Tour might not favour directing their play to Rafael Nadal’s heavily topspin forehand or engage Novak Djokovic in lengthy baseline rallies, Milos Raonic has become a major contender over the past 12 months by sticking to his strengths: an atomic serve and devastating forehand. As Rod Laver wrote in his excellent 1971 autobiography, The Education of a Tennis Player, “You are you. Don’t try to play beyond yourself. Keep the ball in play and let your opponent make the mistakes.”

Ivan Ljubicic, who came through a trial period as Raonic’s full-time coach, and the Croatian’s own long-time tutor, Riccardo Piatti, who officially joined Team Raonic in March 2014, have been working in unison to make their Canadian protégé a better mover, a stronger athlete and an all-court player, who is capable of challenging the game’s elite at every tournament he enters. “It is important that Milos doesn’t move away from his natural game, as the variation of surface speed is not that great,” Ljubicic told ATPWorldTour.com at a Monte-Carlo café. “The biggest challenge is coping with the pressure.”

"In two or three years, Milos is going to play better and better."
Piatti believes, “In two or three years, Milos is going to play better and better. Milos is very smart. He understands and he wants to improve. He is very determined and I like that a lot in a player. He pushes himself to the maximum, in practice and at a tournament. He needs to have experience in order to control himself. It all comes down to experience.”

Details matter when you’re a professional athlete. Raonic knows that he has one shot at top-level tennis. He parted company with his coach of three years, Galo Blanco, during last year’s European clay swing, because, as Raonic explained to ATPWorldTour.com at the recent Gerry Weber Open, “I thought we were stalling and stagnating. I didn’t feel as if I was making the progress that I would have liked. I was also losing a bit of efficiency in practice.” An immediate period of introspection followed the decision of 11 May 2013, and the culmulative effect of five early exits in six tournaments hit Raonic hard by the time of his Wimbledon loss. At that stage, he was No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and Ljubicic was in his fifth week as his trial coach.

When he sat in the locker room at the All England Club last year, he was deflated. Igor Sijsling rightly celebrated his second round scalp, but Raonic was “massively disappointed.” Speaking at the Halle players’ hotel a few weeks ago, he admitted, “I had come into Wimbledon with high hopes, there was solidarity behind such a belief, but ultimately I was not playing my best tennis at the time and I was very disappointed.”

"As a player, it is all about you, how you feel, how you organise your team and time."
Resistance to change often occurs when adjustments are made in a player’s game. But a shift in direction is exactly what Raonic wanted. His confidence was shot, so he could not thrive. Yet Raonic had enough nous to realise that he is a ‘work in progress’. He appreciated that any technical fix, any shift in mental approach or revision of point strategy was going to take time. Ljubicic, who rose to a career-high World No. 3, explained, “As a player, it is all about you, how you feel, how you organise your team and time. So understanding how to improve as a team and, individually, as a player, takes time and results.”

Raonic, Sirola, Monte-CarloThe jigsaw puzzle came together for Raonic out of the belief he had in his embryonic team, which was to include Dalibor Sirola, a fitness trainer, and physio Claudio Zimaglia.

“I was frustrated and angry, so I took time off at that point and I asked myself, ‘What do I need to do to play much better?’ I took seven or eight days off after Wimbledon, then I went into a training camp in Toronto — similar to what I do in December, but in a shorter period of time — and shut everything down in order to focus on what I needed to do to get my tennis level back. It wasn’t there right away. I left [the Citi Open in] Washington even more disappointed, as I thought taking time out and training would have helped. But going into Montreal not feeling the best, for sure, I managed to reach the final.”

"Riccardo understands how Ivan thinks and Ivan understands how Riccardo talks."
Although he lost to Rafael Nadal in his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final at the Rogers Cup in Montreal last year, Raonic had targeted a number of objectives. “I knew Ivan could offer a lot of experience, but I also knew that Ivan was a very smart player on the court and really maximised his potential,” said Raonic. “That’s where a lot of trust came from early on in our partnership and it was good to have that belief without any doubts.”

Now with two coaches, it is important that there is one voice. Raonic explains, “Riccardo understands how Ivan thinks and Ivan understands how Riccardo talks. So even though there is two of them, I am constantly getting the same message.” Ljubicic, now aged 35, adds, “Milos gets the best out of a top tennis coach, with 30 years of experience, and a top player who stopped recently. The objective is to avoid confusion.” Piatti now speaks to Ljubicic “more than ever before.” The agreement — and working towards an objective — runs throughout the team, including Raonic’s physio, Zimaglia, and Sirola, his fitness trainer. “Dalibor and Claudio work a lot on Milos’ fitness and the way he is moving,” said Piatti. “Ivan helps Milos be in shape to work with Diablor. It is a team. Everybody knows what each other is doing with Milos.”

Piatti had coached Ljubicic throughout his 17-year pro career. Comparing the two, the Italian told ATPWorldTour.com in Halle, “They come from similar education backgrounds and in the mind they are very tough. They are very strict with themselves. They are similar because they are tough as persons and players, but different because Milos is 23 and he needs to build on his experience. Ivan has had a lot of experience. If I think of Ivan as a 23 year old, I can say they are very similar. But Milos is becoming stronger than Ivan, as a player.”

Raonic, Sirola, Monte-CarloWeight continues to fall off Raonic’s 6’5” frame. “Every day we never spend less than 90 minutes or two hours in the gym,” he confesses. Having dropped from 105 to 99 kilograms, eating a steak after every match is a distant memory. A gluten-free diet helps, of course. Sirola has focused on improving Raonic’s mobility, stability and muscle control. “We initially conducted movement tests over a three-month period and the results showed that stability was the problem,” said the Croatian trainer, who has 20 years of experience. “Milos was mobile at the joints, but he was not stable. He is strong in his upper body and legs, but they did not connect well into movement. So we built his core stability.” His power comes from his legs, which remain heavy, but his physical endurance has dramatically improved. “Milos is very professional,” adds Sirola. “He is big into work. Tennis is a sport of short points, so I believe going on long runs is not beneficial for modern-day tennis. It’s about strength, speed and power, so I prefer to work on court and build Milos’ endurance.”

"Milos' improved movement has developed his defensive game."
Raonic said, “We pinpointed what the goal should be. It was to better control the centre of the court and being more aggressive and dictating more. Even when things were going bad, I always had that in mind and that’s why I am playing better. I think I have improved physically, so I am able to move better, stay close to the baseline and take more time away from my opponent.”

His improved movement was highlighted in his three-set win over Andy Murray in the BNP Paribas Open fourth round — which was his second event of 2014 — and his clashes against Nadal, at the Sony Open Tennis, and Djokovic, at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia and Roland Garros, where he contested his first Grand Slam championship quarter-final. Djokovic admitted after the Rome clash, “I can’t recall the last time I was feeling so helpless returning. Even his second serve.” Raonic is taking great strides. “What I have improved the most this year is stability, functional stability. So even if I am stretched and moving, I am much stronger in that sense.” Ljubicic agrees, “Milos' improved movement has developed his defensive game.”

Raonic, Djokovic, Paris, June 2014“My defence is better,” said Raonic. “But I feel that I have gotten better at the neutral to aggressive point, where I don’t allow myself to get in to too many defensive positions. I am able to control the centre of the court better and I feel like I know what I need to provide physically, but also mentally on a consistent basis.” Strong performances against members of the Top 10 – a barrier he first broke through on 12 August 2013 – have also meant that Raonic’s expectations have also increased. “Losing to Novak in Paris, I was frustrated and I actually needed a few days away from everything to clear my mind, in order to be relaxed and refreshed,” he admits.

"I can put myself in the position of breaking into the Top 5."
“But I think I know how to deal better with specific situations mentally — facing break points, important games in the third set, what I need to do tactically — and also I feel that I have generally gotten better. My backhand is better, my forehand and my returns. I am more comfortable at the net. My serve got better as well. All those things may sound general, but I think I have constantly gotten better since I started working with Ivan.”

As the 23 year old prepares for the second week of The Championships for the first time — from his house in Marryat Road, 200 metres from the All England Club gates — Raonic is a threat to any player left in the draw. Although he has picked up one ATP World Tour title from three finals since putting his trust in Ljubicic and Piatti’s coaching philosophy, his drive and dedication to fulfill his objectives has meant that he has not dropped outside of the Top 12 players for almost 11 months. “Milos’ goal is to work hard, improve and prepare to win every tournament,” says Piatti. “That is the expectation. If he finds his game, he has a great chance of winning match after match.

“The Top 5 is possible for him. He just needs to play, practise and build his experience.” Says No. 9-ranked Raonic, “I believe I can do it. Let’s say, I don’t think it is far-fetched for me. I believe that I can put myself in the position of breaking into the Top 5.”

It was a happy Canada Day for Milos Raonic as he won a battle of the young guns on Tuesday at Wimbledon to reach his second Grand Slam quarter-final. The Canadian rallied from a set down to beat Kei Nishikori 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4), 6-3 and set a clash with rising star Nick Kyrgios.

The 23-year-old Raonic reached the last eight at a major for the first time at Roland Garros, coming up short against Novak Djokovic. The Toronto native is just the second Canadian man in history to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals, following in the footsteps of Robert Powell (1908, 1910, 1912).

"Serving well [will be key]," said Raonic as he looked ahead to the quarter-finals. "I've been able to do that so far. It's what's going to put the pressure on my opponent. It's what's going to give me a bit of freedom on the return games. After that, the most important thing is going to be the attitude, the mental approach. I want to do much better than I did in Paris. I feel like I'm ready to do so."

Read: Raonic’s Quest For Perfection

Raonic recorded his first win in three attempts against Nishikori, avenging his most recent defeat to the Japanese on the Madrid clay in May.

Raonic had not been broken in his first three matches, only facing one break point, but saw that run immediately ended by Nishkori who broke in the first game en route to taking the opener. However, Raonic fought back to claim victory in two hours and 27 minutes, firing 35 aces and only facing one more break point in the contest, which he saved in the final game.

"It was only in the first game I felt I could hit returns," said Nishikori. "After that he was hitting good serves and too many aces. Maybe in the last game I had some chances. But he served really well the whole entire game."

Milos Raonic will take on seven-time former champion Roger Federer in the semi-finals at The Championships on Friday.

Raonic, the eighth seed, advanced to his first Grand Slam championship semi-final by beating Rafael Nadal’s conqueror, wild card Nick Kyrgios, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(4) on Wednesday night on No. 1 Court at the All England Club, Wimbledon. The match lasted two hours and 24 minutes.

"It hasn’t really sunk in," said Raonic to BBC television. "It's great to have that kind of a win, especially at a tournament I've always wanted to play so well at and haven't been able to in recent years.

"It's another step forward. My goal is to be the best player in the world. This is a step to keep getting better and get the successes that I dreamed of. To do it on such a big stage is really special."

The 23-year-old Raonic is one match win shy of 150 career victories and has a 24-9 match record in 2014. The Canadian will now look to improve a 0-4 deficit against Federer, a 17-time major titlist, with his first win in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Looking ahead to the clash with Federer, Raonic said, "I've got to do what I've been doing: serve well and take care of my serve. It will be a great challenge and one I'm going to relish. I wanted to put myself in this position. I've got to go out there and compete hard, give it my all and who knows what can happen."

Raonic is the first Canadian to reach the semi-finals at a Grand Slam since William Johnston at the 1923 US Championships. Last month, Raonic advanced to his first major quarter-final at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic).

Read Feature: Raonic - The Quest For Perfection

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Throughout Raonic and Kyrgios’ first encounter, each was wary of one another’s weapons: a powerful serve and biting forehand, meaning that they engaged in clever interplay using their backhand slices and waited for an opening to use their strengths.

Kyrgios came under pressure early on, but saved two break points at 2-3 in a game that had five deuce points. At 4-4 in the tie-break, Raonic mis-timed a forehand approach to gift Kyrgios the point. Kyrgios then hit two unreturned serves to wrap up the 48-minute opener. Raonic had won 85 per cent of his first service points, yet he could not convert any of his four break point opportunities.

Raonic stepped into the court in the second set, swinging freely on forehand returns. His groundstroke placement began to tell as Kyrgios was stretched. At 2-2, 30/40, Kyrgios could not deny Raonic the first break of serve, tamely lobbing a backhand long. Raonic broke for a second time at 2-4 and completed a love hold to win the set in 23 minutes. In winning 100 per cent of his first serves, Raonic hit 15 winners – including 10 aces.

Kyrgios looked to regain the momentum at the start of the third set, yet costly errors let Raonic back in. At 2-2, Kyrgios dropped to 0/40 and, fatigued, dumped a forehand in the net. Raonic took advantage of the lapse to take the 31-minute set.

Kyrgios and Raonic did not create a break point en route to the tie-break in the tie-break. Raonic kept his nerve, opening up a 6-1 lead and despite a tense finish, struck hit 39th ace to finish the match.

"[Raonic] served unbelievably," said Kyrgios. "I thought I came out strong on his first return game. I made him earn that. All the other service games it looked like he was in such a rhythm that I just couldn't do anything out there."

The 19-year-old Kyrgios had been attempting to become the youngest player to reach the semi-finals at a Grand Slam championship since Rafael Nadal (19 years, two days) at 2005 Roland Garros. The Australian was the youngest player in this year’s Wimbledon main draw. He saved nine match points versus Richard Gasquet in a 10-8 fifth-set victory in the second round and beat Nadal in four sets in the fourth round.

"[My Wimbledon results] tell me there's a lot of room for improvement. But at the same time, there's something special I have that can make it deep into Grand Slams," shared Kyrgios. "I'm doing it at 19."