Rock Strongo
Legend
I find Raonic strangely appealing to my eyes...
Raonic vs. Haas - who will win?
- Thread starter Chanwan
- Start date
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
3peat for Raonic (4th title). There's something about this event he really likes!
InvisibleSoul
Hall of Fame
Was impressed with Raonic's return of serve. He hit a lot of clean return winners.
tipsytennis
New User
Good match, definitely deserved the win. Played well. Maybe it's time for Haas to hang up his racket and retire soon? haha, he was looking old tonight.
Rock Strongo
Legend
Looks like Raonic is starting to become a true all-courter. He's got it all now it seems.
He's still not the honey badger-type like Joachim Johansson was. But great to see someone being able to blast away everywhere though.
He's still not the honey badger-type like Joachim Johansson was. But great to see someone being able to blast away everywhere though.
Marius_Hancu
Talk Tennis Guru
@Marius_Hancu twitting @milosraonic Congrats! The intelligent, controlled, long game. Power isn't everything. Suffocate the opponents with placement. Yes.
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kishnabe
Talk Tennis Guru
Do you think his ROS and Backhand are actual permanent improvements......he was hitting those shots perfectly in the SF and today?
Both BH and BH ROS were also very good in the Davis Cup tie clincher versus GGL (I was there in Vancouver) Forehand was still so-so. I didn't see his first match versus Ramos that was a bit tighter.
He doesn't need to win matches from the baseline. He just needs to minimize losses from the back, which then should give him some break opportunities on a regular basis. He seems to be getting of the tiebreaker doldrums. Time will tell whether that's a trend or a blip.
Maybe not permanent, but if he's slowly showing that he's improving and if he can bring out that ROS and backhand for even a small percentage of games this year (say, 20%) then he'll break the top 10, easy.
Chanwan
G.O.A.T.
with 25 % he's top five with that hold game - easier said than done though
Marius_Hancu
Talk Tennis Guru
Only time will tell ... but this was a thinking man's game, as opposed to the AO, at which point I would have suggested a change in coaching.
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Relinquis
Hall of Fame
Haas took out half of america's young tennis talent in this tournament alone (Isner and S. Johnson). Had he played the other Americans he would have straight set'ed them as well. By your rationale the US should give up on men's tennis... hang up their sticks.
Milos was just better today and Haas didn't get a good read on Roanic's serve in the first set resulting in a lot of easy aces. It happens. Well done to Milos having backed up his solid serving with a much improved ground game*, but Haas played very well. Didn't look old at all in terms of his movement and ball striking.
* Perhaps other big servers should follow Milos' lead and train on red clay in Spain or South America to get a good ground game.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Poor Milosh...get your breakout trophy in San Jose, back it up twice and what's the reward? Bye Bye SAP! Hope he has continued success somewhere else in mid-February.
vernonbc
Legend
This kid is very very very determined. Very very very. And he's very very smart.
With all the work he's put in to work on and improve the areas that he was deficient in plus with his attitude, the sky's the limit...not just Top 10.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
San Jose is about the only event he's winning though... let's see if that ever changes. I'm not sure I agree with "sky is the limit". Outside of his serve, he hasn't shown that much game so far. One can hope he finishes the year in top 10 at least, which is definitely not a given. (He didn't last year). I'm also intrigued by the "very, very smart" comment. Are you basing this on interviews? I haven't noticed that superior intelligence on the court yet. But of course he's young and has plenty of time for improvement.
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Chanwan
G.O.A.T.
If he can get his return game up from around 15 % (the past two years) to 20+, he's def. top 10. If he can get it around 25 %, we have a big five.
Sampras was around 90-91 % in hold games and 27 % in return games in his good years.
Raonic is 93 % in hold. With anything about 20+ he's a dangerous man.
And from the looks of it this week, he knows that that is where he needs to improve.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
I know but he always looks great in San Jose. He has to break through in other events, preferably not a 250. Memphis would be the perfect place to start 
Mainad
Bionic Poster
I know but he always looks great in San Jose. He has to break through in other events, preferably not a 250. Memphis would be the perfect place to start
Poor Milos. It seems that every tourney he enjoys and gets good results at shuts up shop. He won't get the chance to defend anymore San Jose titles and if he wins Memphis he won't get the chance to defend that next year either as it will revert to a 250!
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
San Jose is over? Wow I didn't know that. I think it's right Memphis should become a 250. Never understood why it was a 500 to begin with and the field has never seemed very strong (compared to Rotterdam and especially Dubai).
sdont
Legend
Agreed.
It's a bit weird to see 5 top 10 players in Marseille (250) this week vs. zero in Memphis.
Relinquis
Hall of Fame
isn't dubai a 500? the field there is pretty strong usually, but suitable for a 500.
the french players turn out for Marseille. they're usually ranked pretty highly. the line up this year is pretty exciting. A really good selection even beyond those ranked top 10.
perhaps milos should check out one of these and/or rotterdam next year.
the french players turn out for Marseille. they're usually ranked pretty highly. the line up this year is pretty exciting. A really good selection even beyond those ranked top 10.
perhaps milos should check out one of these and/or rotterdam next year.
Mainad
Bionic Poster
Yes, Dubai is a 500 and almost always attracts the top players. Winners there for the last 10 years have been either Federer, Djokovic or Nadal (especially the first two) with the sole exception of Roddick in 2008. Murray was a finalist last year (lost to Federer).
It would certainly be good experience for him as Dubai and Rotterdam, both 500s, have historically attracted more top players than their North American equivalents, Memphis and Washington.
Richie Rich
Legend
dubai probably pays a good appearance fee to get the top players vs memphis
We know that he ia academicly very smart...studied calculus at age 15 and was the best in his class all through high school. Althout his entire family has university degrees he chose a career in tennis.
His smarts are beginning to transfer themselves to the court, noticeably in Davis cup v. Spain and the SAP final. It's all coming together for him.
Even before this year I've noticed that his matchplay awareness and general tennis IQ seem to be quite high for someone of his age and professional experience. Of course he still made plenty of mental or strategic mistakes in 2011-2012, but I got the sense that this was more due to inexperience and the related difficulties of handling high-pressure moments than a lack of intelligence or awareness.
I never got that impression with someone like Roddick to name one example. Despite having a very similar game to Milos, I always found Roddick to be more of a mindless ball-basher with an extremely low tennis IQ and poor strategic awareness. This was most evident in Slam matches with Federer, but this also became apparent in more recent matches against lower-ranked opponents (e.g: his 2010 USO loss to Tipsy).
I think Milos definitely has the potential to develop into one of the best strategic minds on tour. He has a naturally calm demeanour and could develop a mental fortitude comparable to Federer or Sampras as he gains experience. Of course, whether his physical game and execution can reach such a high level remains to be seen, but the potential is definitely there.
You mean his incessant cross-court slice approach shots weren't a good idea?
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
cc0509
Talk Tennis Guru
If you watched Milos play in San Jose you would have seen a big improvement with his backhand, ROS and even his movement. It shocked me because he had regressed quite a bit in the past six months or so.
When we talk about smarts to me Milos seems very together and mature for his age and he seems very very hungry and determined (vbc is right in her post above.) That is what I think is going to propel this kid into the top ten or higher eventually. In a very short time he has improved a lot, the question will be can he keep it up and be consistent? The hunger is there big time and that is what separates him from those other young guns, who don't seem to have much of a work ethic or hunger imo. Time will tell.
Chanwan
G.O.A.T.
i think he's got a huge upside and I've been thinking that for two years now. He hasn't done it as fast as I imagined, but when we see - like in San Jose - that he can actually improve in his movement, ROS and backhand, then there's some huge potential there.
As you say, the mental game has been there all along, very composed, very unnerved by pressure imo.
And obviously, the hold game. When Isner's serve can carry him to top-10, I don't see why Milos can't go higher as he's marginally better at holding and better in most other departments.
Furthermore, given the lack of developed talent between 20-24, he hasn't got that many challengers from his own age-group.
Marius_Hancu
Talk Tennis Guru
Memphis:
Wednesday 7:00pm Mike and Bob Bryan, #1 Doubles Team in the World, in an ATP doubles match followed by Milos Raonic, #13 Player in the World, in a featured ATP singles match
Wednesday 7:00pm Mike and Bob Bryan, #1 Doubles Team in the World, in an ATP doubles match followed by Milos Raonic, #13 Player in the World, in a featured ATP singles match
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