Tennease
Legend
Raonic Sets Strict Safety Bubble
Milos Raonic has two very good reasons to sustain a strict safety bubble.
Milos Raonic hasn't had a haircut since January and hasn't been hanging out with fellow players much recently.
Raonic has two very good reasons for sustaining a strict safety bubble: his parents.
The 30th-ranked Raonic ripped 19 aces and did not drop serve defeating Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4 in his Western & Southern Open opener today.
Afterward, Raonic said keeping his parents safe amid the Coronavirus pandemic is the reason he's isolated himself.
"My motivation was plain and simple. It's my parents," Raonic said. "I'm not sure what the ages are of the other players' parents, those people that are closest to them. Both my parents, being over 65, and also having pre-existing conditions... and I haven't seen my father this year at all. I saw my mom for I think a day and a half after the Australian Open.
"For me it was important that I got to see them, but I was also very motivated to stay smart and healthy because of them. So I can't really comment too much on what other players are doing. I understand it can be tough, but I had a clear idea of why I was doing it."
Unlike many of his peers, Raonic is not staying in the player hotel the USTA has booked. Instead, he's staying at a private home to try to reduce the risk of contracting the Coronavirus.
The former Wimbledon finalist, who reached his fifth Australian Open quarterfinal in January, said he's committed to continuing living in his own safety bubble throughout the rest of the tournament schedule this season.
"I can only control myself while I'm here in this bubble," Raonic said. "I have elected to sort of follow the rules and follow them maybe to a little bit of an extreme. I'm not really spending any time with other players, not seeing anybody. The way they have sort of organized it for us that we have the suites available, which would normally be the sponsor suites, to ourselves if you're a seed, I pretty much stay in there.
"I only go in the locker room for a quick ten-minute shower after practice and I leave. I have elected not to stay at the hotel. All these kind of things, again, for myself, for my girlfriend who also is a little bit more exposed, but also for my parents. So I have just tried to do that. It's something that I'm going to continue to do. Not just here because it's a part of the program but French Open, Rome, whichever tournaments are coming up in the future. Whatever the conditions may be, it's something that I have committed to and I'm prepared to follow through with."
Photo credit: @rogerscup
Milos Raonic has two very good reasons to sustain a strict safety bubble.
Milos Raonic hasn't had a haircut since January and hasn't been hanging out with fellow players much recently.
Raonic has two very good reasons for sustaining a strict safety bubble: his parents.
The 30th-ranked Raonic ripped 19 aces and did not drop serve defeating Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4 in his Western & Southern Open opener today.
Afterward, Raonic said keeping his parents safe amid the Coronavirus pandemic is the reason he's isolated himself.
"My motivation was plain and simple. It's my parents," Raonic said. "I'm not sure what the ages are of the other players' parents, those people that are closest to them. Both my parents, being over 65, and also having pre-existing conditions... and I haven't seen my father this year at all. I saw my mom for I think a day and a half after the Australian Open.
"For me it was important that I got to see them, but I was also very motivated to stay smart and healthy because of them. So I can't really comment too much on what other players are doing. I understand it can be tough, but I had a clear idea of why I was doing it."
Unlike many of his peers, Raonic is not staying in the player hotel the USTA has booked. Instead, he's staying at a private home to try to reduce the risk of contracting the Coronavirus.
The former Wimbledon finalist, who reached his fifth Australian Open quarterfinal in January, said he's committed to continuing living in his own safety bubble throughout the rest of the tournament schedule this season.
"I can only control myself while I'm here in this bubble," Raonic said. "I have elected to sort of follow the rules and follow them maybe to a little bit of an extreme. I'm not really spending any time with other players, not seeing anybody. The way they have sort of organized it for us that we have the suites available, which would normally be the sponsor suites, to ourselves if you're a seed, I pretty much stay in there.
"I only go in the locker room for a quick ten-minute shower after practice and I leave. I have elected not to stay at the hotel. All these kind of things, again, for myself, for my girlfriend who also is a little bit more exposed, but also for my parents. So I have just tried to do that. It's something that I'm going to continue to do. Not just here because it's a part of the program but French Open, Rome, whichever tournaments are coming up in the future. Whatever the conditions may be, it's something that I have committed to and I'm prepared to follow through with."
Photo credit: @rogerscup
