After a 20-year hiatus, John McEnroe will return to the coaching ranks as Milos Raonic's grass specialist. McEnroe, who won Wimbledon three times in his career, had high praise for the Canadian when interviewed by Eurosport, "Milos Raonic can win majors."
"He's one of five or six guys that can win Wimbledon," he continued. "I'm excited to be part of his team. Milos has a great team with Ricardo Piatti and Carlos Moya. I'm going to be a consultant on the grass."
Raonic Aims To Improve Net Play
When it comes to great serve-and volley players, and net players in general, throughout tennis history, McEnroe is in the discussion for the best.
Raonic's post-match interview, after a straight sets exit to Albert Ramos-Vinolas, featured a player who was clearly focused on the next surface, as well as everything beyond it.
"It's not a focus for just Wimbledon,” said the analytical Raonic. “It's John coming along to help me improve in general. I want to improve at coming forward and I want to improve at putting more pressure on my opponents."
"If you see great volleyers, most of the time the volleys are pretty easy and it's because of positioning. It's those things that I want to [improve], those instincts where I put myself in the court, how I position myself."
A climb in the rankings after a strong beginning of the year for the 25-year-old was a result of better positioning and overall stroke improvement--most noticeably in the backhand. However, he still needs to find an edge over the Novak Djokovic's and Andy Murray's of the world. The world number nine hopes to find a difference-maker in his net efficiency.
"I feel like I was a lot more efficient at the beginning of the year coming forward,” said Raonic after his match, “and it's something that I would like to put a lot of attention to and find a way. It just works out with grass that's probably the thing that will benefit me the most."
"And now there is going to be the three weeks leading to Wimbledon that we are going to work, and just find that sort of groove, that efficiency.”
With his greatest slam success in Wimbledon in 2014 finally being matched with a semifinal appearance in this year's Australian Open, Raonic appears poised to make a splash.
Raonic Looks Pain-Free In First Practice
When the focus shifted from his legendary American coach to his wrist injury, Raonic said, "The muscles around it sort of seized up. The trainer was able to sort of assure me that from what he could tell, there was nothing serious there and that I'll have tests done on it now and take it from there."
TSN Canada was able to get some footage, while minimal, of the first practice, and no obvious signs of pain are present. Moreover, Raonic's mother, who was in attendance, gleamed about the North American pairing. "It's amazing. It means a lot when you see that people see him as someone with big potential. If John McEnroe wants to train with him, be his coach, that's amazing."
Piatti, one of Raonic's coaches, elicited similar optimism saying, "We are very happy about it. Besides the experience and knowledge, we think this is going to help Milos win more matches by using his net game."
While many experts have predicted a rise in the rankings as high as number five for Raonic, it's imperative that he uses the lawns as a springboard if those predictions are to ring true.