Former world number three Milos Raonic had a stellar 2016 campaign. The 26-year-old, big-serving Canadian advanced to his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon last year. However, injuries have intervened, which has caused Raonic to not build on his form in 2016. Nevertheless, there is time for Raonic to turn it around, and he will hope to reach his second Grand Slam final at the French Open.
Notable results to date
The world number six has played a lack of tennis in 2017. Moreover, he has a 17-5 win-loss record. The Canadian began his season in Brisbane as the defending champion as part of his preparations for the Australian Open. Raonic received a bye in the opening round, defeating Diego Schwartzman in his first match of the new year. In the quarterfinals, he defeated former world number one Rafael Nadal in three sets. There was a little narrative to this match as Raonic's former coach Carlos Moya is now a member of the Spaniard's coaching team. Raonic's title defence came to a halt when he lost to a resurgent Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals in straight sets.
Last year's Wimbledon finalist, travelled to the Australian Open, where he was a semifinalist last year. He suffered an adductor injury in his semifinal clash with Andy Murray. Heaven alone knows what would have happened, had the Canadian not got injured. Nonetheless, Raonic overcame Dustin Brown and Gilles Muller in his opening two rounds in straight sets. Those matches could have been trickier for Raonic. He needed four sets to defeat Gilles Simon and Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the quarterfinals for the third straight year. He was unable to defeat Nadal again as the Spaniard avenged his loss to the Canadian in Brisbane.
The Canadian advanced to the final of Delray Beach defeating former champion Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals. However, Raonic was unable to compete in the championship match due to a right hamstring tear and Jack Sock was awarded the title. Raonic opted not to compete in Indian Wells due to injury but he returned in Miami, defeating Viktor Troicki in the second round. Once again, injury intervened. He withdrew from the tournament ahead of his scheduled third round encounter with Jared Donaldson due to the hamstring injury, that wasn't fully healed.
Clay Court results leading up to Roland Garros
The 26-year-old missed the Monte Carlo Masters but he returned at the Istanbul Open. He defeated Aljaz Bedene in three sets and recorded straight sets wins over Bernard Tomic and Troicki but lost to 2014 US Open champion and fellow top ten colleague Marin Cilic in his second final of the year. Raonic returned to the Mutua Madrid Open with the conditions being at altitude that favour big servers. He sent fellow big-server in Gilles Muller packing but lost to an in-form David Goffin in the third round. Raonic travelled to the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, and he recorded good wins over Tommy Haas and Tomas Berdych. However, after a closely contested opening set, he lost to eventual champion Alexander Zverev in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
Best French Open result
The world number three will be seeded fifth at this year's French Open, thanks to Australian Open champion Roger Federer's withdrawal from the event. Raonic has competed at five French Opens, and his best result at the second Grand Slam tournament of the year was the quarterfinals in 2014.
As the eighth seed, Raonic defeated Nick Kyrgios and Jiri Vesely in straight sets in his opening two round clashes. However, he had to recover from a set and two sets to love down against France's 29th seed Gilles Simon. Raonic overcame the Frenchman, 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5, and Marcel Granollers to reach the second week in Paris for the first time. Raonic advanced to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the French Open, when he lost to Novak Djokovic, 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Once again, Raonic was seeded eighth at last year's French Open when he defeated two-time US Open quarterfinalist Janko Tipsarevic in the first round. He also cruised past Adrian Mannarino and Andrej Martin to reach the second week at Roland Garros for the second consecutive time. Raonic's run came to a halt in the fourth round, when he was upset by Spain's Albert Ramos Vinolas who thrashed the Canadian, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to reach his Slam quarterfinal in the process.
How Raonic's game translates to this surface
The 2014 quarterfinalist's game is serve-dominated. Raonic has one of the best serves in tennis along with John Isner and Ivo Karlovic. Raonic relies on his serve a lot, and if he is not serving well, it tends to determine the outcome of the match. His groundstrokes are good, and his forehand is stronger than his backhand. Raonic occasionally employs the serve and volley tactic or chip and charge to finish off the points quicker. Raonic isn't the best of returners, however, on clay, he will have that extra time to get himself to be aggressive and return.
Another reason why the former world number three struggles on clay, is that he doesn't move exceptionally well on this surface. Sliding is essential on clay when you are engaging in a long rally. Whilst Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray are the favourites. Dominic Thiem who's put together a good clay court season and Alexander Zverev are in the conversation to win Roland Garros ahead of Raonic. However, the Canadian has been to a Slam final before, and he would love to do it again at Roland Garros.