LONDON | Will we see Milos Raonic back on the pitch of the All England Club where he reached his only Grand Slam final seven years ago? “I don’t know. I’d say no rather than yes,” the Canadian giants admitted shortly after their second-round loss on Thursday.
“But I’ll probably come back a few more times to enjoy the game,” smiled the 32-year-old “returnee”.
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The former third in the world should therefore have played his last match in Wimbledon against the 16th favorite, the American Tommy Paul. A Paul against whom Raonic put up a good fight despite a sore body before finally losing 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-4 in almost three hours of play.
He couldn’t climb the stairs
During this duel he suffered from the shoulder of the powerful server. That was already the case against Austria’s Dennis Novak on Wednesday as he scored his first win since 2019 in London.
However, that didn’t stop him from hitting 21 aces. But that was compounded by swelling in one knee so severe the Ontario native couldn’t even climb the stairs when he paused between sets to go to the bathroom.
“For two and a half innings, all I could do was run on the field,” he told reporters. […] In fact, I think this game should have ended in three sets.
“It’s always a pleasure”
However, Raonic has no regrets about coming to Wimbledon, despite the scars it will leave on his body for a while. “It’s Wimbledon. If I had been told that I had competed in a 250 class tournament elsewhere and felt the same discomfort as I did today, I would not have found it very comfortable.
“But it’s always a pleasure to be at Wimbledon,” he said.
Before reporting to the All England Club just over a week ago, Raonic – who entered the tournament due to his protected ranking – had only played two games in almost two years. He had made a successful comeback against a member of the top 40, Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last month before losing to Australia’s Jordan Thompson.
His injured shoulder then forced him to skip the Queen’s tournament.
Previously, serious foot and Achilles tendon injuries prevented the eight-time ATP champion from hitting a single tennis ball for more than a year. The first Canadian to reach the final of a major tournament (and the only one to date) even considered giving it all up at some point as the rehabilitation process was so long and complex.
He tasted no weed
And that return may well be short-lived. Raonic is aiming for a place in the Toronto tournament in August, ahead of his family, then the US Open. Despite Thursday’s pain, Raonic is also fairly confident he’ll be back in time for the National Bank Open. “I’d be really unlucky if it wasn’t!” he said.
Then, after New York, he will have it “A great conversation with yourself” He said about his future on Sunday.
Unlike other players who are on hand for their last Wimbledon appearance, Raonic was not tempted to chew up a few chunks of that turf on which so many legends were written. “NO. I don’t even want to know what they put on the lawn [pour l’entretenir]!“ he started.