Milos Raonic 2.0

Luxilon Borg

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Disclaimer. I have been a bit of a Milos Raonic critic due to his obvious limitations: movement, backhand, one dimensional play.

HOWEVER, after the Wimbledon Semi run, he did a one month training block/retool and I am IMPRESSED.

First, he did a LOT of work on his agility.

He shored up the back hand a bit.

He added the ability to scramble and stay in the point, just like Juan Martin. The use of a block/underspin forehand, and the smarter use of the slice backhand are big additions, as well
as his ability to stay balanced on the move, which quite frankly, was not there before.

These changes are significant. They were obvious in his victory over Hewitt.

He stayed in the longer points, often reversing the momentum of the point from offense to defense, out hustling Hewitt (who would ever believe that???) and playing the pressure points with a purpose.

The last thing that needs work is the return of serve.
 

DarthFed

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^ He has made some improvements but for his sake he is hoping this isn't Milos 2.0 because that almost implies he doesn't have a lot of potential to improve. Milos made some inroads on clay this year and that was surprising. With that serve alone he will be a threat at Wimbledon for many years. It was a really weak performance in the semis there but it was his first go at it and playing Roger on Centre Court probably didn't help.
 

Luxilon Borg

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DarthFed said:
^ He has made some improvements but for his sake he is hoping this isn't Milos 2.0 because that almost implies he doesn't have a lot of potential to improve. Milos made some inroads on clay this year and that was surprising. With that serve alone he will be a threat at Wimbledon for many years. It was a really weak performance in the semis there but it was his first go at it and playing Roger on Centre Court probably didn't help.

I agree that the Wimbledon performance was no shame. Big Ask to defeat the greatest player of all time on grass in his first foray into the last week of a slam.

However I don't agree that MR 2.0 implies there is no more room for improvements. I think there is room for 2.5, 3.0 etc.

Look how many phases Joker, Murray, and even Rafa went through in retooling their games.

It may take a MR 3.5 to win a slam.
 

Murat Baslamisli

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One of the biggest advantages Milos has is that he is pretty calm under pressure. That helps him in the late set situations and TBs as much as his serve. Most players go through their whole careers without figuring out the mental part of the game.
 

herios

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I would call Raonic 2.0 the one who is working with Ljubicic-Piatti.

I don't know how many times LuxB you have watched Milos playing this year? Because his improvement has been steady all season long since March.
After coming off his injury he has suffered in January at the AO, many aspects of his game have been showing improvement.
First his second weapon, beside his serve, the FH has become steady, less erratic and his CC Inside Out FH has become another big weapon.
Yes, he has become slowly more balanced and stays in points longer, and this is not just something he developed since Wimbledon, his clay results would have not been this consistent, without it.
Another big improvement, his volleys. He has many great half pick up volleys on both sides, FH and BH. Also full stretch Volleys. He stills nets a few, but his conversion rate is more than 50%.
I have seen even running FH winners DTL or CC.
BH still needs work, but he can stay in BH rallies CC more than before.
The one aspect which still hurts him is the ROS. This needs to be a lot better, especially on the second serve. If these are slow and bouncing high, he kills them launching a winner, but he needs a lot better ROS and better guessing.

Seeing so many improvements, I am optimistic that more is to come. I am just happy he is now well within the top 10 and he stays his ground in the big events, QF and SF at times, are often happening,

I am fully confident he will stay in the top 8 for the whole season and he will be at WTF, if he stays healthy.

And next year, watch out!
 

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1972Murat said:
One of the biggest advantages Milos has is that he is pretty calm under pressure. That helps him in the late set situations and TBs as much as his serve. Most players go through their whole careers without figuring out the mental part of the game.

This was not case for most of last year. He nearly soiled himself against Popsicle at the Rogers Cup and had a complete collapse against Rafa. He also caved in half a dozen other big matches.
 

Luxilon Borg

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herios said:
I would call Raonic 2.0 the one who is working with Ljubicic-Piatti.

I don't know how many times LuxB you have watched Milos playing this year? Because his improvement has been steady all season long since March.
After coming off his injury he has suffered in January at the AO, many aspects of his game have been showing improvement.
First his second weapon, beside his serve, the FH has become steady, less erratic and his CC Inside Out FH has become another big weapon.
Yes, he has become slowly more balanced and stays in points longer, and this is not just something he developed since Wimbledon, his clay results would have not been this consistent, without it.
Another big improvement, his volleys. He has many great half pick up volleys on both sides, FH and BH. Also full stretch Volleys. He stills nets a few, but his conversion rate is more than 50%.
I have seen even running FH winners DTL or CC.
BH still needs work, but he can stay in BH rallies CC more than before.
The one aspect which still hurts him is the ROS. This needs to be a lot better, especially on the second serve. If these are slow and bouncing high, he kills them launching a winner, but he needs a lot better ROS and better guessing.

Seeing so many improvements, I am optimistic that more is to come. I am just happy he is now well within the top 10 and he stays his ground in the big events, QF and SF at times, are often happening,

I am fully confident he will stay in the top 8 for the whole season and he will be at WTF, if he stays healthy.

And next year, watch out!

Yes, many of the improvements have been incremental. No doubt.

But to my mind there is no way he wins that Hewitt match earlier this year.

As I said, I have been a skeptic, but what I have seen this week has made me sit up and take notice.
 

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I wouldnt dub him a Raonic 2.0 because I don't think he's suddenly transformed into this new player, but he's made steady, noticeable progress throughout this year and I think he'll continue to progress. He could do some serious damage at these three big tournaments.
 

GameSetAndMath

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TennisFanatic7 said:
I wouldnt dub him a Raonic 2.0 because I don't think he's suddenly transformed into this new player, but he's made steady, noticeable progress throughout this year and I think he'll continue to progress. He could do some serious damage at these three big tournaments.

His return game is substantially improved. I looked at the stats few weeks ago.
His return game stats are better than that of Isner and Karlovic put together, the two
other big servers.
 

Kieran

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What's all this 2.0 with players? :s

Raonic went down like a lamb at Wimbo.

A lamb!
 

I.Haychew

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Kieran said:
What's all this 2.0 with players? :s

Raonic went down like a lamb at Wimbo.

A lamb!

2.0...I'm not sure what that even means. Is that a scale? Like a scale of 10? A scale of 5? A scale of what? Or does it mean something totally diphpherent?
 

I.Haychew

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Kieran said:
I. Haychew said:

What bleedin' language is this? :snigger

"Sopht" ephs don't qualiphy phor ph's, only "hard" ephs do. Sopht ephs would be "v's". But I won't go that phar, because it would be too conphusing, even phor me!
 

GameSetAndMath

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As much as I don't like him, it appears that Raonic is here to stay for a while in
top 10. God save tennis and make sure he does not ever get into top 5.
 

I.Haychew

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GameSetAndMath said:
As much as I don't like him, it appears that Raonic is here to stay for a while in
top 10. God save tennis and make sure he does not ever get into top 5.

It's possible that he could gradually improve all aspects of his game and become more than just Raonic 2.0. I suppose I should ask why you don't like him, rather than assuming that it's because you think he's nothing but a big server.
 

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I'm not a Raonic fan, per se, but I do think he has been improving incrementally even from last summer on his movement, and his new team seems to be a big help. (And I Haychew, I KNOW you know the 2.0 is software-speak, which means there can still be more versions. And for that matter, I agree with LB that it would probably take a 3.5 to win him a Major.)

But it does seem that Milos is prepared to be a fixture in the top 10. Much like Berdych, who I'm also not really a fan of, but they are both solid, tall and big-serving enough to get past much of the draw on most days. It's not thrilling, but credit where credit is due.
 

Luxilon Borg

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TennisFanatic7 said:
I wouldnt dub him a Raonic 2.0 because I don't think he's suddenly transformed into this new player, but he's made steady, noticeable progress throughout this year and I think he'll continue to progress. He could do some serious damage at these three big tournaments.

I say the improvements since wimbledon are quite dramatic. I think there was some serious disappointment there, and that led to a very intense training block and reassessment.
 

Luxilon Borg

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I. Haychew said:
Kieran said:
What's all this 2.0 with players? :s

Raonic went down like a lamb at Wimbo.

A lamb!

2.0...I'm not sure what that even means. Is that a scale? Like a scale of 10? A scale of 5? A scale of what? Or does it mean something totally diphpherent?

It is a pretty common form of quantifying. if you don't know what it means, I can't help you.