Milos Raonic and south Florida go way back. The 26 year old has been stomping around tennis courts in the sun-soaked state ever since he was a teenager competing in the Orange Bowl, the prestigious international junior tournament held annually in Miami.
As a teen, Raonic said, he envisioned playing at the sport's highest level in the same city, at the Miami Open presented by Itau, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. Few juniors make the leap from the Orange Bowl to the top of the ATP World Tour, but Raonic has more than taken that big step, which makes the next two weeks of the Miami tournament that much more special to him.
“The whole experience of playing here, playing generally in southern Florida has been quite a significant part of my career,” Raonic said during his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday. “Coming here, having that experience, competing on the Stadium Court here in big matches, that's been the most special and meaningful aspect of this tournament.”
Raonic is returning to the Masters 1000 event for the seventh time. He's reached the quarter-finals in two of the past three years (2014, l. to Nadal; 2016, l. to Kyrgios) but has never made it past the last-eight stage. “Hopefully I can create some better results than I have in the past to have some more meaningful memories,” Raonic said.
[ALSO LIKE]
The Canadian is feeling healthy. He had to pull out of the Delray Beach Open final last month because of a hamstring tear, giving American Jack Sock a walkover in the final. By Raonic's count, the injury in Delray Beach marked the ninth consecutive tournament in which he's battled an injury or an illness of some kind.
“Some more significant than others but I just try to put my head down, try to make the right choices when I can and try to get better each week,” Raonic said. “I have issues with injuries so I try to really be smart about everything... Obviously it's unfortunate.”
The Canadian was cleared to practise about a week ago and arrived early in Miami to prepare for the season's second Masters 1000 tournament. The right-hander had to miss the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Raonic, the third seed in Miami, will be joined by Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal, Kei Nishikori and Roger Federer, who will try to complete the Indian Wells-Miami sweep for the third time in his career (also 2005-06).
“It's definitely impressive that he's doing it as well as he is regardless of age,” Raonic said of the 35-year-old Federer. “He's playing some great tennis, which is nice to watch.”