Milos Raonic: To Beat Federer I Have To Play On My Terms, Not On Roger’s

Milos Raonic is next for Roger Federer Monday in the Australian Open fourth round. The 22-year-old Canadian with the massive serve has lost all three of his previous meetings with the Swiss legend, but despite a minor bout with flu he’s looking forward to the challenge of getting another chance to show his mettle on Rod Laver where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt a year ago.

“I think I got pretty damn close the one time in Madrid,” Roanic said of his encounters with Federer in which he one a set in each. “I got pretty close in Halle.

“I think against Roger, one thing that has sort of worked well for me, I try as much as I can not to play on Roger’s terms, to play on my own terms.

“I have to go out there and do my job. Take care of my serve is number one. Really dictate or try to dictate as much as I can and go for it, not get in too much rhythm. Sort of similar to today. I think he deals much better with that. But not give him too much rhythm. Sort of sink my teeth into the match as much as I can. Not just go for it out there, give it my all, stay aggressive as much as I can, try to get ahead in as many points as I can.”

Through three matches Roanic leads all players with 71 aces and he’s won nine sets in a row.

Curiously, Raonic was hoping the match would be played during the daytime hours but the schedule maker’s weren’t kind to the Canadian.

“I think that’s better for me,” he said of playing under the sun. “It just quickens up the situations. The three times I played him have been either not great weather in Halle, which is pretty cool all the time, or both of the other times were night matches. So a day opportunity I think would be good for me.”

Raonic has never reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal. And after his win over Bernard Tomic, Federer still has never lost to a player born in the 1990s (13-0).