Milos Raonic: After The Injury, That’s Probably The Most Heartbroken I’ve Felt On A Tennis Court
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Milos Raonic had the win in sight, but his body let him today Friday night in the Australian Open semifinals. Playing in his first semifinal in Melbourne, Roanic led the heavily-favored Andy Murray by two sets to one when the 25-year-old injured his adductor early in the fourth set.
Raonic, who was trying to become the first Canadian man to ever reach a Grand Slam final, only won four games after losing to Murray 46, 75, 67(4), 64, 62.
Raonic finished with 23 aces and 72 winners against the World No. 2 and 4-time time Australian finalist. It was Raonic’s first loss of the season.
Raonic went to Instagram to post this message:
It hurts light hell now at this moment. The heartbreak and the disappoint. Regardless, I will not let this keep me down. That is not how I was raised and that is not the kind of person that I am. I thrive of challenges and of difficult moments that on the other side make me better and make me stronger. It’s infuriating for the tournament to end on this note and to have to face this knot in my stomach. But it’s not the end. Not by any means. I am better than that and I will overcome the challenges my body presents to me, I work far to damn hard and commit every waking moment to tennis, my ambitions and my goals, to not do that. I will grow from this and I will learn. I will give myself this opportunity again and I will move on in a better light. It may not be today or tomorrow but I am gonna do everything to make sure it’s someday!
At the end of the day, it has been a very special January. I have showed great amounts of improvement and development in my tennis. I have played great and I have done a whole lot of winning. That feels great and I will keep pushing that forward.
A huge thank you to the fans and supporters who show their love and passion, on court, through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and any other way possible. You guys are great to me and I am forever grateful. I will much more to cheer for.
With much love!
Milos
Afterward, Raonic met the press:
Q. Can you tell us what the injury was and when you first felt it?
MILOS RAONIC: Just a difficulty to push off my leg with my adductor midway through the third set. That’s what it was.
Q. Must be a very unpleasant way to lose when you’re playing so well.
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, it’s unfortunate. Probably the most heartbroken I felt on court, but that’s what it is.
Q. Have you had this before?
MILOS RAONIC: I struggled with it a little bit in Brisbane, but it was not an issue so far in Melbourne.
Q. Did you think you still had a chance even though you were injured?
MILOS RAONIC: I think maybe that’s why I sort of lashed out after I did at the start of the fifth set. I guess that was sort of just the whole frustration of everything sort of getting out.
I don’t think that’s like myself to do, but sometimes it’s a little bit too much to keep in.
Q. Are you saying that’s when you realised it wasn’t going to happen for you?
MILOS RAONIC: I was going to fight and see what I could make of it, but it wasn’t looking that great.
Q. First three sets were pretty high level of tennis. Do you take any positives despite the disappointment?
MILOS RAONIC: I’m in a much better state where I was 18 months ago when I was in my first semifinal of a Grand Slam.
So I think I was giving myself chances and I was fighting hard. I was doing things right. It was just sort of how the story played out after.
Q. Did you ask the medical people whether there was a risk of you making it worse by playing on till the end?
MILOS RAONIC: No. I couldn’t have cared less what could have happened on the court. I was in my second semifinal. I was in a much better position than where I was last time. Regardless of what situation I was in, I was going to play and try to do whatever I could.
Q. How did you feel in the first three sets in terms of the level you were competing with him at?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, I felt good. I sort of dipped a little bit too much on my return. I think I was forcing a little bit too much. When I started to relax a little bit I started returning better.
And even into the second set, towards the end of the third, I started to figure things out to give myself chances there.
I’m happy with where my tennis is at, I just wish I could play…tennis.
Q. Today’s match must be very disappointing, but if you look back on this tournament and Brisbane, you might be quite positive and maybe you can take away something positive from these three weeks.
MILOS RAONIC: No, trust me, if this didn’t happen 20 minutes ago, there’s a lot more positive to take from the situation than there is negative by magnitudes.
With the way I’ve sort of started off this year after the difficulties I had, whatever it was, three months ago, not finishing the year, many other aspects, not knowing where I stood, this was the most ideal way to start.
You can’t take away that sort of hurt from the way the story played out today.
Q. Do you have any idea whether it will affect your tournament schedule for the next few weeks?
MILOS RAONIC: No. I have not spoken to anybody. Honestly, I’m not in the mental state where I would be seeing a doctor to get a recommendation today. Maybe that happens tomorrow or whenever I feel like I’m ready to face that situation.
When that comes, I’ll deal with it accordingly.
Q. Did you take any antiinflammatories to try to get through?
MILOS RAONIC: I did. Just basic things, what the doctor gave me when I was in the room getting treated.
Q. Does it feel any worse now than it did when you were out there playing?
MILOS RAONIC: No. It wasn’t bothering me walking or so forth. It’s just I couldn’t push off. I couldn’t get up to serve and I couldn’t change direction. That was the difficult part.
Q. Have you had a chance to speak to your team since coming off?
MILOS RAONIC: No. Well, probably they would have liked to spoke, but I’m just not in a state where I can probably have a conversation.
Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
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