Relaxed and composed.

That’s how 21-year-old Milos Raonic looked against Roger Federer in the second round of the Madrid Open.

Unlike other young players on the tour, Raonic doesn’t seem intimidated facing off against the top players in the world.  Raonic’s serve and forehand are often mentioned as his biggest strengths, but it’s his mental game that is putting him over the edge this year.  Raonic believes he can beat anyone, and he can.  But on Wednesday, he couldn’t beat Federer.

Raonic looked calm and collected as he took the first set 6-4 and kept the match close as Federer took sets two and three 7-5, 7-6.  Raonic’s inside-out forehand was crushing, he hit 21 aces, he was playing great defense, and his footwork looked great.

So what lost him the match?  Federer.

If a couple points went Raonic’s way, I’d be writing about the Canadian’s greatest career victory.  But Federer is clutch and he won the points when he needed to.  While Raonic had 8 break points, Federer saved 7 of them.

I have no doubt that Raonic is a future top 10 player.  Raonic is playing better than his no. 23 ranking suggests, and with more match experience he’ll only get better.

After an impressive 6-4, 6-4, win over David Nalbandian, no. 23 Milos Raonic is set to face Roger Federer in the second round of the Madrid Open.

“You respect him,” Raonic says of Federer.  “But you don’t respect him too much.”

Federer and Raonic have only met once before, in the third round at this year’s Indian Wells where Federer came out the victor in three sets.

But this is a different match.  Federer hasn’t played a match since March, so he’s well rested.  On the other hand, Raonic has had plenty of matches on clay so far this season and he’s coming off a great tournament in Barcelona where he beat Andy Murray on his way to the semifinals.

Federer goes in the favourite.  Why? Cause he’s Roger Federer.  But this is the perfect opportunity for Raonic to get his second top four win.  Raonic’s confidence is high, he’s already had a match on Madrid’s blue “Smurf” courts, and his clay court game has significantly improved in the past month.

The match starts at approximately 2pm on Sportsnet ONE.

Quotes from ATP

The Madrid Open is getting plenty of attention thanks to their new blue clay courts.

But that was part of the plan, right?  Change the classic clay surface and hopefully get more TV viewers?

The surface change was past French Open doubles champ Ion Tiriac’s idea.  The argument is that it’s easier for players and spectators to see the ball on a blue court, no matter the surface.

But many of the top players are against the change.  Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic are all traditionalists; they don’t like major changes to the game and I can understand why they don’t like this one.

Leading up to the French Open, top players don’t want to make any more adjustments than they have to.  At each tournament the ball bounces differently depending on the conditions.  Having to adjust to a different colour court is just another thing to worry about.

Milos Raonic’s coach, Galo Blanco, tweeted that the ball bounces “lower than usual” on the Madrid courts, but other than that it’s the same as the red clay.  Raonic tweeted that the blue “Smurf clay” courts are “a bit more slippery” than the red clay.

Change is inevitable.  It wasn’t long ago that the green hard courts were changed to blue.  But sometimes the changes go too far.

Blue Wimbledon courts? Let’s hope not.

What a week it has been for Milos Raonic.

In the past three days the Thornhill native beat Nicolas Almagro and Andy Murray on clay.  It’s been one of the best weeks of Raonic’s young career.

And although he lost 7-6(2), 7-6(5) to David Ferrer in the Barcelona Open semifinals, he shouldn’t be too upset.  Raonic stuck with Ferrer throughout the entire match, but Ferrer’s consistency and patience won him the match.

At the start of the first set, Raonic was in his groove; his serve bounced high and his forehand was crushing.  But late in the first, his serve stopped cooperating and he hit too many unforced errors on his backhand side.  When you face a veteran player like Ferrer, on his best surface, the odd error can cost you the match.  That’s what happened to Raonic.

But Raonic continues to improve.  His movement on the court is much better than it was just a year ago.  For a big man on tour, he moves relatively well, especially on clay.  Raonic also seems more confident coming to the net and the angles he manages to hit from his forehand groundstrokes have been spacing the court out nicely for him.

Thanks to his run in Barcelona, Raonic’s ranking should rise above his career high no. 25 on Monday.   Raonic has a week off before his next tournament in Madrid.

It’s been a good couple of days for Milos Raonic.

First, Raonic easily beat Nicolas Almagro in straight sets…on clay.

So what did Raonic do next?  Well, he beat no. 4 in the world, Andy Murray 6-4, 7-6(3)…on clay.

And all of a sudden, the 21-year-old Canuck is turning into a triple threat on the hard, grass and clay courts.  I didn’t see this coming, at least, not this quickly.

His win against Murray is Raonic’s first top 4 win of his career, and he couldn’t have asked for a better opponent.  Murray has been extremely inconsistent and wasn’t prepared for Raonic’s powerful forehand and wicked serve.  Raonic lost only four points on serve in the first set against Murray and hit 14 aces in the match.

That’s been the difference for Raonic.  On clay, his serve gets slowed down and his shorter, speedier opponents have an advantage.  But this week, Raonic has been moving more freely than his 6’5” frame suggests and his impressive forehand has been helping him almost as much as his booming serve.  Not only that, but his return game is improving.

Raonic’s test will continue in the semifinals when he’ll face clay court specialist David Ferrer.  Ferrer has won all three of their previous meetings, but Raonic is entering the match with a lot of confidence.

If Raonic can beat Almagro, Murray, and Ferrer on clay, it’s going to be a great spring season for Canadian tennis fans.

Well, I didn’t see that coming.

Milos Raonic upset clay court specialist and world no. 13 Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-3 in the Barcelona Open.

This has to be Raonic’s best win on clay ever.

Raonic’s game isn’t suited for clay; the surface slows down his serve and movement.  But his training on the clay courts of Spain with his coach Galo Blanco seems to be paying off.

Keep this in mind; Almagro has won all of his 11 ATP titles on clay while Raonic has only won 9 career matches on clay.  But on Thursday, Raonic hit seven aces to beat Almagro in just over an hour.

Now Raonic is through to his fourth ATP quarterfinal of the year where he’ll face Andy Murray for the first time in his career.  The two were supposed to meet in Miami, but Raonic had to pull out due to an ankle injury.

“He’s obviously got a huge serve and a very good game,” Murray told the ATP before his matchup with Raonic.  “He can obviously dictate the match, so you need to make sure you play a solid match. There’s a chance that he’s going to give you the odd opportunity by making mistakes and you need to be ready to take that.”

Let’s hope for a close match.  You can catch it LIVE Friday at 6:30am on Sportsnet ONE.

*Quotes from the ATP

Cancer kept her off the court for 10 months as she underwent chemotherapy.

And now Alisa Kleybanova has returned to the court and she won her first match back.

“[Tennis is] not the most important thing in my life anymore,” Kleybanova shared in a press conference before her opening match.  “I don’t want to think about rankings, I just want to be on the court and feel good.  I just want to be myself.”

Kleybanova was in the top 20 before she was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkins lymphoma last May.  She announced in July, on her 22^nd birthday that she was leaving the WTA to get treatment.

“I’m not a person who keeps getting sick.  It’s always a disappointment when you train so much and you can’t compete at 100 percent. It’s been hard for me for a pretty long time. On one side, it was a shock. On the other, there must be a reason for why I was feeling like I was. It’s another big fight, which is much tougher than any tournament. It’s going to take a long time. It’s something that I needed to focus on beating.”

Kleybanova finished her chemotheraphy treatment in December.  It’s remarkable; in a sport as physically demanding as tennis Kleybanova is not only fit enough to return to the tour, but she’s already won her first match back.  Amazing.

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By Caroline Cameron

The tables have turned.

We now have a dominant women’s No. 1 player and we no longer have a dominant men’s No. 1 player.

WTA No. 1 Victoria Azarenka is 23-0 this season and is fresh off her Indian Wells title where she easily beat second seed Maria Sharapova in the final.  It’s refreshing to have a dominant No. 1 player in the women’s game that opponents are afraid to face.   The women’s game has been lacking that kind of top player for many years.  For instance, last year four different women won the four Grand Slams, and for three of those women it was their first Grand Slam title. 

Azarenka is in Miami this week to defend her 2011 title and will try to keep her streak alive.  While Azarenka has had the best start to a WTA season since Martina Hingis in 1997, her competition is about to get a lot tougher in Miami.  Some old familiar faces are back: Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, and Venus Williams.

On the men’s side, Roger Federer is looking sharp, but people don’t seem to notice.  Honestly, I don’t get it.  Roger Federer is 39-2 since the 2011 U.S. Open but for some reason it’s gone under the radar.  When Federer loses critics are quick to suggest that he should retire and that his best years are behind him.  But when he wins, there is little reaction.  Not only is Federer playing extremely well this season but he won Indian Wells while being sick.  So come on, give the guy some credit.

Federer is looking to win the first two ATP Masters 1000 tournaments of the season back-to-back, and it will be no easy task.  Jim Courier was the first man to win in both Indian Wells and Miami back in 1991. 

“All the best players are there but the conditions are different [despite both tournaments being outdoor hard courts]” Courier tells the ATP.  “Palm Springs is warm and dry. Miami is humid and windy.”

So who are the other favourites in South Beach?  The usual suspects: Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. 

I’m interested to see which Andy Murray shows up.  Lately he’s been very hot and cold and he lost in the second round in Palm Springs.  He’s in the same quarter as Canadian Milos Raonic, which could lead to an interesting third round matchup.

Enjoy the tennis!

* The match will be broadcast on Sportsnet ONE at 10pm ET

Denis Istomin is not a household name.

Here’s what we know: his mother is his coach, he’s No. 61 in the world, and he’s never won an ATP title.  And now Istomin is one win away from capturing his first ATP World Tour title.  But before he can do that, he has to get past Milos Raonic.

Raonic enters the SAP Open final as the clear favourite.  The 32nd ranked player in the world has only lost once this year, he’s the defending champ in San Jose, and he’s already won one title this season.

Just last weekend in Vancouver, Raonic was forced to retire due to a knee injury before his Davis Cup rubber against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  Tennis.com has reported that Raonic actually had a misread MRI that showed a tear in his tendon.  Turns out he just has some misplaced fluid in his knee, which he can play through.   And based on his play this week in San Jose, his knee hasn’t been bothering him.

The indoor, hard surface in San Jose is perfect for Raonic’s game.  The ball bounces high to his waist, right around his ideal strike zone.  And while Raonic’s forehand has been extremely effective, Istomin’s main challenge will be Raonic’s serve.

Reaching nearly 155 mph this week, Raonic’s serve screws around with his opponents return game; it’s hard for them to get any points during Raonic’s service games.  If Istomin stands a chance he needs to return well off of Raonic’s second serve, preferably hitting to Raonic’s backhand.

But if Raonic can continue to do well under pressure, open up the court and serve and volley consistently, he’ll easily capture his third ATP title.