By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, June 21, 2016
"I believe (Milos will) be a better player when he's able to express himself more positively," John McEnroe said of Milos Raonic.
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John McEnroe brought an inferno of intensity to the famed fire and ice rivalry with Bjorn Borg.
McEnroe, who made his debut as Milos Raonic's coaching consultant at Queen's Club last week, is aiming to inject intensity into the self-contained Canadian.
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"I'm not a guy who can sit still very well in any situation," McEnroe told the media today on a conference call to promote ESPN's Wimbledon coverage. " I'm an energy person. So for me I hope he can feed off some of my energy and intensity a little bit because that's the way I am and that's the way I'm gonna be. Ivan (Lendl) sat there for years and didn't change his expression."
The man who made a mark as tennis' raging rebel wants to pump up the positive passion in Raonic's game.
McEnroe believes Raonic should follow the example of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, exude more joy on court and connect with the crowd.
"It is a little bit like 'Trust me, I've been there and I didn't do as good a job and hopefully you can have more fun with this and enjoy,' " McEnroe said. "And I believe he can. It's not like suddenly he's going to start acting like Rafael Nadal, but I think that over time if you look at Djokovic, Novak has done a great job turning lemons into lemonade. Now he uses the crowd much better. He gets into it. He recognizes the situation and takes advantage of it and that's a great quality that he's got now and I'd like to see Milos do that as well."
The three-time Wimbledon champion said his biggest regret is that he allowed negative emotion to build inside him before erupting in a "you cannot be serious!", "chalk flew up!" or "Mr. Incompetent" outburst, sometimes inciting the wrath of the crowd in the process.
The mercurial McEnroe is encouraging Raonic to embrace the joy of the Wimbledon ride rather than succumb to the major stress that comes at SW19.
McEnroe believes Raonic will become a better player as he grows more emotionally expressive.
"If there's one aspect of Roger Federer's career I'm jealous of is that it seemed like he really loved being out there whereas people like myself or (Pete) Sampras, most people really, it's hard to enjoy it," McEnroe said. "You've got to keep this (emotion) in because you don't want to let down and all these other reasons that you're sort of brought up to believe is the case.
"Milos felt like the best way for him to perform was sort of keep an even keel, not show much emotion and I don't think he hired me so that I would say 'Look, keep doing it exactly the same way.' " I believe he'll be a better player when he's able to express himself more positively."
Defining a game style can be a challenge for young players. Raonic isn't suffering from any identity crisis. The six-foot-five Canadian is big guy, who plays an imposing game with a clear objective: take charge from the first shot.
Former Wimbledon semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov is a shot-making virtuoso who has the skills and athleticism to play all-court tennis, but hasn't established a distinct playing style or even a preferred pattern of play on critical points. Dimitrov has more athletic ability, but Raonic has greater clarity on court.
Pointing to Raonic's success attacking net at the Australian Open — where he won 54 of 83 trips to net subduing Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round and was 50 of 74 at net in his five-set semifinal loss to Andy Murray — McEnroe is encouraging the world No. 7's continued forward march.
"I'm not going to get into specifics of what we're doing," McEnroe said. "I think that Milos is someone who has got a big game. Obviously, (he's) got a lot of shots, one of best serves in history of the game, he has a huge forehand.
"I think he understands he has to use that to his advantage, play more aggressive and take it to people. What he was doing in Australia—that's the best I've ever seen Milos look the way he was playing down there—that's sort of the game plan, with or without me, I believe that's something he understands.
"You always try to help someone with every part of the game," McEnroe said. "Just because I'm more of a touch player and serve-and-volleyer it doesn't mean I'm not gonna say anything about his groundstrokes or never mention anything about his serve or whatever. Obviously, he's working hard on grass-court play, to be aware of situations and his court positioning. Volleying used to be more important and I still think it can be important. I think when you've got a guy who is six feet five inches tall, he's very imposing coming forward. If you've ever heard me commentate, that's a bit of a no-brainer. "