Milos Raonic reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, navigating a brutal draw that saw him face Nick Kyrgios and Stan Wawrinka just to reach the third round. He also knocked off Alexander Zverev for his first Top 10 win at a major since he defeated Roger Federer in the Wimbledon semis in 2016.
Though he fell short in Melbourne, falling to Lucas Pouille in four sets in what many perceived to be a winnable match, his coach Goran Ivanisevic thinks that his charge should be very pleased with the way he has started the season.
“I think he should be happy the way the season started for him,” Ivanisevic said of Raonic, in an interview with David Law and Catherine Whitaker of the Tennis Podcast.
Ivanisevic says that first and foremost just getting through to the quarterfinals in good health is a good sign.
“After—I don’t say poor—but a poor season with injury, every second week he was injured [in 2018], a lot of injuries, and the last two years he was injured, so finally we had a good preparation. Finally he could say he was fit, ready, and without pain, and he performed.”
Ivanisevic is upbeat about Raonic’s game and his chances moving forward this season.
“Milos Raonic is back again,” he said. “People fear him. People talk about him. About his game and he has a big game. … The goal was to put himself back on the map, to be a contender to win a Grand Slam and he proved here that he can do that so most important thing is to stay healthy and then we will see what is going to happen.”
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t facets of the game that still need improving. Notably, the return and the forehand volley.
“His game is similar to my game,” Ivanisevic said. “Big serve, big forehand, coming in and it has to be everything simple. … so let’s do simple things. Concentrate on the serve, concentrate on the forehand. We work a lot on his return which in the past I thought was not perfect, and a lot on his forehend volley, which can be better, but I want to make everything simple for him.”