In the years since, Raonic’s ambition has only grown, and so have the lengths he goes to satisfy it. He has worked with nine coaches, hired a trainer and a physio, gone gluten-free and back again, and has tried meditating, journal writing and art-appreciation to relax. He has studied Steve Jobs’ philosophies on global success. He’s worn a mouth guard to keep his spine aligned and an arm-length sleeve to, among other things, bring him good luck.
Despite suffering a string of injuries, Raonic makes it seem as if everything is going to plan. Since 2012, he has steadily risen in the rankings—peaking at No. 3—and last year he reached his first major final, at Wimbledon. After losing it handily to Andy Murray, he said: “I’m going to try to get fitter, stronger. I’m going to try to improve my return game, improve my serve, improve my efficiency coming forward. There’s not one thing I’m not going to try to improve.”
Raonic, again, was as good as his word. He came within a point of beating Murray at the ATP World Tour Finals, and he started the 2017 season by beating Rafael Nadal in Brisbane. Yet as he heads back to Wimbledon, last year’s runner-up is something of an afterthought. Raonic, at 26, is squeezed between the legendary Big Four and the swaggering Next Gen.
Now he confronts the possibility that his window of Grand Slam title-winning opportunity has shrunk.
“Suddenly,” Raonic wrote in ‘Letter to My Future Self’ for The Players’ Tribune, “the road from No. 4 to No. 1 feels longer than any road you’ve ever taken.”
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Raonic has learned to volley and improved his return. He has made his forehand a weapon and become a better defender. But is there still something missing from this carefully-constructed tennis-playing machine?
“Growing up, Milos always seemed to be on the verge of breaking through,” Mia Gordon, a friend of Raonic’s from juniors, told TSN. “He would have close three-set matches with the top players in Canada, but as a junior he just wasn’t able to get that big win under his belt.”
The upside to Raonic’s frustration was that it made him get to the courts earlier and practice later, and he has long since left his old Canadian rivals in the dust. But he has struggled again at the pro level to deliver a big win at a big event. He's currently 8–33 against Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Murray.
Injuries have slowed Raonic’s progress. In the last year alone, he has been hobbled by problems with his right adductor, left wrist, left hip, right ankle, right quad and right hamstring. By now Raonic is cautious in practice; he tends to hurt himself during matches, when he can’t hold back. There’s some concern that Raonic’s recent injuries all involve his right leg, the same side where he had hip surgery in 2011.
