by Bobby Chintapalli
MEMPHIS—As Milos Raonic served at speeds around 140 mph in the semifinals this afternoon, a fiftysomething linesman standing behind the baseline across from the Canadian and his lethal weapon looked surprisingly jolly. During points he was nonchalant, like he was at his desk job, manipulating pivot tables in Excel. During changeovers he looked around to pass the time, smiling if he made eye contact and generally being, well, jolly.
But this was Milos Raonic’s serve—wasn’t he a bit concerned, maybe even a bit fearful?
Not really, it turns out. The jolly black-and-khaki-clad linesman has seen worse, it seems. There was Goran Ivanisevic, whose serve hit him right above his heart and left a big mark by the time he looked down at the spot just minutes later. (Ivanisevic apologized, but I’m not sure about his opponent, who didn’t block the serve.) A female Russian player’s ball ricocheted off a wall once and left him with a bruised retina.
One player though does concern him here in Memphis: “You know who is a real danger is that tall guy, he’s 6’10”… ?” Ivo Karlovic, I offered. Bingo. “He could really kill someone with his serve,” he said. When Karlovic plays on the side courts here, the jolly linesman will pull ballkids aside and warn them to be careful. Sometimes he’ll stand in front of them, doing his bit against the Karlovic serve.
Benjamin Becker also didn’t seem too concerned about being hit by a Raonic serve, and that was after being hit by a Raonic serve. Up a set and 4-3 today, Raonic was serving out wide often and Becker thought he’d go down the T this time. But it was a body serve—a 139-mph body serve—and Becker ran right into it.
In press right after the match, Becker talked about getting hit as matter-of-factly as he talked about Raonic’s serve in general (“his serve is one of the best serves along with, I guess, Isner and Karlovic”) or his potential (“when you have a serve like this, you have a high, high potential—if you back it up with some good groundstrokes, and that’s what he has… obviously he has great, great potential”).
“I hit somebody before, I got hit before,” Becker said. He thought he was done then added, “And he serves quite fast, so it’s tough to react.”
Raonic had something to say too, but I’ll let him tell it. After his match I asked him what goes through his mind when ballkids, fans, or opponents get hit by his serve.
“Depends who it hits,” he said smiling, continuing after the laughter in the unusually full room subsided. “When I hit the ballkids or someone in the crowd I say ‘sorry’. When it hits the opponent I say ‘sorry’, but I’m not as sorry.”
And that’s probably just fine by Becker, who was asked if that serve today hurt. He didn’t have to think about it—no, it didn’t. Now if it were Karlovic…