DEMON’S SPEED TEST

Big-serving Canadian looms as tough first-round foe

One of the fastest serves in tennis history stands between Alex de Minaur and an Australian Open second round berth.

With an official top speed of 249.9km/h, the missile that is Milos Raonic’s serve has tormented the ATP Tour for more than a decade – and the Aussie No. 1 is its next target.

He’s beaten Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray while in their primes and gave Novak Djokovic one of the sternest tests of his run to the 2021 Australian Open title.

De Minaur might have chuckled when he saw his name placed next to the world No. 317.

Raonic, a former Wimbledon runner-up and five-time Australian Open quarter-finalist, is hardly the cushy opening round draw oft expected for one of the top seeds.

After almost two years away from the tour battling injury, the 33-year-old Canadian is back up and running and ready to break Aussie hearts.

The former world No. 3 has saved his best tennis for Melbourne Park, where he boasts a 34-11 record and has reached the fourth round or better on eight occasions.

One man who knows how dangerous Raonic can be is recently-retired Aussie star, John Millman. Millman rates Raonic as the most difficult serve he faced throughout his career. In one of their clashes at Wimbledon, the Canadian “nearly put me into the stands,” he said. “I went up to near the baseline and he put one through me which nearly made me fall over.”

But Millman believes de Minaur’s skill set makes him a match-up nightmare for Raonic, not the other way around. “I used to hate having to face those big servers, especially early in a tournament,” Millman said. “Sometimes the game can get taken out of your hands. The good news for Australian fans is that last year, Alex was the fifth-best returner on tour.”

Last year, only the current world top four – Djokovic, Alcaraz,

Medvedev and Sinner – boasted better return games than de Minaur.

Between 2012 and 2019, Raonic won 91 per cent of his service games. That figure would have comfortably led the ATP Tour last year.

But the Canadian is only nine games into his comeback, while de Minaur is coming off a trio of top 10 scalps – including Djokovic – at the United Cup.

De Minaur and Raonic open the Monday night session on Rod Laver Arena from 7pm.