‘You’re so close, but it feels so far’
Raonic pens heartfelt letter on his career
TORONTO• Andre Agassi reached his first major tennis semifinal in 1988, two years before Milos Raonic was born.
By the end of that season, the 18- year- old American was the No. 3 player on the ATP men’s tennis tour, the highest ranking of his nascent career. Agassi had won many matches to reach that point and after one such victory, a reporter approached him on the court and asked how it felt to be third in the world.
“I can’t stand mediocrity,” Agassi said.
Raonic recalled that episode Wednesday in a letter published on The Player’s Tribune: a note to his future self, written at a time when his own sterling world ranking leaves him frustrated.
Raonic, the 26- year- old power server from Thornhill, Ont., is currently No. 4 in the ATP table and reached No. 3 late last year. He has made two Grand Slam semifinals and a Wimbledon final, and entered this year’s Australian Open as the third seed.
For his entire career, he has faced off against the greatest concentration of talent men’s tennis has seen — four generational players capable of winning any tournament when healthy.
It is a tough crowd to pierce. Raonic is 8- 33 lifetime against that group: Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. He’s 3- 9 against Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori, the players on either side of him in the current rankings. It’s a predicament for someone of his calibre, the general inability to beat top opponents in moments of consequence.
No .3“wasn’ t good enough” for Agassi in 1988, Raonic wrote in his letter. “It wasn’t even close. For a player of Andre’s calibre, there was No. 1 ... and there was everyone else.
“The craziest part,” he added, “is that, at this point in my life, I can totally relate to what he was going through.”
This wasn’t always the case. As a teenager, Raonic recounts how he turned down a tennis scholarship to the University of Virginia, instead choosing to stay on a direct path to the pros. At that point, he figured he’d be a solid pro — and his stated goal at the time was to make the top 50 in the world.
“That, to you, as 16- yearold Milos, would have been a satisfying life,” he wrote.
Perspectives change with time, Raonic noted, just like expectations. Every time he chases his first career Grand Slam, he is also pursuing Canada’s first major tennis title, an added weight that shows just how much he has surpassed his own early outlook.
The fear now, though, is that his career may have already plateaued, mostly due to bad timing. After Raonic upset Federer in a five- set epic at Wimbledon last year, he had to meet Murray in the final and lost in a three sets.
When Murray and Djokovic were upset in the early rounds in Melbourne last month, Nadal played better than he had in years, knocking Raonic out in the quarter-finals.
There is always one more legend to beat. Federer, at age 35, beat the 30- year- old Nadal in a turn- back- theclock final.
“My biggest phobia at this point in my life is the possibility that someday I’ ll look back and feel like I didn’t realize my full potential as a player,” Raonic wrote. “That I didn’t get to No. 1. That I didn’ t win the multiple Slams.
“You’re so close, but it feels so far — the steps are taller and the spotlight is so much brighter. And it’s making you that much more nervous. Suddenly, the road from No. 4 to No. 1 feels longer than any road you’ve ever taken.”
To a large extent, the worry Raonic may have already peaked is overstated. Federer and Nadal ( probably) can’t hang around forever and they have provided a template for excellence beyond the age once thought to mark the end of an elite tennis career. Wawrinka, with three major titles all won at age 29 or older, has proven that mere mortals can still hack it in this era. There will be many more majors for Raonic to play, starting at the French Open this June.
Will he ever emulate Agassi, reach No. 1 and lift a trophy at a Slam? Only his future self really knows.
I CAN TOTALLY RELATE TO WHAT (AGASSI) WAS GOING THROUGH.