Raonic stops Sock, set to give Goffin a go
I trained again WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND at Wimbledon on Saturday—what a shock — but it was all sunshine for Canada’s Milos Raonic.
Playing on Centre Court for the first time in two years, the Thornhill, Ont., native fired 27 aces, hitting a top speed of 143 m.p.h., on his way to a 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 win over American Jack Sock and a spot in the Round of 16.
Ra onic’ sn ext match is on Monday against Belgium’s David Goffin.
Raonic, ranked No. 7 in the world, hasn’t lost a set in his first three matches but will face his toughest test yet against Goffin, who is ranked No. 11. They have met twice before, each winning once. Raonic won their most recent meeting 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the semifinals at Indian Wells in March.
But one player Raonic won’t have to worry about now if he gets past Goffin is No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic, who was upset 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 Saturday by American Sam Querrey, ranked No. 41. Raonic and Djokovic were on a path to meet in the quarter-finals.
“You still have great champions that are in the tournament,” Raonic said. “You have Andy (Murray) that’s won this tournament. You have Roger (Federer) that’s won it I believe seven or eight times — seven times — been here in the finals 10 times. There’s these marquee players that are still there.
“Obviously, everybody would like to have that storyline of waiting for Novak to be the first guy to win the first three slams of the year since Rod Laver (in 1969). He’s the first guy since Rod to be holding all four slams (at the same time). There’s a storyline to it. At the end of the day, no player is bigger than the tournament. The tournament goes on. There’s people fighting to make a difference for themselves.”
Raonic’s match Saturday was a fight between two power servers, with Sock hitting a high of 137 m.p.h. But the American could only deliver nine aces — 18 less than the Canadian. The only break of the match came in the second set with Raonic going up 4-3. Sock saved six break points in the first five games of the third set to take a 3-2 lead, but was no match in the tiebreaker with Raonic winning 7-1.
This marks only the second time Raonic has made it to the second week at Wimbledon as he looks to become the first Canadian to ever win a Grand Slam singles title. The last time he advanced this far, in 2014, Raonic made it all the way to the semifinals before losing 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Federer on Centre Court.
“Definitely felt better than when I was there (on Centre Court) last time,” Raonic said in his postmatch news conference. “Definitely took me a little bit to get settled there. It’s quite a different Centre Court to me than anywhere else, at least meaning-wise. I’m happy I had the opportunity to play on it.
“I’m happy with the way I was able to get it done in three sets and move on and give myself another challenge looking forward.”
The person with the toughest job here Saturday might have been Raonic’s new coaching consultant John McEnroe, who was doing TV commentary on the match after sitting in the Royal Box earlier in the day. While you can applaud while sitting with the really important people, there’s no cheering in the press box.
“I know John was commentating the match,” Raonic said. “I’m not aware of where the booth was. I know where it should be. I think some of them have glass that you can’t see through.”
When the match ended, McEnroe said on TV about Raonic: “He’s a good player. He’s a great player.”
That wasn’t a biased comment. Raonic has become a great player and has a legitimate chance to win it all here. Raonic said he spoke on Thursday with McEnroe, who has a hectic TV schedule, about strategy for Saturday’s match.
When asked what part of his game he was most proud of after the victory, Raonic said: “I stepped up when I needed to. ... I got it done in three sets.