THEY may have been so low-key about their work together that Andy Murray was under the impression following his semi-final win that they had not been working together since the previous weekend, but however much contact Milos Raonic has had with John McEnroe the impact of the grass court expert’s work has been extremely evident.
The 25-year-old Canadian is a better player than he was when he lost to Roger Federer in their previous Wimbledon semi-final two years ago, a better player than he was when he led Murray two sets to one in his only other Grand Slam semi-final prior to this one, in Australia this year and, he reckons, even a better player than he was three weeks ago when he failed to capitalise on being a set and a break of serve up on the Scot in the final at Queen’s Club.
“It's come together nicely,” he said.
“There's obviously been bumps throughout this week. I've overcome a lot of different things. Those things have made me stronger. Now I have an even bigger tool set to face this challenge than I did a few Sundays ago.”
In physical terms the man he beat to reach this final reckoned otherwise, Roger Federer believing Raonic always had the shots required to be effective on grass. However in saying so he effectively fed the notion that McEnroe has made the difference by inducing the attitudinal change required to make the best of his weaponry.
“I don't see a difference in him playing here. I just think he believes it more now and he's clearly evolved as a player in the last two to three years,” said the man who had beaten Raonic in straight sets in their 2014 semi-final encounter.
As so often at this level of sport, the difference is between the ears and, for all that he seemed to be insinuating that the nature of the relationship between Raonic and McEnroe is of a different type to his with his re-appointed coach, Murray has had little choice to accept that if, as he says it does, it makes a telling difference to him to be able to draw confidence from working with Ivan Lendl, then it follows that Raonic may have gained similar benefits in terms of generating the necessary self-belief.
He has, too, evidently been helped in doing that using the technique McEnroe, once considered the bad boy of Wimbledon for his verbal outbursts, understands better than most.
“Two years ago I bottled up all the difficulties I had on court and never got it out,” said Raonic, going on to describe himself as having become “more vocal and a lot more positive on court.”
Far too much simplistic commentary on the likes of both McEnroe and Murray in the past has seen outpourings labelled negative when they can be extremely therapeutic. Instead the message Raonic says he received was: “you tend to be too calm, try to get energy out of you, try to get it out of you on court and leave it all out there, try to get the most out of yourself.”
In terms of what that release of tension also allows him to unleash there is much more to his game than merely being a big server, while even in that department he does more than bludgeon opponents as world number one Novak Djokovic’s conqueror Sam Querrey noted when recalling a key moment in their quarter-final encounter, saying: “He threw in a good kick serve as a first serve, which he hadn't done the whole match.”
Querrey seemed slightly wrong-footed, too, by the all-round quality of Raonic’s play.
“I knew he had a big serve, obviously, but I was really impressed with his net game. He really didn't miss a volley. He kept coming forward, kept the pressure on me… and I felt it,” he admitted.
There is no risk of Murray being similarly surprised since not only does he ensure he is well briefed on every opponent he plays, but he has the knowledge he acquired personally at Queen’s Club and knows Raonic cannot be dismissed as in any way one-dimensional.
Asked to compare facing the Raonic serve with those of giants John Isner and Ivo Karlovic the British number one noted: “Milos serves maybe a bit harder, but because Karlovic and Isner are significantly taller, they can serve more of the spots, have probably bigger second serves, as well.
“Milos is better from the ground than both of those guys (and) probably has a better return game, as well.”
As big a serve as ever, then, a more rounded game than most realised, allied to a new psychological capacity to release what has inhibited him in the important moments in the past. That is the new, improved Milos Raonic who believes he is playing even better than he was last month… but so, too, is Andy Murray.
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