Raonic salutes 'phenomenal' Murray, vows to hit back

Milos Raonic hailed Andy Murray as "phenomenal" after losing the Wimbledon final Sunday.
Milos Raonic of Canada returns to Andy Murray of Britain during the men's singles final on the fourteenth day of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Sunday, July 10, 2016. | AP
Milos Raonic of Canada returns to Andy Murray of Britain during the men's singles final on the fourteenth day of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Sunday, July 10, 2016. | AP

LONDON: Milos Raonic hailed Andy Murray as "phenomenal" after losing the Wimbledon final Sunday but vowed to "leave no stone unturned" in order claim his first Grand Slam title.

World number two Murray clinched his second Wimbledon title and third Grand Slam crown when he downed Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2).

The 25-year-old Raonic, who was bidding to become Canada's first Grand Slam champion, admitted he still had a lot to work on.

"I'm going to work on everything. I'm not going to leave any stone unturned," he said.

"I'm going to try to get myself back in this position, try to be better in this position.

"I'm going to try to get fitter, stronger. I'm going to try to improve my return game, improve my serve. Improve my efficiency coming forward."

Murray's win preserved the iron-grip of the sport's 'Big Four' on the Wimbledon title.

The last man outside of Murray, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal to triumph at the All England Club was Lleyton Hewitt back in 2002.

Raonic had gone into his maiden final at the majors having fired 137 aces in the tournament.

However, on Sunday, Murray restricted him to just eight.

Even firing the fastest serve of the tournament of 147mph in the ninth game of the second set brought no reward.

It came back to him with interest and the Scot won the point.

"I think it's phenomenal for him to back up his win from three years ago," said Raonic after Murray added the 2016 title to his 2013 victory.

"He moves incredibly well. He returns well. Those are his two biggest strengths.

"I took care of my serve as much as I could. But every single time you play him, you know he's going to get more returns back than anybody else, alongside with Novak.

"That's what these two guys, especially, do. You try to find a way around that."

- Overwhelmed -

Raonic only dropped serve once in the seventh game of the first set of the final, while Murray saved the only two break points he faced.

However, his 29 unforced errors were key when compared to the 12 of the rock-solid world number two.

And when the pressure was on in the second and third set tiebreaks, Murray simply overwhelmed the Canadian.

In both breakers, Murray took a stranglehold -- racing to 5/1 in the first and then 6/1 in the second.

"I think I did the best I could. I tried coming forward, putting pressure on him. He was playing much better than me off the baseline," admitted Raonic, who had knocked out Federer in five sets in the semi-finals.

"Probably a little too passive to start the match on his service games. But then I tried to turn that around, give myself two looks, but didn't make the most of it.

"I tried to put together what I could, fought. It just didn't work out."

Raonic said he was keen to extend his coaching arrangement with John McEnroe after their three-week grass court stint.

The partnership had raised eyebrows as McEnroe had long-standing commitments with his televison work seeing him commentating courtside while Raonic was facing Murray.

"I think we'll probably try to find an extent that it can work, he can help me, and try to make the most of it," he said.

Related Stories

No stories found.

X
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com