For 14 months after suffering an Achilles and toe injuries, Milos Raonic did not hit a single tennis ball.
Instead, for the first time since he was eight, the Thornhill, Ont., native explored the world outside of tennis.
He took classes and read books. He spoke to retired athletes about life after sports. He spent time with his family after being separated during the pandemic. Last April, he married longtime partner Camille Ringoir — the two of them now live together in the Bahamas.
Finally, after two years away from the ATP Tour, Raonic, 32, returned for June’s Libema Open, a grass-court tournament that serves as a Wimbledon tuneup.
Over Raonic’s career, which includes eight titles and a memorable run to the 2016 Wimbledon final, the towering six-foot-five Canadian became known for his over-powering serve.
And so of course, in his first service game of his first match back, Raonic made four double-faults.
“It was nerve-wracking. I really wish I could have enjoyed it more,” Raonic told CBC Sports. “I’m not the kind of person that is very good at slowing down and enjoying the moment. I’m always like, ‘What’s next, what’s next, what’s next?'”
Raonic would only commit three-double faults the rest of the match en route to a straight-sets victory over 39th-ranked Miomir Kecmanović. He was eliminated in the second round before lasting two rounds at Wimbledon, the site of his greatest triumph, as well.
Milos Raonic victorious in return after almost 2 years away from pro tennis
“The Maple Leaf Missile” Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., beat Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-4 at the Libema Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. It was Raonic’s first match since July 2021, after recovering from Achilles tendon and toe injuries.
His next tournament is the National Bank Open in Toronto, which begins Monday. He also intends to suit up for the U.S. Open at the end of August.
But Raonic hasn’t planned beyond that. Two years away from tennis taught him to enjoy the present.
“Since I had a few weeks since then,” Raonic said, looking back on those first four matches, “I have to say I was very happy through it all and I was very in tune through it all and able to be at a pace, a goal, with an objective that I really enjoyed despite what in the moment might feel like stresses or frustrations.
“It’s all positive things when you can look at it as a whole.”
Perseverance through recovery
Raonic’s last match prior to the Libema Open was a three-set loss to 115th-ranked Brandon Nakashima at a low-level Atlanta tournament in July 2021 — a contest that itself was his first in four months.
Thus began the arduous recovery process over which Raonic told Open Court that he lost 40 pounds thanks partly to a month-long diet consisting merely of one steak per day.
Besides quickly growing weary of red meat, Raonic said those 14 months without a racket weren’t overly difficult, just because he knew the long road ahead.
It was his return to the tennis court that brought some frustration.
“A few times things would come up and then you’d kind of doubt yourself and you’d say something along the lines of, ‘Am I going to get past this next hurdle or is this going to stick around?’ You try to do something, you have a setback, you have to stop for a bit,” Raonic said.
“And knowing that doing things in that kind of rhythm and in that pace, you really won’t ever get to where you want to be, would sometimes make the idea of coming back feel a lot more distant.”
Yet Raonic persevered — a quality consistent in a career that had its fair share of injuries, said childhood coach Casey Curtis.
“The guy’s just an incredibly hard worker. Very intelligent with his approach and shaking off some of the injuries. … So to be able to keep coming back and putting in the work — it’s a lot of work to play at that level. So I think [he should be] very, very proud of himself.”
Despite the occasional frustrations, Raonic’s return to tennis training mostly reminded him of his love — and talent — for the sport.
It also re-energized his competitive spirit.
“The fact that I was able to do that and find that pretty quickly always kept me motivated because then I was saying, ‘OK, I just have to figure out the physical and the body thing, not also the tennis thing on top of it,'” Raonic said.
Milos Raonic triumphs in his return to Wimbledon
Canadian Milos Raonic, who last competed at Wimbledon in 2019 advances into the second round with a (6-7,6-4,7-6,6-1) victory over Austria’s Dennis Novak. Raonic’s victory was highlighted by 28 aces.
Canadian foil
Raonic’s next taste of competition in Toronto is also the tournament in which he has played some of his most unforgettable matches — including a thrilling 2013 semifinal victory in Montreal against fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil, of Vernon, B.C.
“That was a lot of fun to watch because Vasek and his dad, we were competing with them when they were juniors,” Curtis recalled. “And Vasek’s dad and I used to talk about how one day he and Milos would be playing in big tournaments.”
Pospisil, another wild-card entry for the 2023 event who just returned from a long injury layoff, remembers the three-setter as “intense.”
“It was kind of like a healthy, competitive rivalry. I would say we were and still are to this day friendly. We’ve always had respect for each other. I would never say that we were friends. But I think that was the kind of rivalry that definitely pushed me,” he said.
Raonic tops Pospisil
Milos Raonic defeats Vashek Pospisil to become first Canadian in more than 50 years to reach Rogers Cup final
Though Raonic’s resumé is undeniably stronger overall, the Canadians traced somewhat similar career paths. Pospisil’s greatest runs also came at the All England Club, where he won the men’s doubles tournament in 2014 and reached the singles quarterfinals in 2015.
In recent years, however, both have been felled by injury.
Yet despite recent woes, the two could soon face off on home court yet again. Should that come to fruition, Pospisil expects some extra hype.
“Whoever I play I’m going to try to beat, but there’s no question that if I were to play Milos that there would be a little bit of extra tension for both of us,” he said.
‘You just try your hardest’
For Raonic, the homecoming tournament will also mark the first time his parents get to see him in live action since before the pandemic.
“My parents have been through kind of everything that’s happened in tennis: good, bad, fun, miserable,” Raonic said.
Still, Raonic is tempering expectations. He said he knows he can still play well — but he also understands that might not necessarily lead to winning results.
“Will it come together in Toronto? I don’t know. That’s the hard thing about being two years away from things. You lose a lot of sense of relativity because you just are out of routine. You’re out of that intuition aspect. You just try your hardest.”
Curtis said as long as his body holds up, Raonic should still be a force thanks to his serve.
“He’s not a guy that’s going to come back and sort of play himself into it. He’s going to come back and be ready to fire on all cylinders,” Curtis said.
Raonic said that Curtis, who coached him from ages eight to 18, knows him “extremely well” because he witnessed the rawest version of himself — the one that didn’t have to project a public persona.
Over the two-year injury recovery, Raonic was able to get back to that place, and he said he enjoyed the “privacy” and “anonymity.”
It’s why, when asked what his post-athletic future may hold, Raonic refused to engage in specifics.
“The one thing I do know: I will explore something away from tennis, just because if I was to come back to tennis, I want to come back to tennis because I missed tennis and it’s something that I want to be more and more part of my everyday life — not because I didn’t take the time to learn something else.”
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
Inter Milan winger Tajon Buchanan, recovered from a broken leg suffered in training at this summer’s Copa America, is back in Jesse Marsch’s Canada squad for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal against Suriname.
The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., underwent surgery July 3 to repair a fractured tibia in Texas.
Canada, ranked 35th in the world, plays No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg of the aggregate series is four days later at Toronto’s BMO Field.
There is also a return for veteran winger Junior Hoilett, who last played for Canada in June in a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut at the Canadian helm. The 34-year-old from Brampton, now with Scotland’s Hibernian, has 15 goals in 63 senior appearances for Canada.
Midfielder Ismael Kone, recovered from an ankle injury sustained on club duty with France’s Marseille, also returns. He missed Canada’s last three matches since the fourth-place Copa America loss to Uruguay in July.
But Canada will be without centre back Derek Cornelius, who exited Marseille’s win Sunday over Nantes on a stretcher after suffering an apparent rib injury.
The Canadian men will prepare for Suriname next week at a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“We are looking forward to getting the group together again with the mindset that there is a trophy on the line,” Marsch said in a statement. “We want to end 2024 the right way with two excellent performances against a competitive Suriname squad and continue building on our tremendous growth this past summer.”
The quarterfinal winners advance to the Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with the two semifinals scheduled for March 20 and the final and third-place playoff March 23, and qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Thirteen of the 23 players on the Canadian roster are 25 or younger, with 19-year-old defender Jamie Knight-Lebel, currently playing for England’s Crewe Alexandra on loan from Bristol City, the youngest.
Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captains the side with Stephen Eustaquio, Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller adding veteran support.
Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Theo Bair are joined in attack by Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi.
Niko Sigur, a 21-year-old midfielder with Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, continues in the squad after making his debut in the September friendly against Mexico.
Suriname made it to the Nations League quarterfinals by finishing second to Costa Rica in Group A of the Nations League, ahead of No. 104 Guatemala, No. 161 Guyana and unranked Martinique and Guadeloupe.
“A good team,” Osorio said of Suriname. “These games are always tricky and they’re not easy at all … Suriname is a (former) Dutch colony and they’ll have Dutch players playing at high levels.”
“They won’t be someone we overlook at all,” added the Toronto FC captain, who has 81 Canada caps to his credit.
Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands.
Canada has faced Suriname twice before, both in World Cup qualifying play, winning 4-0 in suburban Chicago in June 2021 and 2-1 in Mexico City in October 1977.
The Canadian men, along with Mexico, the United States and Panama, received a bye into the final eight of the CONCACAF Nations League.
Canada, No. 2 in the CONCACAF rankings, drew Suriname as the best-placed runner-up from League A play.
Canada lost to Jamaica in last year’s Nations League quarterfinal, ousted on the away-goals rule after the series ended in a 4-4 draw. The Canadians lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the final of the 2022-23 tournament and finished fifth in 2019-20.
Canada defeated Panama 2-1 last time out, in an Oct. 15 friendly in Toronto.
Goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Joel Waterman, Laryea and Miller and Osorio took part in a pre-camp this week in Toronto for North America-based players.
Canada Roster
Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC (MLS).
Defenders: Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Alistair Johnston, Celtic (Scotland); Jamie Knight-Lebel. Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Kamal Miller, Portland Timbers (MLS); Joel Waterman, CF Montreal (MLS).
Midfielders: Ali Ahmed. Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (Italy); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Junior Hoilett, Hibernian FC (Scotland); Ismael Kone, Olympique Marseille (France); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).
Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, LOSC Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS).
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
