Canada's Milos Raonic with the Wimbledon runner-up trophy
Canadian Milos Raonic declared
that he would stop at nothing to win a major title after admitting his
straight sets loss to Andy Murray in Sunday's Wimbledon final would
sting.
The 25-year-old had hoped to become his country's first Grand Slam
singles champion but despite a battling display in the biggest match of
his career so far, he made little impression on sublime Murray losing
6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2).
Having previously reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2014 and
again at this year's Australian Open, where he pushed Murray to five
sets, a first major final appearance represents a significant step for
the 6ft 5 ins powerhouse.
His semi-final win over seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer,
from two sets to one down, was a milestone success, while in the last 16
he had battled back from two sets down for the first time in his career
to beat Belgian David Goffin.
Few doubt Raonic's maturity and work ethic, although there are one or
two areas of his game that still need to improve -- namely his return
of serve -- as was shown against Murray.
When fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard lost her Wimbledon final to
Petra Kvitova two years ago it signalled a downward spiral for the
player predicted to be the next big thing.
Raonic is unlikely to suffer a similar fate.
"This one will sting a bit," he said before facing the world's media shortly after walking off court.
"I'm going to work on everything. I'm not going to leave any stone
unturned. I'm going to try to get myself back in this position, try to
be better in this position," he told reporters.
Canada's Milos Raonic reacts after missing a point.
"I'm going to try to get
fitter, stronger. I'm going to try to improve my return game, improve my
serve. I can improve there. Improve my efficiency coming forward.
"There's not one thing I'm not going to try to improve."
The methodical Raonic described his fortnight as phenomenal, but was
still critical of his inability to compete in the second set tiebreak
having doggedly kept himself in the match.
"The first tiebreak, obviously I missed that ball, the short ball, on the first one. Wasn't even close," he said.
"Then I had an overhead that I didn't make the most of on my serve. I'll sort of look back at that with not too much joy."
Raonic's next target will be the Rogers Cup back home in Canada, but
he would not say if John McEnroe, who he hired for the grasscourt
season, would still be part of his entourage.
Three-times Wimbledon champion McEnroe was commentating on the final for ESPN on Sunday.
World No 7 Raonic said: "We haven't spoken about anything, but I'm
sure we're going to have that discussion over the next 24 hours."
With or without McEnroe, Raonic, who also has former world number one
Carlos Moya in his camp, is confident he can do for Canadian tennis
what Murray has done for Britain.
"I believe I definitely have that ability within myself," he said.
"There's not a shadow of a doubt from myself.
"The question is, am I going to make the most of it when those opportunities arise?"
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