Labour Day Monday wasn't a complete washout for the Canadians at the U.S. Open, but only because Milos Raonic didn't finish his match until Tuesday.
The man who helped create one of the hardest tennis serves on the planet says it all begins with the grip.
Form your hand into a V, he says, with the index finger and thumb aligned across the beveled edge of the handle. That creates a slightly opened face with the racquet head and in turn creates more spin on the ball. Now get your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and point your toes in a 45-degree angle to the baseline.
From there, it's about falling into a rhythm.
The fifth seed from Thornhill, Ont., lost a five-set steam bath to 10th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan, 4-6, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. It was the late match at Arthur Ashe Stadium, and because the preceding women's match went long, didn't begin until about 10:15 p.m. It didn't end until past 2:30 a.m.
The heat wasn't as oppressive as earlier in the day, when Canada's Eugenie Bouchard was bounced in straight sets by Russian Ekaterina Makarova, but the air was hot and muggy even in the wee hours.
'It was quite tiring,' said Raonic after the match, at an hour when even Manhattan bars are starting to send patrons home. 'It was a combination of fatigue, pain in some ways, and just not feeling like I would expect or hope to feel that late in a match.'
Raonic said he wasn't efficient enough with his booming serve - he put 55% of his first serves in play, his lowest rate of the tournament through four rounds - but he credited the speedy Nishikori for putting himself in position to stay in points.
The Canadian said it was fun playing in such a weird, late-night atmosphere. But he noted that he had an early match on Saturday, which required an early morning wake up. 'And then the next day you're here till 4:00 a.m. It's a little bit weird, that aspect of scheduling. But other than that, the atmosphere and all those other factors was a lot of fun.'
After reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the quarters at Roland Garros, Raonic took a mixed view of his Grand Slam season as a whole.
'I got to play pretty much three slams, I would say, and I think it's much better than I have ever done before. One goal we set out was to make at least semi-finals of a slam this year when we sat down at the beginning of December and talked. So I got that aspect. So those things are very positive. But then at the same time, when you're in that position, there's not really that much satisfaction from it.'
He came into this season widely considered one of the young men who was ready to take the next step into the top tier of the game. Raonic's fans are still waiting for him to take it.
Post By http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/09/02/milos-raonic-ousted-from-u-s-open-2014-losing-five-set-marathon-to-kei-nishikori/
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