By the fourth round of the 2017 Australian Open, one had to wonder if Milos Raonic would actually win his first grand slam title. World No. 1 Andy Murray had just exited, joining defending champion and No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic.
Raonic, seeded third, was the next highest ranked player left in the men’s draw.
But this men’s tournament will be remembered for the resurgence of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The last time the two were in the semifinal of a major was the 2014 Australian Open.
Nadal crushed Raonic in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night in Melbourne 6–4, 7–6, 6–4 to end the Canadian’s hopes.
Raonic has talked about the need to move forward and shorten the points against the top players who are at a bigger advantage in long baseline rallies. To this end, he joined forces with Richard Krajicek, the 1996 Wimbledon champion known for his serve-and-volley game. However, Raonic got sucked into battling Nadal from the baseline, which is a losing proposition.
The match was essentially decided in the second set when Raonic squandered six set points. Nadal took the set on his first set point in the tiebreak. Up to that point, Raonic had won his last four tiebreaks in majors, while Nadal had lost his last four.
Raonic’s play was slowed by a nagging adductor (upper thigh/hip area) injury.
His injury takes nothing away from a vintage Nadal performance, however, it is another opportunity lost for a man who is at the top of the list to be the next first-time grand slam winner.
Raonic was coming off his best Australian Open performance last year when he reached the semis. He ended 2016 losing to Murray in the longest match of the year at the ATP Tour World Finals and reached the No. 3 ranking, his highest ever.
