You Cannot Be Serious: Milos Raonic To Work With John McEnroe At Wimbledon - UBITENNIS
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You Cannot Be Serious: Milos Raonic To Work With John McEnroe At Wimbledon

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It is a partnership that nobody had predicted, Milos Raonic will work with John McEnroe during this year’s Wimbledon championships.

The recruitment of the outspoken American is the latest addition to Raonic’s team. The world No.9 currently works with his full-time coach Riccardo Piatti and earlier this year announced that Carlos Moya has been added as a consultant. Moya, who won the 1998 French Open, has agreed to work with Raonic for 15 weeks this season.

The addition of McEnroe is a bid to help Raonic further develop his game on the grass. The 57-year-old has won the prestigious Wimbledon title three times during his career in the 1980s. The announcement of the upcoming partnership broke in the most unorthodox way.

According to sources at Yahoo Sports, the announcement came earlier that Raonic wanted. He originally hoped to keep the agreement silent until the end of the French Open in order to keep his focus. McEnroe on the other hand had other ideas.

When it comes to Wimbledon I’ll be taking on and I’m gonna help coach this guy named Milos,” McEnroe said in his video.

Speaking about his new task, McEnroe told Eurosport that he ranks Raonic as one as the favourites for the Wimbledon title. In 2014 the Canadian reached his first major semifinal at SW19.

Milos Raonic can win majors. He’s one of five or six guys that can win Wimbledon. I’m excited to be part of his team.” McEnroe told Eurosport.

The coaching experience of McEnroe is certainly limited compared to other rivals such as Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker. The American spent 14 months as the captain of the American Davis Cup team before resigning in 2000. During his time as Captain, McEnroe guided his country to wins against Zimbabwe and the Czech Republic before suffering a 5-0 loss to Spain. He also worked with Becker in what was a very brief collaboration.

McEnroe has extensively talked about his desire to work with a top player. In recent years he has publicly stated that he would like to help Andy Murray and Nick Kyrgios, but no collaboration ever happened.

There is no formal comment from Raonic or his camp, however, sources told Eh Game that it is ‘a done deal’.

The Wimbledon championships might be four weeks away, but the birth of the McEnroe-Raonic era has already left some salivating with excitement and intrigue. The return of McEnroe to the side of the court is likely to create some sort of drama, whatever that may be.

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Danil Medvedev is on a collision course for a potential quarter final against Jannik Sinner in Shanghai

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This year’s US Open finalist Danil Medvedev returns to the Shanghai Masters 1000, where he won in 2019, when the Chinese tournament was last held in 2019. Medvedev is aiming to win his sixth ATP Tour title after his triumphs in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai, Miami and Rome. 

 

Medvedev will take on either Cristian Garin or a qualifier in the second round. Medvedev is seeded to meet a potential fourth round match against 14th seed Felix Auger Aliassime. 

Medvedev is on a collision course for a blockbuster quarter final match against Jannik Sinner. Medvedev leads 6-0 in his head-to-head series against Sinner. 

This year’s US Open semifinalist Ben Shelton could face a possible third round match against 2019 Shanghai Open finalist Alexander Zverev in Sinner’s section of the draw. 

This year’s Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz will make his debut in the Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament against either Nuno Borges or Gregoire Barrere. Alcaraz is seeded for a fourth round match against this year’s Zhuhai winner Karen Khachanov and could face either Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe. 

Alcaraz will chase his seventh ATP Tour title this year after winning in Buenos Aires, Indian Wells, Barcelona, Madrid, Queen’s and Wimbledon. He will face Sinner in the semifinal at the China Open in Beijing. The Spaniard would arrive 315 points behind Novak Djokovic if he wins the title in the Chinese capital. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev have been drawn in the same half as Alcaraz. Tsitsipas will start his campaign against either Laslo Djere or a qualifier and is seeded to play against Cameron Norrie in the Round of 16. 

Rublev, who won his first Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo this year, will play against either Quentin Halys or Aslan Karatsev in the second round and is seeded to meet this year’s Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul. 

This year’s Monte-Carlo and Rome Masters 1000 finalist Holger Rune will play in the second round against either Brandon Nakashima or Bernabe Zapata Miralles. 

Casper Ruud is seeded to meet this year’s Toronto Masters 1000 finalist Alex De Minaur in the fourth round and Rune in the quarter final. 

The most interesting first round matches are Andy Murray vs Roman Safiulin, Stan Wawrinka vs Dusan Lajovic and Shang Juncheng vs Yosuke Watanuki. 

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Jannik Sinner beats Grigor Dimitrov to set up semifinal against Carlos Alcaraz

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Jannik Sinner overcame Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 3-6 6-2 to set up a blockbuster semifinal match against Carlos Alcaraz at the China Open in Beijing. 

 

Sinner converted his fourth break point in the first game. The Italian player saved the second break point with a forehand drop-shot. The Toronto Masters 1000 champion held on his next service games to close out the first set 6-4. 

Sinner missed the chance to close out the match in straight sets when he was unable to convert eight points across three games in the second set. He wasted four break points when he was leading 0-40 at 3-3. Dimitrov brke serve in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. The Bulgarian player saved two break-back points in the ninth game to hold serve for 6-3. 

Sinner broke serve in the second game of the third set with a crosscourt backhand winner and held serve at 30 with a passing shot. 

Dimitrov held his first service game of the third set for 1-3. Sinner saved a break point with a forehand to hold serve at deuce for 4-1. Dimitrov saved a break point at deuce in the sixth game. 

Sinner fended off two break points in the seventh game to hold serve with a passing shot. The Wimbledon semifinalist closed out the third set with a break at love to reach his eighth semifinal in 2023. 

Sinner clinched his 47th match of the season. 

“I had one game 15-40, one game 0-40 where I made some unforced errors and he also prayed quite aggressive. This is tennis. Obviously it’s easier if you take some chances. In the third set I thought I handled the situation well, when I was serving at a tough moment at 4-2. I am very happy to be in the next round”, said Sinner.  

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Iga Swiatek beats Sara Sorribes Tormo to reach the second round in Beijing

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Four-time Grand Slam champion and world number 2 Iga Swiatek beat Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4 6-3 on her debut at the China Open in Beijing. Swiatek broke seven times and hit 27 winners to 25 unforced errors. 

 

Both players traded breaks at the start of the opening set. Swiatek earned her second break in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. The Polish player fired 17 winners and won 15 of her 17 net points in the first set. 

There were eight breaks in nine games. Swiatek won 12 of the first 14 points of the second set to race out to a 3-0 lead with a double break. Sorribes Tormo broke three times in the second set, but Swiatek broke in all five of her service games.  

Swiatek set up a second round match against Varvara Gracheva.

“Today I felt really confident and comfortable because I have been practicing that a lot. I am pretty proud of my performance at the net because, technically, I feel like my volley has changed. I am really happy with that. I think against some players it’s necessary to go to the net. Today that was that kind of a match”, said Swiatek. 

Jelena Ostapenko reached the Round of 16 via walkover after Linda Noskova withdrew from the match due to illness.

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