Former grand slam finalist, Milos Raonic has seen the latest Davis Cup reforms as a positive as he aims for more consistency in Cincinnati.
The Canadian was asked about the reforms after his straight set win over compatriot Denis Shapovalov and the former Wimbledon finalist gave a surprising response, “Yeah, I think it’s a positive thing. I think Davis Cup has had its issues over the last little while. It needed some kind of a change.” explained Raonic.
“I hope this kind of change is well-received by the players. I think there is going to be obviously some kind of battle between the World Team Cup and this to see who is going to put forth a better event. The one thing that the World Team Cup will have on its side is scheduling at the time of year it will be. But other than that, it’s something and it’s a fresh start, and I think players will appreciate it.”
Well, the Canadian clearly doesn’t know his fellow players well enough as many players have spoken against the reforms including Lucas Pouille, Tomas Berdych and fellow Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. The 18 team tournament which will take place next November has caused lots of controversy and Raonic is one of the first players to back the move.
Even though is comments off the court may not go down well, his tennis on the court certainly is as he is into the quarter-finals in Cincinnati and the world number 29 explained that he needs more consistency to climb higher up the rankings, “I have improved in a lot of senses. I just haven’t had the luxury of playing consistently. I’m battling my body at times, and then when that’s okay, I’m sort of battling getting back into a rhythm,” explained the 27 year old.
“So hopefully I can have a good bout of health and give myself a chance to work myself into playing matches consistently week after week, and I can give my mind some ease; whereas now every single tournament, pretty much, because I’m not getting a lot of matches, it’s a little bit more stressful and a little bit more just easier to get to a point of panic because I haven’t been in a lot of situations.”
The Canadian number two will now play either defending champion, Grigor Dimitrov or Wimbledon champion, Novak Djokovic in the last eight on Thursday. The Serb currently leads by a break at 2-1 in the deciding set as rain halted proceedings last night.
