With John McEnroe and Carlos Moya in his camp, Milos Raonic is not exactly lacking for inspiration and experience as he chases a first Grand Slam title.
But as he prepares for what he believes could be his first real crack at the Wimbledon crown, the studious Canadian has been going over tapes of some of the grass-court greats of yesteryear, desperate for any edge.
“I watched a lot of video,” said the 6ft 5in Raonic in an interview with Wimbledon.com. “I watched a lot of (Pat) Rafter, of Pete (Sampras), I watched a lot of (Richard) Krajicek, to understand what I need to do better and how to be better up there.”
The addition of three-time Wimbledon champion McEnroe to his coaching team for the grass-court season and potentially beyond means he has another of the greatest grass-court players to call on and the American laughed when told he had not been one of those Raonic had been watching on video.
“I’ll have to sort that out,” he said.
McEnroe will have been impressed at the way Raonic came forward behind his huge serve and in his return games at Queen’s but the Canadian said it has taken him time to get to grips with the dynamics of net-play.
“I think I didn’t understand it well and I think I didn’t know how to put myself up there,” he said.
“I learned through video, through discussion, when I was looking for a coach, talking with different people, I think I learned through those kind of scenarios much better what I need to do up there and then I implemented it. If I go right now to practice and I play 30 minutes, I’ll spend as much time at the net as I do at the baseline. It’s those little things day to day that add up.
“You look at the match with Stan (Wawrinka, in the quarter-finals of this year's Australian Open), I think I had maybe seven break chances in the fourth set.
Even when you get passed, don’t slump your shoulders, send a message that you’re going to go back there
“And what did it come down to in the fifth set, I hit a pretty dinky and crappy slice down the line and I just said, come up with it on a break point, and it just sailed long on him. What I was told is, it’s about the attitude. Even when you get passed, don’t slump your shoulders, send a message that you’re going to go back there, you’re going to carry through with it.
"It’s not always easy and especially in practice, I’ll be hard on myself or the guys around me if I get passed too many times or I don’t feel I’m doing the right things or covering the right angles, but it takes some getting used to.”
Seeded sixth, he plays the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in round one and could play No 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
With his monstrous serve, regularly up around the 140mph mark and occasionally well beyond it, Raonic knows that finishing off the points quickly could help his chances at Wimbledon, where he reached the semi-finals in 2014.
“It is more enjoyable,” he said. “You get up there, you’re more efficient. When I’m ahead in the points, I can close them off, it’s fun to have another aspect that I can sort of lean to that I can try to manipulate the scoreboard in my favour. It’s not instinctual yet but when I do get in the rhythm of it, I have it there."
At 6ft 5in, with a nickname like "The Missile" and with McEnroe and Moya in tow, the 25-year-old Raonic is unlikely to duck under the radar over the next two weeks.
After his efforts at Queen’s, Raonic said he would like to face Murray again in the final at Wimbledon. A semi-finalist at the Australian Open in January, where only Murray and an injury got the better of him, he believes he has the game to hurt anyone and that Grand Slam success is well within his capability, if he can stay healthy.
“I think I can definitely give myself a great opportunity to win a slam,” he said. “I think I could really step up, play well, and give myself a great opportunity.
"I think I’m a lot more comfortable at the net, I move better on returns, I make my opponents play a lot more points on their serve. I take care of my serve, I have added the body serve, so it’s another thing guys are thinking about. So overall I feel like things going the right way. I’m just trying pick up steam of playing longer matches, one after the other and playing for a longer period of time without being my own worst enemy.”
