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It will be a match of contrasts when Milos Raonic meets Andy Murray in the Gentlemen’s singles final.
Raonic is known for his big serve and Murray renowned for the quality of his return; the Canadian often ventures to the net but the Briton is dogged from the back of the court. And while the No.6 seed is contesting a Grand Slam final for the first time, his opponent is a battle hardened competitor whose 10 finals have reaped two major titles so far.
Murray will be hoping that experience counts; so, too, Raonic, albeit in a different way since he has John McEnroe as a consulting coach at the 2016 Championships.
McEnroe is a three-time Wimbledon champion and his influence has shown in Raonic’s more attacking style. Free points still come abundantly from the Canadian’s huge serve – Raonic has 137 aces, more than anyone else at this Wimbledon, and he also has the fastest serve at 144mph – but it is backed by the more attacking style that McEnroe has helped to implement.
In winning 115 of 152 serve and volley points for The Championships, the 6ft 5in Raonic has been dominant at the net – and it’s this extra dimension that could provide the X-Factor against Murray.
After his five set semi-final against Roger Federer featured fewer points won at the net than expected, Raonic said he’d learnt from a near mistake. “I hesitated a few times,” he said. “I think only later I really started letting go and moving forward like I should have. It's definitely something that I will incorporate more, further on.”
Raonic knows what’s required against Murray, the winner of six of their previous nine matches, including the recent final at Queen’s. The world No.2 recovered from a 6-7, 0-3 deficit to claim a three-set victory but the improving Canadian is determined to implement the hard-earned lessons.
“(Murray) does a lot of things well,” acknowledged Raonic, who last won against the world No.2 in the fourth round of Indian Wells in 2014. “I think the biggest challenge for me, which I felt was the thing I want to happen the least, or repeat itself the least from Queen's, is I got sucked into his game. I didn't play on my terms. That's going to be the most important thing for me.”
Imposing himself is something that the typically even-tempered Raonic is doing more often at these Championships, and again that points to McEnroe’s influence. “Two years ago I bottled up all the difficulties I had on court and never got it out,” Raonic said after his semi-final victory. “Today I found a way to keep plugging away, keep myself in the match, then sort of turn it around. I was more vocal and a lot more positive on court."
It’s an aggressive approach but not one to be confused with ire. “I haven't been angry. I've been quite positive,” Raonic insisted. “I think it's more of a positive attitude. Keep plugging away, things will figure itself out.”
And yet a little feistiness could well be required as the 25-year-old meets an ambitious local before an impassioned Centre Court crowd. “I don't know if it's necessarily the villain,” Raonic said of the role he’ll play on Sunday. “You face what you have to face. First and foremost, I got to face myself; then I got to face Andy. The rest, if I don't have control over, I try to make it as irrelevant to me as possible.”
Raonic has his own supporters too, parents Dusan and Vesna making a rare appearance in the Players’ Box this Wimbledon, and countless Canadians supporting from afar. “There's a lot of positive future in Canadian tennis. It's great to be at the centre and front of that, come Sunday. I'm glad that I've sort of been leading this charge, the first one to break through and really put these things together,” said Raonic.
Even so, that’s not enough for the fiercely competitive world No.7. “But I’m by no means done,” he added, pointedly. And it’s here, at last, where it becomes clear that the combatants are really not so different.
