Yahoo Sports 
Coach John McEnroe wants to help Milos Raonic with more than his net game
The assumption when John McEnroe joined Milos Raonic Inc. as a consultant for the grass-court season was that the legendary lefty was mainly added to help the 25-year-old Canadian with his net game.
It turns out McEnroe has a bigger-picture lesson to impart.
“I think if there was one aspect of Roger Federer's career that I'm jealous of is that it seemed like he really loved being out there, whereas people like myself or Sampras – most people really – are filled with angst because it is intense, and you don't want to let down and all these other reasons you're sort of brought up to believe is the case,” McEnroe said on an ESPN conference call Monday in advance of Wimbledon, which begins in less than a week. “Obviously Milos has felt the best way for him to perform is to sort of keep an even keel and not show much emotion, go about it. I don't think he hired me so I would say, ‘Look, keep exactly the same way.’ I believe he'll be a better player when he's able to express himself more positively.”
If Raonic’s volleying looked on point for much of last week at Queen’s Club, where he reached the final and was up a set and 3-0 over No. 1 seed Andy Murray before bowing out, the unveiling of the new on-court “Smiling Milos” was jarring, to say the least.
Except for a brief smile when he waves to the crowd after a victory, Raonic’s on-court demeanour in recent years has ranged from stoic, to annoyed, with occasional bouts of barking at the people in his supporters’ box.
But last week the smile was often present – sometimes rueful, most often genuine. But it was always off-putting – especially in contrast to his game, which is nothing but fierce, and the way he’s usually been.
“I can't answer that. You'd probably have to speak to him,” McEnroe said about the radical demeanour change.
“You watch Murray, Andy starts screaming at his box, whatever. People prefer he didn't do that. It could cost him at times … maybe where Milos would be able to enjoy this. This is tough to do, but there's great rewards. It is a little bit like, ‘Look, trust me, I've been there, I didn't do as good a job, and hopefully you can have more fun with this and enjoy it,’ ” he said. “I believe he can. It's not something where suddenly you're going to start acting like Rafael Nadal. Over time, if you look at Novak (Djokovic), I think he's done a great job of turning lemons into lemonade, things that were going on in the court in the past. Now he uses the crowd better, gets into it. He recognizes the situation, takes advantage of it. That's a great quality he's got now. I'd like to see Milos do that, as well.”
McEnroe had a good week of practice with Raonic before Queen’s Club, got to see him play for a week at close range, and now has another week of practice before Wimbledon gets under way.
While the two knew each other slightly – McEnroe said he has friends in New York whose kids were friends with Raonic, and the two share an interest in art – he knows him a little better now and said he’s “a great young kid, extremely professional and dedicated.”
But he’s been watching. He said Monday that the brand of tennis Raonic displayed in Australia, where he beat Roger Federer to win Brisbane and but for an adductor injury, was on his way to reaching the Australian Open final, was the best he’d ever seen him play.
“I think that Milos is someone that has a big game, obviously got a lot of shots. One of the best serves in the history of tennis. He has a huge forehand. I think he understands that he needs to be able to use that to his advantage, be more aggressive, take it to people. Exactly what he was doing in Australia, that's the best I've ever seen Milos look, when he was playing down there. That's sort of the game plan,” he said. “With or without me that would be, I believe, something that he understands.”
But that’s not all he’s looking at.
“Just because I'm more of a touch player and have a better volley doesn't mean that I'm never going to mention about his groundstrokes or serve or whatever. It depends. But obviously an important part of grass court play is to be aware of situations, court positioning. Volleying used to be more important, but I still think it can be important,” he said. “I think when you have a guy who is 6-foot-5 tall, he's very imposing. If you ever heard me commentate, that's a bit of a no-brainer. So hopefully he goes out there and is able to perform at the best of his ability and enjoy it. I would take pleasure in that if I could help him in that way.”
The 57-year-old has seen the wave of “super-coaches” come over the last few years, led by his long-time bitter rival Ivan Lendl. But with all of his television commitments, he wasn’t, and isn’t, prepared to do 15-20 weeks a year as Carlos Moyá, another Raonic coaching consultant, seems willing to do, or even 30 weeks a year as some do.
He’s thinking more along the lines of 10 weeks or less. At the same time, he admits he may not be able to get out to watch Raonic’s matches during the fortnight at Wimbledon because of his extensive television commitments with the American network ESPN, as well as some additional work for the BBC.
Hopefully he’ll find a way; Mac-watching during Raonic’s matches so far has deserved its own dedicated camera – especially in contrast with the deadpan demeanour of Lendl, who is back coaching Murray.
“I'm not the guy that can sit still very well in any situation. Certainly when you obviously have lost control, you try to add what you can, try to be helpful to someone before. I like to maybe do a lot of standing up then sitting down. Gets your body too stiff from sitting,” McEnroe said. “I’m an energy person. I kind of hope that he can feed off some of my energy and intensity a little bit because that's the way I am and that's the way I'm going to be.
“Ivan sat there for years and didn't change his expression. It is certainly a more helpless position, and it's easy to be the backseat driver: You should have done this, this is how you should do that,” he added. “You have to be cognizant … the fact I played for so long, and still try to play, I understand how difficult it is to actually go out there and execute.”
It will be interesting to see what McEnroe says on air; having coaches up in the booth during their charge’s matches is a conflict of interest fraught with inherent awkwardness. Plus, there’s no way of knowing if the coach-commentator actually means what he’s saying.
Fellow legend Chris Evert, who also was in on the conference call, gave her thumbs up to the Raonic-McEnroe association.
“I think John has so many rare insights into playing grass court tennis, because he played so well. … If (he) can influence Raonic on any of these things, I think it would be a plus-plus with Milos,” Evert said. “When you got with him, I liked it, I liked that combination right away. You can light a fire under him because you are a feisty player. He's very much in control out there. … But he needs a little fire and he needs to show. I think just a few little tweaks in his game would make all the difference in the world in him winning Wimbledon. I'm a big fan of that combination.
“I’m not kissing your ass either, John,” she added.
