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Milos Raonic dispatches Dustin Brown in straight sets to get his US Open off to a good start
NEW YORK – With both players firing on all of their considerable cylinders, a matchup between Milos Raonic and Dustin Brown, though short on rallies, could have produced some crowd-pleasing fireworks before a well-refreshed evening crowd on Court 17 Monday night.
In the end, though, Raonic’s first-round form – a long way from where he plans for that form to be by the end of the fortnight – was far too good for Brown’s effort in his first match back after suffering a devastating ankle sprain in the first round of the Olympic event.
The magic was not to be. Raonic moved through, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 and righted the ship after a few serving issues in the first set. But in the end, all he really had to do was navigate calmly because the physically compromised Brown had to go for broke.
That’s a relative term with the dreadlocked German-Jamaican, whose game runs to high risk even in his more mellow moments. But there was no joy for him on this night even when he did occasionally light up with a ridiculous highlight-reel shot. After one highly elevated slam-dunk overhead, when Brown landed, he winced in pain and not even the large group of Jamaican supporters could lighten his mood.
“I was efficient at the end of the day. Three sets; not too much time on court. I would have wished to play better, but it's not the goal to be playing my best tennis in the first round. It's about getting through and giving myself a chance to get better in the next round,” said Raonic, who opted to throw the traditional post-match tennis balls into the crowd rather than use his racquet.
There was some noise around the 25-year-old Canadian coming into the tournament when one of his several coach/mentors, John McEnroe, was around – and then he wasn’t.
A conference call hosted by McEnroe’s television employer ESPN last week didn’t shed a ton of light on the current state of their relationship. Raonic wasn’t all that much clearer after his win Monday although to be fair, the association never had a true definition, ground rules or a definitive time frame.
“Yeah, well, John, throughout these weeks, will not be helping me. We'll see where it goes after that,” said Raonic, who added that he spent some time with him last week and “were working on certain things” and also worked together during the period of the Olympics between the Rogers Cup and Cincinnati.
Then Raonic super coach Carlos Moyá arrived in New York later in the week. And then main coach Ricardo Piatti left. And so, apparently, did McEnroe. “I believe it was just too many things going on throughout this period of time. He felt like that was the right decision,” Raonic said. “At the end of the day, it's a decision we're both okay with. We spoke about it, were up front, and there's no ill feelings over it.”
There’s a fair bit going on around Raonic, who has been clear that winning the US Open is something he wants badly and is leaving no stone unturned to try to accomplish.
For example, he has a piece on the Players’ Tribune website out today, coinciding with his US Open opener. McEnroe does figure prominently in it, ironically enough.
“It was a fun process. It was a process in the sense of you get to say what you want to say. There was a lot of different theme lines that they wanted me to stick to. This one was the one I felt was more relevant on the timing that they were looking to put out the article,” Raonic said. “I worked with two other guys really to get the meat of the work done, and then I put in my own words. So it came from my voice. I'm happy with how it looks. I haven't read it other than the last draft we went through and I feel comfortable with. But I feel like I got to say what I wanted to say, and that was the most important thing.”
Raonic writes about the disappointment of the Wimbledon final against Andy Murray, although he said that he already writes everything down so he had already processed it and turned the page on it. “I think this was I guess a more public accountability for it,” he said.
There are new shoes that are a pretty loud shade of pink, something he said was a colour his sponsor, New balance, wanted to work with. “I like the sort of disconnectedness. That's sort of the focal point of the outfit. Then something more classic and more toned down for the rest of the outfit. I think it works nicely,” he said.
There are also some T-shirts, notably one with his own caricature on it that Raonic wore into his press conference, and another work by girlfriend Danielle Knudson and another friend in his supporters’ box with a stylized, Superman-evoking “M”.
The timing on that was pretty funny, as a lot of Brown’s supporters call him “Superman” – indeed, there was a lot of that going on Monday night, with one man urging “Superman” to go get “Batman.”
Asked whether there was a bit of brand building going on, with his profile having been raised this summer by that Wimbledon final, Raonic said he was “just having some fun with it.”
“The other one – I don’t know what you’d call it, with the badge, whatever – my girlfriend made for fun. “These were made by New Balance alongside with their designer, and they're actually pretty close. They communicate back and forth about it. I guess they've helped each other in a way.”
Raonic was asked during his on-court interview whether the T-shirts would be commercially available, a question he deflected to the people in his box.
At the moment, it’s all about the tennis. Next up is American qualifier Ryan Harrison.
