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Milos Raonic exits in the fourth round in Paris; will now take on the grass with McEnroe in his corner

Milos Raonic exits in the fourth round in Paris; will now take on the grass with McEnroe in his corner

PARIS – There may have been a question mark about Milos Raonic’s left hip, a remnant of his third-round match Friday.

And the weather conditions Sunday at the French Open couldn’t have been less favourable for the 25-year-old Canadian: wet, slow, soggy – dead.

Still, the only player Raonic has lost to this season who wasn’t named Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray was Aussie Nick Kyrgios, and losing to Kyrgios these days hardly qualifies as a bad loss.

This straight-sets defeat at the hands of No. 55 Albert Ramos-Viñolas of Spain in the round-of-16 can’t be called anything other than a bad loss.

The dream of a quarter-final matchup against defending French Open champion Stan Wawrinka died on Court Suzanne-Lenglen amid threatening skies and with Raonic’s dual coaching consultant combo of Carlos Moyá and John McEnroe on hand.

It went 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 and after Raonic coughed up an early 2-0 lead in the second set, the way he was playing, there didn’t seem to be much hope for a dramatic comeback.

“It's slower and heavier conditions. But it's me facing the exact same thing he's facing. Who does that benefit? Obviously that's up for interpretation, but I had a simple task out there to try to find a way to win, and I wasn't able to find that today,” said Raonic, who added that the hip wasn’t a factor and wasn’t something that was on his mind going forward, as the grass-court season beckons.

“I have to say I'm disappointed I lost. I think I lost – (the) main reason was because the foundation of my game wasn't there. I didn't serve well. I think when I look back at a stat sheet, my numbers were probably pretty poor when it comes down to that,” Raonic said. “I gave myself opportunities on his serve, but the day is a lot easier for the other guy when I don't serve well.”

The Canadian won 63 per cent of points when he got his first serve in; Ramos-Viñolas won 73 per cent.

He got few freebies beyond his seven aces. It wasn’t as though he didn’t try; the stress and strain was evident on Raonic’s face on nearly every shot. He swung as hard as he could at a lot of the serves; but with the heavy conditions, he struggled to break 200 km/h with his first delivery.

To win points from the baseline, he had to almost redline his groundstrokes, a step up that brought with it an understandable increase in errors. With Ramos-Viñolas being a lefty, the crosscourt pattern that went from Ramos-Viñolas’ forehand to Raonic’s backhand didn’t favour the Canadian; he thought he would do more damage going to the Spaniard’s backhand, with his own forehand. But that side held up a lot better than Raonic expected.

During most of the points, Raonic ended up having to stretch and lungh and scramble to his forehand side. Rarely was he ever in control.

This scene - and worse - pretty much sums up Raonic's day at the office in Paris Sunday. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)
This scene - and worse - pretty much sums up Raonic's day at the office in Paris Sunday. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)

And that forehand, in particular, let Raonic down. The backhand was a steady, improving force through the clay-court season but it’s not his moneymaker; to have to depend on it to make points is something well outside the Raonic game plan.

Given that Raonic missed the French Open a year ago because of foot surgery, any result was a bonus. But as a top-10 player, Raonic now expects himself to go beyond the round-of-16 at any Grand Slam he plays. And he’s not overreaching to think that.

Ramos-Viñolas, despite being Spanish and growing up on the red clay, has never exhibited anything close to this level at Roland Garros. This is his seventh trip, and he had just one main-draw victory to show for it.

He has had some tough first-round draws, but that one lonely win was over a fellow Spaniard then ranked No. 268 in the world – in other words, nothing to give you any hint that this was going to be anything more than workmanlike victory for Raonic.

Ramos-Viñolas had just survived a long five-setter against American Jack Sock in the previous round, which just added to the long odds. But in a straight win Sunday, he wasn’t pushed to the point where fatigue might have played a part.

Spains Albert Ramos-Vinolas celebrates a well-deserved victory over Milos Raonic Sunday in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Spains Albert Ramos-Vinolas celebrates a well-deserved victory over Milos Raonic Sunday in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

“It's like a present for me, because, to be honest, I didn't expect this one when I arrive here. Last week I lost to Wawrinka 6-1, 6-1 in Geneva. I was a little bit down. This is tennis. And now I feel great,” Ramos said. “I don't know why this week things seem to be falling into place, and I hope I will be continuing in that way. I managed to keep my cool throughout. Then I think the weather also helped, because it slowed down its serve a bit, allowing me to get the ball back.”

One reason Raonic brought John McEnroe on board is to look to get back the aggressiveness, the forward-thinking tennis that was the revelation of the early part of his season.
He feels he mislaid it somewhere along the way. And he definitely didn’t bring it to Paris.

“I think this tournament in general I played definitely way too passive and I let the other guys dictate too much. I counted on sort of scrapping and fighting to get myself through, which was enough, and it wasn't enough today,” he said. “So I fought as hard as I could. That's probably the thing I will be the most proud about, but now it's just about sort of resetting and putting the attention on what matters most and move forward.”