Milos Raonic’s return to the pro tour at Indian Wells is a success – barely

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Sidelined by a tear in his left ankle tendon, Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic only began hitting tennis balls a week before arriving here for the big Masters 1000 tournament. He only began playing actual points three days ago.

So it's not surprising his return to action after more than seven weeks off the Tour was a little rocky, even if in the end he pulled out a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (2) victory over 30-year-old veteran Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, a solid player ranked No. 42.

"I did serve well, and that's what kept me in the match," said Raonic, who produced 33 aces and topped the 140 mph mark on more than one occasion. It was a new aces record for this tournament, and the fourth-highest aces total in the 23-year-old's still-young career.

It was tense; there was a little profanity which had Roger-Vasselin asking chair umpire Fergus Murphy why Raonic hadn't been issued a warning, since he could hear it clearly all the way on the other side of the court.

But until 4-5 in the second set, everything was more or less going well until – seemingly out of nowhere – Raonic dropped his serve at love, and consequently the set. He began the third set in much the same fashion, spraying balls all over the place.

The serve kept him in it, as it so often does even when Raonic is firing on all cylinders. And when the match came down to the third-set tiebreaker, Raonic opened it with a crosscourt backhand passing shot that sent a message, and then upped the intensity and energy level a couple of notches to run away with it even though he failed to get a first serve in.

To complete the day, Raonic then returned to the court with doubles partner Ernests

Gulbis of Latvia and took care of Novak Djokovic and countryman Filip Krajinovic 7-6 (3), 6-1 in the first round of doubles.

There were 10 more aces in that match between the two of them; Djokovic and Krajinovic didn't have a single one.

The last nearly two months have not been easy for Raonic, who had to skip Canada's first-round Davis Cup tie against Japan in Tokyo right after the Australian Open, and hasn't played since after injuring the ankle in his first-round match in Australia.

He's had laser treatment, and massage, and anything else that could be done. He spent time in the pool, on the bike, working on any other parts of his game that didn't involve moving (that included the serve, which he says was about the only thing he could work on).

But it was a frustrating stop-and-start process. Raonic would feel good for a couple of days, be able to hit tennis balls without moving too much, and then suddenly the pain would return and he'd be out five days.

Raonic's next match will be Monday against Colombia's Alejandro Falla. He'll also have another doubles match with Gulbis; their opponents will be the high-profile Swiss tag team of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka – – which guarantees a good show court and an even better crowd.

The third Canadian in the men's singles draw, Vasek Pospisil, will finally see action Sunday when he takes on Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan.