Ivanisevic Hails 'New Goran' Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic may have felt disappointed at narrowly losing out to Roger Federer at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Tuesday, but he can take heart at being compared to Goran Ivanisevic by the man himself.
Ivanisevic, who endured a disappointing three-set defeat of his own in the ATP Champions Tour event Stockholm on Tuesday, predicted a bright future for the Canadian.
"Raonic is a strong guy, his serve is great, he hits the ball very well and moves well for his height," said Ivanisevic. "He will definitely reach the Top Ten. I actually think his game is the one on the Tour that most resembles mine right now. He definitely will start coming to the net a bit more as well. Eventually he is going to have to come to the net more and he knows that, especially when you look at how he lost that match against Lleyton Hewitt in Australia. He should never have lost that match. But he is the guy whose game is closest to mine and I like to watch him."
In Stockholm, Ivanisevic was edged out by Magnus Larsson despite holding a match point. He now needs to beat Stefan Edberg on Wednesday to keep his hopes of qualifying for the final alive, but he knows it will not be easy.
"Stefan will probably really want to win here in Stockholm and I am still upset that I lost today. I had a match point! I hate to lose when I am match point up. I always enjoy playing Stefan. I respect him a lot as a player, he is one of the best tennis players ever and he is very enjoyable to watch. But I would really like to beat him tomorrow if I can.”
Edberg was bullish. “This is my territory here in Stockholm," he said. "Playing well here is important to me and the home crowd makes things a lot easier too. It’s great to play with that behind you and it’s added motivation to win too. Tomorrow will be a challenge and it could go either way for sure.”
Matches are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions’ Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) to decide the winner. After all round-robin matches are complete, the top two players in each group will meet in the final.
To view the round-robin groups and the order of play for the week in Stockholm, go to results.
After Stockholm, The ATP Champions Tour moves on to Zurich, Switzerland for the third annual BNP Paribas Zurich Open (March 20-24). The event will feature Marat Safin, Tim Henman and Delray Beach Champion, Carlos Moya.