LONDON — It is his trademark, and his biggest weapon, but on two of the largest stages in the game, Milos Raonic’s serve abandoned him in 2014. And so going into the off-season, one of the key points of emphasis for the soon-to-be 24-year-old Canadian will be improving his most important stroke.
Raonic was far from pleased with how he served during both the US Open in August and September, and the ATP World Tour Finals earlier this week.
“My serve can significantly improve,” Raonic told Sportsnet Thursday. “We’re going to find a way to get that better, and I think that’s just going to carry through to the rest of my game.”
Raonic served poorly in three of the four sets he played in London, particularly against Andy Murray when he was broken four times in the second match of the event.
“You start out serving poorly, then you’re not getting free points on serve, which is important for me,” Raonic told Sportsnet, following his press conference after the straight sets defeat to Murray on Tuesday. “If I’m not getting free points on serve, it lets (opponents) play more freely and not put any stress on them in their return game.
Raonic had hoped to spend Wednesday’s off-day practice at the O2 arena getting back to the very basics of his serve — finding a rhythm on balancing his body on the ball toss, cleaning up that specific mechanic, then repeating the motion over and over.
“There’s no magic solution,” he said, following the loss to Murray.
Because of the low grade tear suffered in his right quad, Raonic was unable to compete and finish the London showdown against Kei Nishikori. Once his quad has healed and the off-season program is devised, making adjustments to his serve will be a priority.
On the surface, it appeared his serve was far from an issue. In 2014, he finished second on the ATP aces list (1,093), holding 90 percent of his service games, and 83 percent of his first serve points were won.
It was an issue that, strangely enough, began creeping up during the summer hardcourt season. Even amidst winning the ATP-500 series event in Washington, Raonic sensed something was amiss. After his quarterfinal loss to Nishikori at the US Open, he was quite matter-of-fact about the state of his serve.
“Quite poorly, actually, for what my standard is,” Raonic said of his overall service game, back in September before Canada faced Colombia at Davis Cup in Halifax. “I’ve just got to find my rhythm. It’s as simple as that. That’s what I’ve been sort of lacking, because I wasn’t where I feel like I should be with my serve.”
Raonic finished the season ranked No. 8 in the world.