MONTREAL: It’s no secret that big serving Canadian Milos Raonic has had his share of injury troubles throughout his career. Hip surgery, foot surgery, adductor tear and wrist troubles just to name a few. On Wednesday night at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, playing in his home tournament, the 28-year old may have suffered one of the worst defeats of his career and it didn’t even come on the scoreboard.
Raonic was in fact tied one set each with fellow Canadian Felix Auger-Alliasime in their second round match when the 6’5 Canadian was forced to retire with a back injury. And by the look on his face, this wasn’t just another injury to add to the growing list. This one hurt not only because it occurred in the middle of a match, not only because it’s was on home soil but because of the extent of the injury.
The first indication that something was wrong came after the fifth game of the second set. Raonic called for the ATP physiotherapist to come to the court to speak to him about his back. Not something unusual for Raonic who routinely gets visits on court for a variety of ailments over the years. What was strange was the timing. He had already dropped the first set but then had fought back to go up a break in the second and was leading 4-1 when he stopped play.
Raonic took a medical timeout and got treatment on his back during that changeover. Two games later, the ATP doctor came to the court and you could see from the TV images Raonic was in distress and could be overheard telling the doctor he was now feeling pain in his leg. He was asking whether it would get worse if he continues to play. After burying his head in a towel, the eight time winner on the ATP Tour went back on the court and managed to finish out the set.
After another chat with the doctor, the decision was made to call it quits and retire from the match.
“I’m feeling it in the back of the glut,” said a dejected Raonic. “It’s progressed more than it was in Washington. Felt good in the first match. It wasn’t that taxing of a match. Started having pains during the night last night. Started sort of going down my leg pretty early into one of my service games. That started to progress more and more as the match went on.”
Raonic had been having back issues since the start of the grass court season. It first became apparent in Stuttgart. He got treatment on court during a couple of his matches and then withdrew before the start of the Semi-Final ironically against Auger-Aliassime.
He then went to London to play the Queen’s event and had a cortisone shot before the start of the tournament but didn’t appear to be suffering much on the grass there. All appeared to be good in Wimbledon as well, with Raonic admittedly running out of steam after losing a marathon five setter 8-6 in the final set to Guido Pella in the Fourth Round.
The next indication of back trouble came in Washington. During the second set of his Second Round match against Peter Gojowczyk Raonic again had treatment on court on his back. After losing the match he said everything was fine and it was just a precaution because he was a bit stiff on a warm humid afternoon.
Then came Montreal and things got worse.
“The last 30 minutes of that match, (vs Auger-Aliassime) just because of the situation we’re playing in, being prime time night match here in Montreal, was probably the least enjoyable 30 minutes I’ve spent on a tennis court”, said Raonic. “Nobody’s been telling me there’s a reason for me not to be playing right now or to be fearing some serious, serious risk. Today was more painful than it’s been in quite a long time. It’s too late tonight, but I’ll do some more tests tomorrow, sort of assess it from there. It hasn’t necessarily been the most enjoyable season so far.”
List of 🇨🇦 Milos Raonic injuries during career…
'11 Hip surgery
'14 Ankle Quad tear
'15 Foot surgery hip back spasms
'16 Adductor tear cramping ankle tear leg injury
'17 Adductor tear hamstring tear wrist surgery torn calf knee
'18 Knee shoulder/peck
'19 Knee Back#ATP #RC19— John Horn (@SportsHorn) August 8, 2019
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