the canadian Milos Raonic He returned to the slopes on Monday after nearly two years out due to various injuries, and did so with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the fifth seed, the Serbian. Miomir Kecmanovicin the first round of the tournament on the grass of s’Hertogenbosch (Netherlands).
Raonic, who became number 3 in the world, has not been on the courts due to a series of injuries since July 2021. In his return he defeated Kecmanovic, 39 in the ranking, in a match that lasted 85 minutes and if where he won 92 % (34/37) of first serve points.
“It’s nice to be here after almost two years and away for a long time,” Raonic told ATP. “It’s nice to try one more time and I hope to get as far as possible. I’ve tried my best and I want to see how far I can go,” added the Canadian, present in Bolduque with a protected ranking.
“It was a real pleasure to play in front of people. I hadn’t hit a tennis ball in a whole year, and now I was able to play in front of a lot of people. It was quite nerve-wracking, I had forgotten that feeling. To be honest, it could have been a bit easy if I didn’t play in front of anyone today,” he explained.
This is Raonic’s 50th win on the grass course. The winner of eight ATP titles and who reached the Wimbledon final in 2016, acknowledged Monday that it was another small step on a long road back.
“I’m taking it day by day. It’s been a bit heartbreaking a lot of the time, when I can’t do anything, and it’s nice for me to be here again. I get to be on the court, I get to play, I have the opportunity to compete, to push myself and I have the opportunity to see how far it takes me, so I’m grateful,” he said.
In the second round, Raonic, 32, will face the winner of the match between Australian Jordan Thompson and another player from the previous round, Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
The top two seeds in the Dutch tournament are Russian Daniil Medvedev and Italian Jannik Sinnerexempt from the first round, as the third, the Croatian Borna Coric, and the fourth, the Australian Alex de Miñaur.
Source: La Verdad
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