If this is Milos Raonic’s farewell to Montreal, we can guess that he had not imagined it this way.
About thirty minutes into his first-round match against Denmark’s Holger Rune at the National Bank Open, the Canadian withdrew. The cause: a shoulder injury that developed in recent days.
At the press briefing, Raonic kept his head high, but his words left no doubt: this umpteenth blow hurts him.
“It’s a pretty crappy feeling,” he said, an expression he would repeat later in the session. “I tried to warm up and I was really struggling with my serve. I don’t see how I could have been competitive. I can deal with a lot of situations, but without my serve it would be tough.”
Former world number 3, Raonic is experiencing a difficult second half of his career, marked by an incalculable number of injuries, which explains his 180e rank in the ATP ranking.
The National Bank Open was only his seventh tournament in 2024; it is the fourth time that injuries have directly caused his downfall. Twice, he threw in the towel during a match. And this is the second time he has withdrawn before a duel. He had also done so at Indian Wells, against this same Rune.
But this abandonment hurts him more than the others.
I’ve been unable to play many times, but this time it’s probably harder. I haven’t played here in five years, and since we’re not coming back for another two years, I don’t know if I’ll get the chance to play here again. It’s a really shitty feeling.
Milos Raonic
New problem
If there was one aspect of Raonic’s game that was smiling on him recently, it was his serve. In his first-round loss at the Paris Games, he hit 29 aces. Last month, on the grass at the Queen’s Club in London, he hit 47 in his first-round match, an ATP record for a best-of-three match.
“I’ve had minor things with my shoulder before. It wasn’t always easy,” Raonic said. “But it was never anything serious.
“It started when I got here on hard court. I was rallying, I felt something, so I took a few days off. But it wasn’t even close to where it should be.”
Is the end near?
Raonic himself has mentioned it; his presence in Montreal when the ATP returns is of course uncertain. He is 33 years old, will be 35 when the men return to the metropolis in 2026.
There are only five players aged 35 or over in the top 100 world right now, but none have the build of Raonic, listed at 6’5″, 216 lbs. The most imposing of the lot is Gaël Monfils, at 6’4″, 187 lbs.
The Toronto native, however, did not want to elaborate on his future.
“It happened in the last 48 hours, so I haven’t really had a chance to think about it,” Raonic said. “I was just trying to prepare for today. I had doubts about my ability to play after having to cancel a few practices. I’m trying to be positive and not think too much about the future until I have more information.”
His injury capped a difficult first day for the Canadians entered in the tournament. Gabriel Diallo also lost his first-round match in the main draw, while Alexis Galarneau, the only Canadian to survive the first round of qualifying, was defeated in the second round.
In a draw devoid of No. 2 and No. 3 Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, a long run by one or two Canadians won’t hurt the excitement. It’s now in the hands of Félix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov and veteran Vasek Pospisil.
Shapovalov’s opponent known
On this subject, we now know the identity of Denis Shapovalov’s opponent in the first round. It is the American Brandon Nakashima, 52e world champion and the winner of Canadian Nicolas Arsenault in qualifying. The draw determined that Shapovalov would face one of the eight qualifying winners from the outset. This will be their third meeting; Nakashima won on the grass at Wimbledon in 2022, and Shapovalov took his revenge on the clay at Ronald-Garros the following year.
Bautista Agut’s Luck
Spectators who had tickets for the evening’s program still saw Rune in action. Raonic was replaced by the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, a player defeated in the second round of qualifying, and who was drafted. What is called in the jargon a “lucky loser”.