Milos Raonic Socked out of D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Milos Raonic has been searching for his old forehand for awhile now.

It’s there, in patches. But the 26-year-old fears he might have taken it for granted, neglected it a little bit, as he worked on shoring up other parts of his game.

Raonic said that the best thing he did during his quarterfinal match Friday against No. 8 seed Jack Sock of the U.S. at the Citi Open was … return serve.

If that’s his best weapon on the day, he’s in trouble. And he knows it.

The 7-5, 6-4 defeat put Raonic out of the event. And it sends him on the road to Montreal for the first of the two back-to-back Masters 1000 tournaments.

Raonic spoke to Tennis.Life after the match.

There’s some really interesting stuff in there – including the Canadian’s thoughts on all the injuries right now, and the withdrawals which have decimated the draw at the Rogers Cup next week.

Coupe Rogers next up

The draw for the Montreal event was made Friday afternoon. And Raonic, as the No. 6 seed, has a bye in the first round.

His first opponent will either be Adrian Mannarino of France, or Next-Gen Daniil Medvedev of Russia (Medvedev lost to Alexander Zverev on the same court in D.C., later in the day, in another Citi Open quarterfinal).

The seed in his third round is No. 9 David Goffin, which is a good outcome although never an easy match.

He’s in top seed Rafael Nadal’s quarter of the draw.