Milos Raonic out of AO ’22

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As much time as Milos Raonic has missed over the last year, the bigger headline would have been “Milos Raonic IN AO ’22.

But the veteran Canadian, who turns 31 three days from now, remains missing in action and is officially out of the first Grand Slam tournament of 2022.

Raonic has played just one match since losing in the third round of the Miami Open last March, in a third-set tiebreak to eventual champion Hubert Hurkacz.

He surfaced for a match at the Atlanta Open in July, beaten in a third-set tiebreak by American Mackenzie McDonald. And he hasn’t been back on the match court since then.

Open Court was in touch with Raonic about six weeks ago. He didn’t want to do an interview, saying he was focused on recovery and training for Australia.

But even then, he didn’t sound especially confident that he’d make the date Down Under in January.

The 2021 Australian Open was the last major Raonic competed in – back in February 2021.

He made the round of 16, beaten in four sets by Novak Djokovic.

He was then out until Acapulco and Miami. And then just the one match since then.

We’re efforting on more information, and will update if appropriate.

Carlos Taberner of Spain replaces him in the main draw, and Go Soeda of Japan moves up to make the qualifying.