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With the Australian Open only a week away, Canadian Milos Raonic’s upset 6-4, 6-4 win over top seed and defending champion Roger Federer was a major morale booster.
It was the 25-year-old Raonic’s eighth ATP title, and only the second time in 11 meetings he’s beaten Federer – the only other time was last year’s Paris Masters with a 7-6, 7-5 scoreline.
While Raonic’s serving and strokeplay power were his highlights on the night, don’t write the ageless 34-year-old off for Melbourne Park.
The two times Raonic broke Federer’s serve was when the Swiss champion missed down-the-line forehand passing shots by the barest of margins, his normal bread and butter shots.
So while Raonic and Federer look good for Melbourne, so too does world No.1 Novak Djokovic who spanked Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-2 in Doha to chalk up his sixth successive ATP title, and his 24th head-to-head win over the Spaniard’s 23.
And in the process, Djokovic joined the exclusive 60 ATP title club that reads like a who’s who in world tennis.
1. Jimmy Connors shows the way with 109 titles
2. Ivan Lendl – 94
3. Roger Federer – 88
4. John McEnroe – 77
5. Rafael Nadal – 67
6. Pete Sampras – 64
6. Bjorn Borg – 64
8. Guillermo Vilas – 62
9. Andre Agassi – 60
9. Noval Djokovic – 60
While those stats make interesting reading, they have nothing to do with the 2016 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
But these do, with current world rankings:
1. Djokovic’s career stats are 686 wins, 146 losses, for a 76.39 per cent win rate.
2. Andy Murray – 582 – 165 – 77.9 per cent
3. Roger Federer – 659 – 238 – 81.6 per cent
4. Stan Wawrinka – 392 – 233 – 62.7 per cent
5. Rafael Nadal – 767 – 160 – 82.7 per cent
14. Milos Raonic – 210 – 163 – 67.09 per cent
The one factor that can’t be worked into any Australian Open equation is the draw, and that won’t be out until the end of the week.