Determined to go out on his terms, Raonic makes emotional return to tennis

After nearly two years away, Milos Raonic returned to the ATP Tour on Monday. 

"Relief and joy," he said following a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 5 seed Miomir Kecmanovic at the Libema Open. "Relief I can step on court and play some good tennis without serious pain. Relief that I didn't poop the bed in the first match, and also a joy to be competing in front of people." 

At the end of 2021, Raonic felt his tennis career was over. 

"I let people know, 'I'm done. I'm retired.' I kept that close to myself," he said. "It felt like a crappy way to do it, but I let people know that. I was pretty content with that decision, because I was in considerable amounts of pain day in, day out. It didn't seem like there was a decision to make. It just seemed logical."

Raonic lost to Brandon Nakashima on July 29, 2021, in Atlanta. That was his final match of the season and, for a long time, looked like it would be the final match of his career. 

An Achilles issue appeared to be the final blow during an injury-ravaged run. Raonic also struggled with back, elbow, glute, thigh, right ankle, right calf and right knee injuries in recent years. He needed time away. 

"I went a bit more than a year without picking up a racquet," he said.

But the tennis itch eventually returned, and the 2016 Wimbledon finalist was motivated to go out on his own terms. 

"I wanted to do a proper farewell," Raonic said. "I wanted to play Wimbledon one more time. This year the Canadian Open is in Toronto. That was a big thing for me."

With the pandemic raging Raonic's parents did not watch him in person in 2020 or 2021. Dad Dusan and mom Vesna moved the family from Montenegro (then part of war-torn Yugoslavia) to the Toronto area when Raonic was just three years old. Their sacrifice gave him the chance to pursue his tennis dreams.  

"I wanted to have the chance to play in front of my parents one more time," Raonic, 32, said. 

Raonic, who owns the Canadian record for highest singles ranking at No. 3, got back to work with help from coach Mario Tudor. The challenge was daunting. 

"I don't think I took half a step back from being an athlete. I think I took half a step back from being able to do day-to-day general activities," Raonic said. "Once I felt I could train, I wanted to get back in shape to lose 40, 50 pounds."

The comeback stalled a few times. Raonic broke his toe shortly after getting married in April 2022. 

"All the sudden, I can't wear a shoe for two months," he said. 

In the fall, he contemplated a return at the Australian Open where reached the semifinals in 2016. 

"But then I got hurt again at the end of the year," he said. "A calf tear. Then I got COVID for the first time. Things just didn't want to let it happen for me then."

The clock was ticking. 

"I put an ultimatum on myself," Raonic revealed. "I'm not going to stick around waiting another two years to go to Toronto. I'm not going to stick around another 12 months waiting for Wimbledon. This was a final go at it for me. And things have gone well. I've put in the work every day that I could. Some days it just wasn't possible but sucked it up and tried to make the most of each day."

The work paid off as Raonic made his long-awaited return in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. He chose that venue, rather than the other ATP 250-level event this week in Stuttgart, Germany, because he has never played at the at the Libema Open. Conversely, he reached the final in Stuttgart in 2018 and made the semifinals in 2019. 

"If I went to Stuttgart, I probably would've compared it to how I felt there in 2019 whereas here everything was a fresh start," he explained. "It gave me a clean slate."  

At the net before Monday's match, Raonic asked umpire Arnaud Gabas to clarify the new rules on in-match coaching and confirmed that the serve clock between points was still 25 seconds. 

"The toughest thing today was the mental side," Raonic said. "Remembering what 25 seconds between points feels like and getting used to sitting down on changeovers. The first [practice] set I played with another professional player was seven days ago so even that was a shock to the system when it came to the speed of ball and that kind of stuff. A lot has been changing."

After double faulting four times in his opening service game, Raonic settled into a groove against Kecmanovic, who is No. 39 in the ATP rankings. 

"I was very nervous before today's match not because I didn't know if I could play well," Raonic said. "I've been playing fine in practice. It was more, could I put it together when it counts? Learning to compete, learning to fight for each point all over again, those are muscles you got to train."

Raonic fired 15 aces and won 92 per cent of his first-serve points en route to his first victory since March 29, 2021. It was his first grass-court match since Wimbledon 2019. 

"I'm pretty proud of the level I was able to produce," Raonic said. "It doesn't mean anything is guaranteed by any means in two days, but the pieces are there that I can work with."

Raonic will face either Australian Jordan Thompson or French qualifier Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Wednesday. 

Raonic is also scheduled to play at the Queen's Club in London next week before heading to Wimbledon. He's not putting any expectations on himself. 

"I will step out on court at Wimbledon. I will step out on court in Toronto one more time. Beyond that, I'm not committing to anything at this point. After doing tennis for so many years and it being my whole life and then being away from it completely for a year, I realized life on the other side is okay too,” he said.

“So, it's not out of panic that I would want to stay around. It's more about of joy and freedom to do it right."