Milos Raonic is the first Canadian to ever make the men’s final at a grand slam tournament, but he finds himself sitting as a big underdog on the betting lines at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com for his Wimbledon clash with the favoured Andy Murray on Sunday.
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Once seemingly on the verge of a victory that would have given him a record 11th berth in the Wimbledon final, and a shot at an unprecedented eighth men’s championship at the All England Club, Federer lost his way and the match, beaten 6-3, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 by sixth-seeded Milos Raonic.
The last man to win a Grand Slam title in his first final appearance was Marin Cilic at the 2014 U.S. Open.
Raonic’s victory earned him a measure of revenge against Federer, who came into the match with a 9-2 edge in head-to-head meetings, including a straight-sets win in the Wimbledon semi-finals two years ago.
Those wins helped Raonic become the first man representing Canada to reach a major final. They have always driven me to tennis, they’ve picked up from practice, all these kind of things.
Andy Murray has taken a two-set lead over Tomas Berdych in the Wimbledon semifinals.
“An incredible comeback for me, really”, Raonic said.
Raonic has played two tough five-setters to reach the final, against David Goffin in round four and Friday’s thriller with Federer, whereas Murray’s path has been relatively smooth.
Though Murray only stole one break in the match, he thoroughly outplayed Raonic, his superior return game outweighing Raonic’s powerful serve and forehand.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence”, Murray said.
But Murray’s all-around game is the reason why he’s the No. 2 ranked player in the world behind Djokovic.
Raonic packs the fastest serve of the tournament so far, sending down a 144mph (231.7km/h) ace early in the semi-final against Federer. The trainer rubbed his right thigh ahead of the fifth and assessed the 17-time grand slam victor mid-game after he fell at 1-2 in the set. The match appeared headed to a tiebreaker when Federer went ahead 40-0 while serving at 5-6.
He even stumbled and fell in the fifth set, lying face down in the turf of Centre Court where he has enjoyed his greatest moments.
“It’s a pretty special feeling for myself, but I think it’s a pretty special recognition to the state of Canadian tennis”.
Of course, stats are fungible and you could go with this one: With Andy Murray’s semi-final win, it ensures that every Wimbledon final since 2003 has had Federer, Nadal or Murray.
Mourinho was just one of a number of stars spotted at SW19 on Sunday, as Murray took on the 25-year-old Canadian.
“Unexplainable for me, really”, Federer said.
His opponent’s take? “He was playing much better than me off the baseline”, Raonic acknowledged. He remains tied with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw (who played in the 1800s) with seven titles at Wimbledon, most recently in 2012, and was the runner-up to Djokovic the past two years.
Murray’s only brief wobble came when Berdych pounded some seismic groundstrokes to break back in the third game, having gifted the Scot his own serve with a double-fault.
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“It never feels normal”, said Murray.
