It’s Time to Start Taking Milos Raonic Seriously Again
You know what? Fuck the Super Bowl. Can you honestly tell me you care about the Denver Broncos? Do you really think you’re more of a man because you can name even a single player — and yeah, that’s a dare — in the Carolina Panthers’ starting backend? Do you think building a miniature stadium out of Doritos and guacamole is going to get you laid? Turn away from your football pool for one second and let’s all turn our collective attention to a real sport — you know, one that’s fast and athletic and exciting and endorsed by at least nine out of 10 neurosurgeons.
That’s right. I’m talking about tennis.
Specifically, let’s talk about Milos Raonic. Last night, Raonic beat Gael Monfils (don’t know who he is? He’s good. French good) to advance to the semi-finals at the Australian Open. That’s the first time any Canadian man has reached that stage in Melbourne — and he’s only the second Canadian to do it since Eugenie Bouchard in 2014.
That means Raonic will face Andy Murray on Friday. We all know Andy Murray. He’s ranked No. 2 in the world. He’s the reigning Olympic Champion. He’s reached the final four at almost every Grand Slam event in the past four years. It’s going to be a ridiculous matchup — the upset potential for Raonic is huge.
And maybe unlikely. Raonic is, if nothing else, known to exhibit that greatest of all Canadian sporting tendencies: he’s a choker. The last time he made it this far at a major tournament was at Wimbledon in 2014, and that’s as far as he got. He disappeared from our collective sports peripheral for a while. But with his win last night, he proved once and for all why we were wrong to ignore him: he’s young, he’s tenacious, he’s fucking good at what he does and he plans on sticking around in the spotlight for a long, long time. Who knows? This could very well be his year. Look at that picture — the man is jacked. He wants this. We want it too.
So here’s fair warning: stop reading about Super Bowl odds or speculating about the impending retirement of Old Man Manning. Instead, start figuring out what exactly the time difference is between Melbourne and wherever you are, so you can take off work at the appropriate time this Friday to watch one of Canada’s best athletes do his thing. That’s an ace move right there.
