French Open 2012: Raonic Versus Monaco - Preview

Milos Raonic will face Juan Monaco in the third round on Saturday, the 2^nd June. This would be their first meeting.

Juan Monaco is basically a retriever, whose game is built on counter punching in the mould of Andy Murray, David Ferrer and David Nalbandian. He is consistent from the baseline and moves from side to side like a robot. Coming to the net gives less pleasure than running back to the baseline. Raonic will be an ideal foil for him when he attacks the net behind his first serve or a deep floater. Monaco has good passing shots for ordinary volleyers. Raonic can volley well, but he is not in the class of Michael Llodra, Radek Stepanek or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. However, Monaco may not get many chances to engage Raonic in long rallies; infact it would be Raonic who will be engaging Monaco in rallies on latter’s serve. Raonic has good ground strokes on both flanks. His forehand has good top spin and low net clearance. Since he generally stands far behind the baseline, he does not create acute angles since ball tends to go a bit deeper on most occasions. His weakness is that forehand sometimes gets into the net and backhand sails beyond lines. This occurs only when he pulls the trigger; otherwise his forehand has enough safety margins. In long rallies, he is the one likely to pull the trigger first since the other end would return balls till cows come home. 

Raonic will try to win his service games behind the big first serve and high kicking second serve. Pressure would be more on Monaco serve. In tie break situations, Raonic is likely to be the leader. He is the favourite to win the match though Monaco will try to trounce him with the same strategy with which he earned his latest clay title over John Isner at Houston in April.