SERENA WILLIAMS LIKES THE ARM SLEEVE ON MILOS RAONIC

Written by: Staff on 3rd September 2014

SERENA WILLIAMS LIKES THE ARM SLEEVE ON MILOS RAONIC

epa04376425 Serena Williams of the US hits a return to Varvara Lepchenko of the US during the sixth day of the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 30 August 2014. The US Open runs through 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/JUSTIN LANE |

Serena Williams has suddenly gotten the urge to use a serving arm sleeve as pioneered by Milos Raonic, fifth seed at the US Open.

Though the big-hitting Canadian lost to Kei Nishikori in a fourth-round match which lasted until a record-equaling 2:26 a.m. on Tuesday, Raonic has been making an impression with the colorful sleeve he has been wearing since Miami six months ago.

In addition, the 23-year-old’s impeccable – some say 1950s throwback – hair styling has garnered attention, with tennis trivia buffs marveling at how his follicles stay in place no matter what the exertions of the world number six.

Raonic credits it all to wise use of “product.” Both the sleeve and the hair now have spoof Twitter accounts.

Meanwhile, tennis fashionista Williams has been yearning to get herself set up with a sleeve, which Raonic said was first used to protect a rash and has now become a part of his arsenal, supposedly keeping his lethal serving arm “warm.”

Williams used a tennis day off to lament on Twitter about how much she now needs to “believe in the sleeve.”

“@serenawilliams: @milosraonic I love your arm sleeve. It’s super cool. Will it help my serve? #CanIHaveOne” Yes! #BelieveInTheSleeve

Milos Raonic of Canada hits a return to Kei Nishikori of Japan during the eighth day of the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 01 September 2014. The US Open runs through 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/JASON SZENES

Whether Williams will get her wish has yet to be determined but Raonic has explained what the oddball accessory means to him and is game.

And it seems to have become something of a superstition which he has no intention of renouncing: “I’m not going to argue when things are going OK,” said the Canadian, who has moved on from his original white sleeve into one more color-coordinated with his clothing.

Editors Notes : Jimmy Connors wore an arm sleeve a lot. He would often wear a cut off tube sock. He also liked to wear a vest. Personally I agree both were smart and helped keep his arm and back warm. He had less of a tendency to hurt his muscles because he kept them warm. The idea of a compression sleeve is totally brilliant for tennis. It achieves keeping your arm warm but also the compression helps the performance because you feel the spring in the arm longer. Bottom line. We love compression clothes. Since we are on the subject ,I’ll throw in that a player as athletic and physical like Gael Monfils should be playing tennis all padded up. Kind of like a skateboarder. Wrists. Elbows. Knees. Ankles. Hips , butt , and Shoulder pads and maybe even a HELMET.

Topics: 2014 US Open, milos raonic, Serena Williams, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

September 3, 2014 at 12:21 pm

@serenawilliams LIKES THE ARM SLEEVE ON @milosraonic- http://t.co/V1MBvNHfWy #Serena #Raonic #armsleeve @MilosRaonicFans #tennis #USOpen