MILOS RAONIC MAKES TENNIS HISTORY FOR CANADA WITH WORLD NO. 3 RANKING

Written by: Staff on 21st November 2016

MILOS RAONIC MAKES TENNIS HISTORY FOR CANADA WITH WORLD NO. 3 RANKING

Canada's Milos Raonic serves to Britain's Andy Murray during their semi final men's singles match at the ATP World Tour finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 19 November 2016. EPA/WILL OLIVER |

Milos Raonic makes history with world No. 3 finish

Highest-ranked Canadian ever ends season with new career-high pinnacle

Toronto, November 21, 2016 – Canadian star Milos Raonic is ending his phenomenal 2016 season with another milestone – a new career-high ranking of world No. 3. Thanks to a semifinal performance at the ATP World Tour Finals in London this past weekend, where he narrowly missed making the final with a nail biting three hour and 38-minute loss to Andy Murray, Raonic has moved up to the No. 3 spot on Monday’s new official ATP rankings.

He entered the tournament as the highest-ranked Canadian singles player in history already at world No. 4, but continues to break his own records. He will now start the 2017 season behind only No. 1 Andy Murray and No. 2 Novak Djokovic. His previous best year-end finish was No. 8 from 2014.

Starting 2016 as the world No. 14 after an injury-marred season, Raonic has put together a career year. Through the past 11 months, the 25-year-old most notably reached his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, ousting Roger Federer in a five-set semifinal duel.

He also won his eighth career ATP World Tour title at Brisbane, and posted two runner-up finishes at the Master 1000 event in Indian Wells and Queen’s Club in London. In addition, he made the semifinals at the Australian Open, at the Masters events in Paris and Cincinnati, and at Beijing. With a final win-loss record of 52-17, this has been his most prolific season yet.

Raonic’s first official event as world No. 3 will be Brisbane, where he is currently set to kick off his 2017 campaign the first week of January.

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Un troisième rang historique pour Milos Raonic

Le meilleur joueur de simple de l’histoire du tennis canadien termine la saison avec un nouveau sommet

Toronto, le 21 novembre 2016 – Le Canadien Milos Raonic conclut son exceptionnelle saison 2016 en franchissant une autre étape importante, soit l’atteinte du troisième échelon mondial, son meilleur classement à vie. Grâce à sa participation au carré d’as des Finales de l’ATP World Tour le week-end dernier, à Londres, où il est passé à un cheveu d’atteindre la finale dans un match épique de 3 h 38 contre Andy Murray, Raonic s’est approprié la troisième place du classement de fin de saison de l’ATP.

Milos Raonic of Canada in action against Dominic Thiem of Austria during their Men’s singles match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 17 November 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

Il a amorcé le tournoi en tant que meilleur joueur de simple de l’histoire du tennis canadien en vertu de son quatrième rang et a continué d’améliorer sa marque. Au début de l’année 2017, seuls Andy Murray (1er) et Novak Djokovic (2e) le devanceront. Il avait auparavant obtenu son meilleur classement de fin de saison en 2014 alors qu’il occupait le huitième échelon.

Quatorzième meilleure raquette mondiale au début de 2016 après une année marquée par des blessures, Raonic s’est hautement illustré. Au cours des 11 derniers mois, le joueur de 25 ans a notamment atteint la finale d’un premier Grand Chelem, à Wimbledon, éliminant de son chemin Roger Federer dans une demi-finale de cinq manches.

Il a également ajouté un huitième titre de l’ATP World Tour à son palmarès, à Brisbane, et a été finaliste de tournois du Circuit Masters 1000 à deux reprises, soit à Indian Wells et au Queen’s Club, à Londres. De plus, il était demi-finaliste des Internationaux d’Australie ainsi que des Masters 1000 de Paris, de Cincinnati et de Pékin. L’année 2016 a indiscutablement été sa saison la plus prolifique, comme en fait foi sa fiche de 52 gains et 17 revers.

Le premier tournoi officiel de Raonic à titre de troisième mondial sera l’épreuve de Brisbane pour lancer la saison 2017 dès la première semaine de janvier.

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