Coaches lift pressure from Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori for Aus Open quarters

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  • Crunch time: Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori both have daunting opposition in their Australian Open quarter-final encounters.

    Ivan Ljubicic and Michael Chang are doing their best to unload any stress from their players, Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori, as they prepare to face some daunting opposition in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

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    Ljubicic, a retired ex-world No3 who has been coaching Raonic for the past 18 months, is preparing the Canadian for a mammoth encounter with four-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic under the lights of Rod Laver Arena.

    Raonic, who is playing a third quarter-final in his last four grand slams, has taken just one set out of the 11 he has played against Djokovic in four meetings.

    The Canadian No8 seed managed just five games in his only previous hard court clash with Djokovic, in Paris last October, and is aware of the world No1’s threat at Melbourne Park – a place where he has enjoyed his most success.

    But Ljubicic believes the pressure will be on Djokovic not Raonic in today’s encounter.

    “He’s definitely approaching it like there’s no pressure. It’s something that he can freely go for it, and try to win,” Ljubicic told Sport360 on Tuesday. 

    “Novak will not give it to him, we know that. So he has to just swing freely, go for his shots, play his game. Not over-hit, not overplay, just play his normal game. He knows he was close in the past and that he will have a chance.”

    Raonic’s closest match with Djokovic came on the clay of the Rome Masters last season, where the 24-year-old stretched Djokovic to three sets. But Ljubicic knows that “Novak is a different player in Australia”.

    Still the 35-year-old Croat believes Raonic is in excellent shape and is primed for a great battle, thanks to a strong pre-season preparation.

    “He’s feeling excellent,” Ljubicic says of Raonic, who looks fitter than before having lost a few pounds over the off season.

    “Absolutely no issues. Normally when you get to the quarter-finals you have some kind of little pains, little issues but he’s totally 100 per cent ready. 

    “We worked on fitness really hard, he didn’t play IPTL also for that reason to get ready for this season really well. He lost a few kilos but again that wasn’t really the only goal of the off season, the goal was to get more fit by practicing harder, making sure what to eat and the result is that he lost a few pounds.”

    Meanwhile, 1989 Roland Garros champion, Chang, believes fifth-seed Nishikori will have less pressure on him when he takes on defending champion Stan Wawrinka on Wednesday.

    The pair had an epic five-set battle in the US Open quarter-finals last September, which Nishikori won en route to a runner-up showing.

    “I really think that Kei doesn’t have anything to lose coming into tomorrow’s match,” said Chang. “Stan is obviously the higher seed and defending champion so there's certainly a lot more pressure on him. I think it’ll be a great match, a lot of long, tough rallies and hopefully Kei comes out and plays some great tennis.”

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