Canadian Raonic lets his tennis do the talking with win over Federer in Brisbane

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  • The Canadian star has started the year in a rich vein of form.

    When Milos Raonic addressed the press in Abu Dhabi during the Mubadala World Tennis Championship early this month, the Canadian exuded so much confidence and spoke with such gusto, it was impossible not to sit up and take him seriously.

    “I’m very confident… I feel like I can do really good things. I’m playing well, I’m fit, and damn it if I’m not hungry,” were his closing statements in the UAE capital.

    Eight days later, Raonic defeated Roger Federer for just the second time in 11 meetings between them, to lift the Brisbane trophy last Sunday and turn his words into action so early in the new season.

    After spending most of 2015 dealing with injuries, first a nerve problem in his foot that required surgery and forced him to miss the French Open, and more recently back spasms that ended his season prematurely, Raonic is finally fit and healthy and raring to go once again.

    One interesting stat from Raonic’s win over a flu-struck Federer in Brisbane is that he ventured up to the net 25 times and won 20 of those points.

    With his serve being such a gigantic weapon, it’s great to see the 25-year-old capitalising on it by taking his game up to the net.

    Raonic has already shown his grand slam potential when he made the semis at Wimbledon in 2014 and reached the Australian Open and French Open quarter-finals in 2015 and 2014 respectively.

    If he does indeed remain fit this season, you can’t help but think he could pop up in a grand slam final this year.

    Player of the week – Sloane Stephens

    Getting her first win over Caroline Wozniacki in the Auckland semi-finals and then stepping on the court a few hours later on the same day to defeat Julia Goerges for her second career title was quite the statement from the American.

    Is Stephens due another strong Australian Open run reminiscent of her 2013 march to the semis? Definitely one to watch Down Under.

    Flop of the week – David Ferrer

    Losing in the first round at a tournament you won last year is hardly the way you’d want to start a new season.

    Ferrer’s loss to Illya Marchenko in Doha was an unfortunate hit for the Spaniard, who has four more titles to defend this year.

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