Raonic's question for himself: 'Would I even want to come back?'

Milos Raonic is the first to admit he has not been glued to the tennis circuit over the past two and a half years, during which he has played nine matches. The Canadian, once one of the most daunting opponents on the ATP Tour with his missile-like serve, has not competed for most of that period while struggling with injuries.

While some players spend their time away from the Tour following as many matches as they can, Raonic almost entirely detached himself from the sport. Could that be an advantage mentally as he begins his push back towards the top of the sport at the Australian Open?

“I think that depends on the person really, to be honest with you,” Raonic told ATPTour.com. “At some point that kind of really worried me as well, because I was like, ‘Would I even want to come back?’ I felt completely fine without tennis being part of my day-to-day life. So I think it’s just more of a personality thing.

“But yeah, it's nice to be able to completely get away from it, and have other things that you care about, are interested in, that spark your curiosity as well.”

Raonic has had other interests over the years, from art to finance. But that does not mean he has not reengaged entering the 2024 season. To the contrary, the Canadian feels well about his game and is looking forward to the atmosphere when he faces Australian No. 1 and new Top 10 member Alex de Minaur on Monday evening inside Rod Laver Arena.

“That's what you kind of look forward to the most. I wasn't thinking about when I was going through the tough training, the goal being to make it to Court 16 at the Australian Open, right?” Raonic said. “It's to be in those situations and play for the things that matter. I've had the great fortune of doing that already, so I knew what it feels like and I think I was just kind of striving to replicate those emotions and feelings.”

The good news for the 33-year-old is that no matter how few matches he has played in recent years, he has an equalising weapon in his serve. According to Infosys ATP Stats, Raonic ranks third in career service games won (91.1%), first-serve points won (81.5%) and ninth in career aces (8,278).

From a young age, Raonic worked relentlessly on his serve with his childhood coach, Casey Curtis, early in the morning and late at night. That effort has paid off in one of the smoothest, most devastating service motions in recent memory.

So with Raonic light on match action, he is able to lean on his serve to work into both individual matches and overall form.

“The serving obviously helps, because that kind of buys you time in matches, keeps you around especially, and if you can take care of your serve you at least get yourself to a tie-break and everything's kind of a coin toss when it gets to a tie-break,” Raonic said. “So I think that definitely helps because my game isn't so much about adjusting to other players, it's about doing my things well.”

De Minaur told the assembled media ahead of the tournament that when the Australian plays Raonic, he will need to focus on himself.

“Ultimately I had a feeling it was going to be a tough match coming up. When I drew Milos, it was basically that,” De Minaur said. “He's a very tricky opponent, the type of person that can take the racquet out of your hand. Obviously has an unbelievable serve and is very aggressive.”

The 33-year-old’s big game has helped him reach No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, make the 2016 Australian Open semi-finals and four additional quarter-finals at the season’s first major.

Raonic is not back to simply play and hope for the best. He believes he is prepared to compete against some of the best players in the world.

“I tend to train with a very high intensity, and I've learned now from many injuries not to rush coming back, to really come [back] once I've been able to put in the time, or to train properly and be at a certain level,” Raonic said. “I think those are all factors. How much each one weighs, you never really know.

“And then obviously, for me, a big part of it is the time spent training, we try to replicate as many scenarios as we can. It's impossible to completely get there, but we just definitely pay attention to it.”