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By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, March 18, 2016

 
Milos Raonic

"It's important to give them something else to think about," says Milos Raonic of his varied serving patterns this season.

Photo credit:Jared Wickerham/BNP Paribas Open

Returning Milos Raonic's serve is one of the toughest tasks in tennis.

Avoiding Raonic's wrecking ball serve is now even more problematic.

Watch: Monfils Dives, Raonic Wins

Raonic is making the mind-body connection a painful proposition for opponents.

Rather that trying to blast the heat by returners, Raonic is taking more thoughtful approach on serve: Jamming bruising body serves to force short replies.

"I'm using a lot more of the body serve. I think that's a simple factor," Raonic told the media in Indian Wells. "You have most guys that were covering two serves against me. Now I think I have given them three serves to cover."

Working over the returner's body, expands the service box as Raonic showed in his 7-5, 6-3 Indian Wells quarterfinal victory over the rangy Gael Monfils on Thursday night.

"Plus I'm coming in on pretty much all three of those (serves)," Raonic said. "It gives me sort of six options to work with. I think my numbers are up in general. I think maybe it doesn't matter as much. I can get away with going for the sidelines against the guys in the early rounds."




The 12th-seeded Canadian has not dropped a set and has surrendered serve just twice reaching the BNP Paribas Open semifinals against David Goffin.

"But when it comes to, you know, these top guys that can guess, and if they get their racquet on it, they can always make it," Raonic said. "It's important to give them something else to think about."

Of course, thinking flees and self-preservation instinct kicks in when a 139 mph missile is about to erupt into your rib cage. Raonic aims for the right hip on right handers to tie them up.

Body-serving provides multiple benefits: Raonic can elicit a mid-court return or set up a high volley if attacking while discouraging returners from leaning on defending the wide serve.

"You get mostly short returns, especially if you can jam them on the forehand side," Raonic said. "It's hard for anybody to sort of hit off that right hip or—and if you get it in the right spot, most of the time they have to hit it with a slice so it's a short ball or ball you can be aggressive with.

"But also what it does is maybe the next time you're serving on that side makes them think should they stay there and not guess one side."

Varying his serving patterns to aid his attacking game is another adjustment in Raonic's ongoing evolution from a big server to a more complete player. He was fifth in the ATP ace race last season, cracking 743 aces in 47 matches. Raonic ripped 1,107 aces in 67 matches in 2014, second behind only Ivo Karlovic's 1,185 in 64 matches that season.

This season, Raonic is striving to be a more efficient server rather than ace master. He is second on the ATP in first-serve points won (82 percent), second in service games won (94 percent) and second in break points saved (76 percent).

The 2015 tournament semifinalist puts his serve to the test against David Goffin for a spot in the Indian Wells final. Goffin defeated Raonic in their lone prior meeting in the 2014 Basel quarterfinals.

Listed at 5-foot-11, the slender Belgian has straddled the baseline to take the ball earlier in defeating a pair of Grand Slam champions in succession, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic, to reach his first career Masters semifinal.

"He's playing well. He's taking the ball early," Raonic said of Goffin. "He's trying to maybe not overpower but take away time from his opponents. I watched a little bit of his match today. I watched quite a bit of his match against Stan.

"You see that he's trying to take time away and maybe getting guys to panic and not set up their swings. But I think when it comes to that kind of stuff I'm pretty good at getting things to my term. If he wants to stay on the baseline I'm going to have to try to push him back."


 

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