Disappointment on The Lawn

LONDON--Milos Raonic expected so much more. So did the tennis world.

But expectations don't necessarily translate into results, and so the Maple Leaf Missile was swept out of Wimbledon today by Sam Querrey of the U.S. in a second round match that began on Thursday and ended fairly quickly today.

The match resumed at 3-3 in the third set, with each player having won a set. But Querrey won the third tiebreak of the match, and then broke the 21-year-old Canadian in the first game of the fourth set. The American held serve the rest of the way to post a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (7), 7-6 (8), 6-4 upset victory.

Raonic served well, but he made far too many errors today, particularly on his forehand, which completely betrayed him. It was another week of hard lessons and challenging circumstances, and the tennis world will surely start wondering when Raonic will post a noteworthy result in one of the game's four Grand Slams.

Raonic went out early in the Australian and French Opens this year. He was eliminated in the second round of Wimbledon last year as well after falling and being forced to withdraw.

Raonic was labelled a "darkhorse" by many tennis experts for Wimbledon this year, and the way in which he lost - tons of errors, seemingly easily discouraged - had the tournament buzzing afterwards. Querrey is the 64th ranked player in the world, while Raonic was Wimbledon's No. 21 seed.

He'll be back at the All-England Club in four weeks to compete for Canada at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

 

 

Comments

[80s "Red Rose" Leafs]

Perhaps the first part of the nickname "Maple Leaf" Missile is Milos's problem. Bad vibes. Give him a name like "Dustin Brown" Missile and he will win the gold at the Olympics.