MELBOURNE—Milos Raonic, who will face Andy Murray in the semifinal of the Australian Open, said it will be key for him to be comfortable during the match.
The 25-year-old Raonic has won nine matches in a row, including upsets of world No. 3 Roger Federer in the Brisbane final and world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round in Melbourne.
Raonic and the second-seeded Murray have squared off six times, with each player winning three matches. In 2014, the Canadian upset him in the Round of 16 in Indian Wells. Later that year, Murray got his revenge in straight sets at the ATP World Tour Finals.
In 2015, they only played once—on clay—in Madrid. The Scot win in straight sets.
The two-time Grand Slam champion said that he could tell Raonic was already injured and had “a few physical issues.” A few weeks later, Raonic underwent surgery for a nerve problem in his foot. He returned during the grass season, but wasn't fully healthy until December.
Raonic said that this time around, things will be different.
“As much as I look back on it, even before I went on court today, I was paying attention to what he was doing,” Raonic said. “Because far from where we were, we're both very different and I think improved players from then. So I have certain aspects that I would like to manipulate and use my game in, and I'm sure he's going to try to do a lot of different things, too.
"I think it's going to be a race to who can get in the comfort zone of themselves first.”
Raonic, who reached the 2014 Wimbledon semifinal, said he comes to the net more often now, but doing so only makes sense in certain situations. In five matches at the Australian Open, Raonic has rushed the net 248 times and won 172 of those points.
“I think however the match plays itself out, is reassessing and being in that moment and knowing how to go about things,” the 6’4” Raonic said. “Not really being stubborn. It's about the constant adjustments you make throughout a match. It's three out of five sets. A lot can happen. A lot of different levels of tennis for three out of five sets.
"It's about when you can step up, take advantage, and [there are] different ways to go about that.”