Milos Raonic played—and won—his first match at a Grand Slam in almost two and a half years, defeating Austria’s Dennis Novak in the first round of Wimbledon on Wednesday, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1.
His last win at a major came on February 12th, 2021—exactly 873 days ago—when he defeated Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics in the third round of the Australian Open, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2. He would go on to lose to Novak Djokovic in in the fourth round there.
Wimbledon this year is the first major he’s played since the 2021 Australian Open. He had been off the tour for almost two years until this year’s grass-court season due to a slew of injuries, which began with an Achilles injury.
“It was very intentional [to come back on grass]. Wimbledon means the most to me, and I haven’t played it since 2019,” Raonic recently told ATPTour.com. “I’ll play it one more time. I don’t know what will happen after that, but I’ll play it one more time.
“It’s also Toronto this year. I grew up 10 minutes from the stadium, that’s another one that’s important to me. I like the idea that I’ll play those at least one more time.”
Raonic, a former world No. 3, had his best career result at a Grand Slam at Wimbledon, reaching the final in 2016 before finishing runner-up to Andy Murray. He’s also reached another two major semifinals and seven more major quarterfinals.