Offseason break leads to Raonic's success Down Under

Canada's Milos Raonic definitely seems at home Down Under.

The 29-year-old had his career breakthrough at Melbourne, reaching the fourth round as a qualifier, and has been a consistent performer since -- one semifinal appearance and three other quarterfinals coming into this event.

Now, he's is back in the quarters once again, and took down Stefanos Tsitsipas and Marin Cilic in back-to-back rounds to do it.

Raonic says he's finally healthy, having had repeated injury problems in 2019 that stopped him from playing and practicing. That changed in the offseason.

“I was able to train for about six, seven weeks straight without any hindrances, no setbacks,” said Raonic  “I was thankful for that. I was able to play in Doha and train before Doha, train here without anything. It’s been fortunate so far.”

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He also suggests that part of his success in Australia is that it comes at the beginning of the season, when he's had some rest and a lot of offseason training to hone his big-serving game.

"I have always somehow figured out how to put it together here, especially if I have had the freedom to train well,” Raonic said. “I think when I have had the freedom to really focus on my body, not go from tournament to tournament, focus on training and doing my things well, and allowing myself to get confidence through that work, I have always managed to put things to a pretty presentable level I can be happy with. From there on you've got to go out on court, fight, and it worked well”.

The No.32 seed plays defending champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.