Tebbutt: The Milos-Lleyton buzz

Milos Raonic takes on Lleyton Hewitt in a highly-anticipated third-round match at the Australian Open on Saturday night.

The two have never played and there’s a lot of intrigue leading up to their encounter, which will follow Serena Williams vs. Greta Arn on Rod Laver Arena in the evening session beginning at 7 p.m. (3 a.m. EST in Canada).

Raonic is ranked No. 25, while Hewitt is No. 181 after a year plagued by injuries. He claims he basically only played “two Grand Slams and two Davis Cup ties” in 2011.

But the 30-year-old Aussie is playing in a very familiar venue before adoring fans, so no one is under-estimating his ability to summon an inspired performance in what could possibly be his final Australian Open.

On Friday, I got the opinions of some informed observers about the match, asking each of them (except Roger Federer) to make a prediction no matter how uncertain they might be about the outcome.

Here they are:

ROGER FEDERER: “It’s going to be a good match.  Obviously Raonic is on the rise, and Lleyton such an established player and playing with home crowd advantage. “I haven’t seen Raonic play in a while now because of injury or whatever happened.  I practiced once with him in Wimbledon, so I got a chance to hit some with him there. “I think it’s going to be an open match because Lleyton doesn’t give away anything. I’ve seen that happen so many times that I’ll just pick Lleyton because he’s playing well and he’s playing at home.”

PAUL ANNACONE (former player and Roger Federer’s coach): “I think with Milos’s game, he can compete with anybody. It’s obviously going to be a challenge playing Lleyton here. With Lleyton, it’s tough to say because he hasn’t played a lot of matches. He looked pretty good last night (Thursday against Roddick) even though Andy got hurt. His style of play makes you work so hard point for point for point. With young guys, it’s a bit of a challenge to do that over three-out-of-five sets.

“With his game, as powerful as his game is and with the versatility that he has, Milos has a good chance. But if he doesn’t play well in this environment, it’s going to be a long night for him.

Prediction: “It’s tough...if Lleyton had been playing a bunch, it would be much easier. With Milos’s power, he’s in there in every match. Raonic.”

ROGER RASHEED (TV commentator and former coach of Hewitt and Gael Monfils): “Lleyton will take a little bit of time just to gauge him – but I like the match-up purely because he likes having a target and Milos likes to come in. He’ll rally a little bit, but his game is to press and that gives Lleyton a target which was his bread and butter for a long time. I think if Lleyton can handle his serve – and he has a great serve. It could be an interesting little tennis match.”

Prediction: “I love what Milos brings to the table. When I was with Gael a couple of years ago in Canada, we got him on the court...and after 10 or 15 minutes I said to Gael, ‘this kid will be top 10.’ You could pretty much see it. (But) I’m going to go with Lleyton.”

GUY FORGET (French Davis Cup captain: “I think it will be a really good match because Hewitt is a very good counter-attacker, even if he’s not as good as he once was. So it’s a nice contrast in styles with two guys who have character. I think it’ll be very spectacular and very, very pleasant to watch. If Raonic serves really well, he’ll win a lot of easy points with his serve. But if he doesn’t, the other guy is so strong in countering that he’ll have some worries.”

Prediction: “I think Raonic will win but it will be close – maybe four sets.”

WALLY MASUR: (retired Australian player and TV commentator): “They’re at very different ends of their career, obviously. I think Lleyton has put a lot of effort into making a mark at this year’s Australian Open. It means a lot to him, it’s his 16th straight. He will not go lightly. I think Raonic starts the favourite. He’s in form and he’s playing this great game and won in Chennai. He’s on a nice roll. “Obviously if Lleyton can combat that serve, it’s going to be a tough match. That may be the key right there. And Lleyton has been one of the great returners in the game over the last 15 years, so you’ve got to give him some sort of chance.

Prediction: “I never back against Lleyton.”

DARREN CAHILL (ESPN commentator, ex-player and former coach of Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi): “It’s an exciting match-up. Milos is up-and-coming and I think he’s going to see a future star of the game.

It’s an interesting time for him to play Lleyton. Fortunately, Lleyton didn’t have to leave it all out there last night (Thursday against Roddick) because of the unfortunate incident that happened to Andy. So I think he’s going to be fit and healthy going into the match. It’s going to be a great test to see where Milos is because it’s never easy playing Lleyton in this stadium. But the composure he’s shown us the last 12 months, he likes the big situation, he handles those moments extremely well. It will be a great test for him.

“I think it’s about the first serve so he’s going to have to keep the percentage up on the first serve and try to get as many free points as he can. When he gets into those rallies, the edge goes a little bit to Lleyton. It depends how easily Lleyton can get it to Milos’s backhand – his forehand is a big shot. Depending on how easily he can get to it determines what adjustments Milos has to make. Whether he needs to take more risks with his serve, whether he has to be more aggressive with his backhand or if he has to step around and hit some inside/out forehands. A lot of that will be worked out in the first six games.”

Prediction: “I’ve been asked and I really don’t have a feel for it because you don’t have a feel for the weight of shot from both players. Is Milos going to find Lleyton’s shot pretty easy to move him around or is he going to feel pushed back? I lean a little bit to Lleyton, maybe in four sets.”
 
CLIFF DRYSDALE: (former player and ESPN commentator): “I think it’s going to be the most interesting match of the tournament. aonic is a spectacular player. With his power, he can beat just about anybody.”

Prediction: “I’m picking Raonic.”

MARTIN LAURENDEAU (former player and Canadian Davis Cup team captain): “Of course I’m pulling for Milos all the way. This is Hewitt’s court. He plays the best in all the year in this tournament and on this court. But Milos has got good momentum, better than Hewitt. I think it should be four or five sets, pretty close.”

Prediction: “Raonic.”

JASON STOLTENBERG (former Wimbledon semi-finalist and now a Tennis Australia coach): “I think it’s going to be a tough one for both players. Raonic is a young guy with a big game that’s going to give Lleyton a lot of trouble. Lleyton doesn’t have quite the body or the speed that he used to. But I think Lleyton likes a target and he likes guys who have big serves. He has one of the best returns, that’s pretty obvious. It depends on how much Lleyton has got in the tank because Milos, I’m sure, is still pretty fresh and he did well here last year. It’s a real interesting match-up.”

Prediction: “It’s really hard for me to ever pick against Lleyton at home here because I don’t know how many Australian Opens he’s got left. Having said that, I think he’s going to have his hands full with Milos.”

JOACHIM NYSTROM (former top-10 Swedish player and currently Jurgen Melzer’s coach): “I think Roanic has a good shot. It’s a big match for both of them. It depends on how he’s serving. He has to get a lot of free points if he wants to beat Lleyton in this arena. That’s the key. The longer the rallies are, the more it favours Lleyton. But the way he’s started off the year, I think Milos has a good chance of winning.”

Prediction: “Raonic.”

TOMIC – DOLGOPOLOV: A THROWBACK

I thought Friday night’s Bernard Tomic (winner) – Alexandr Dolgopolov match was a fantastically entertaining contest. There was so much poking and prodding on every point as the players felt each other out with their sliced backhands before usually upping the tempo to resolve the rally.

It crossed my mind watching the subtle nature and length of the rallies that a great player from the 1920s (Bill Tilden or Rene Lacoste) could come back and recognize the game he played in his heyday nearly a century ago. Most modern-day players hit so big and execute points with such violent shotmaking that the sport would be barely recognizable for Tilden or Lacoste.

Dolgopolov was terrific but most of the credit has to go to Tomic who is like an orchestra conductor on every single point – a truly unique player.

A BIT OF OZ

That’s a car wash on Swan Street not far from Melbourne Park.

My question is: when has there ever been a car wash without H20?