PARIS — This is the Olympics of the great goodbyes. Rafael Nadal may be playing tennis for the last time. Andy Murray definitely playing for the last time. Milos Raonic not sure what next week is, or the week after that.
“I don’t think I’d put my name with theirs,” said Raonic, the sometimes healthy, usually hurt, Canadian serving star, who was eliminated in his first match at the breathtaking Roland Garros Stadium on Sunday night.
What a day Sunday was beneath the blazing Paris sunshine where there were stars all over the courts of Roland Garros, but the real star was the stadium itself, jammed packed with tennis fans from all over the world, the big courts full and the little courts full.
I’ve been to Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and at least six different Olympic tennis tournaments and haven’t quite seen a day like this one, so vivid and alive, so excited and exciting: This is the Olympic venue of all venues, and there may have been more people at one day of tennis here than there have been for entire tournaments in the past.
Raonic lost a three-set match to Dominik Koepfer of Germany, a match without a service break. He was knocked out 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, getting blasted in the final two tie-breakers, 7-2 and 7-1.
“I wasn’t at my best,” said the 33-year-old Raonic, who in fairness hasn’t been at his best in years. He wears a brace on his right knee. If he played another sport they would say he has all kinds of lower body injuries. Nothing specific to get into here. His shoulder is fine, which means he can still serve.
What he can’t do is move well enough, quick enough, to compete at the highest level at a time when some of the greatest players of all time are coming to the end of their careers as well.
Nadal will play Novak Djokovic in the second round of the tournament here if he winds up playing that match instead of walking away before it. This is his home away from home. This is where he has won 14 French Opens.
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Murray has been the most successful male player at the Olympics with more medals than Roger Federer, then Djokovic than Nadal himself.
It’s a different kind of swan song, if that’s what it is, for Raonic. When there was no man of consequence on the ATP Tour, he became a factor of significance. He played Nadal 10 times, beating him twice. He beat Murray four times in their 13 meetings. He became the Canadian everyone knew in a sport where there were no real Canadians to follow in singles tennis before him.
“Everybody is excited around here right now because of the energy,” said Raonic. “There’s been a lot of noise around this event. Everyone wants to see what’s going on with Rafa. Is the last time we see him competing in Paris? He’s beloved here. There’s a lot of different factors about (the Olympics). About Andy as well. A bunch of guys right now getting to the last hoorah.”
Which is a place Raonic is headed, even if he doesn’t like to talk about it. After almost four years of injury after injury, his lower body breaking down and his on court movement clearly limited, he isn’t ready to say goodbye but isn’t ready to say hello full time either.
That’s why being here meant so much to him. He’s not a clay court player. He hasn’t played the French Open in years. But he wanted to be back at one more Olympics, not just to play, but to be part of a Canadian team.
Not only is he the largest physical figure among the Canadian players — he has this Eric Lindros look about him on the court — but when you place him alongside Felix Auger-Alliasime and Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Annie Fernandez and Gaby Dabrowski, they all seem like his little siblings. He was there before anyone had heard of these Canadians and that includes Denis Shapovalov.
“It means a lot to us, a lot to me, to be able to hang around Milos here,” said Fernandez. “Just spending some time with him, getting to talk to him. We’re the next generation. He’s a great example for all of us.”
Fernandez, like Raonic, was eating up at the atmosphere at Roland Garros on Sunday. She was fortunate to play a day match when the place was electric.
“Today was absolutely incredible,” said Fernandez, talking about Roland Garros, not her first round win. “I’ve been lucky enough to play in the big stadiums. But being on Court 14 today, and have the stadium full on such a small court, and the thing is, you hear everything, everyone. You hear the kids having their own conversations while you’re playing. You hear your coach talking. It’s so much fun to play in that type of environment. You feel like there’s an energy forging through your body and you just want to well in front of them and enjoy the tennis.”
There will at least be one more match for Raonic at the Olympics. He plays doubles with Auger-Alliasime. He doesn’t know how long they’ll last in the draw or how much longer he’ll be playing after that.
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“I’m just taking it week by week,” he said. “That’s all I can do. I set goals, short term only and after each one I reassess.
“It’s a great thing to be (thought of as a Canadian tennis leader). Daniel (Nestor) was around before me and I got to overlap with him at the beginning of my career. That gave you a lot to work towards.”
Raonic made the finals of Wimbledon, the semifinals two other times. He got by on a giant serve and got taken down, too often, by an uncooperative lower body. And if this isn’t officially the end, it sure looks like it is.
He wasn’t Rafa Nadal or Andy Murray at any time in his career. Just the best we’ve ever had. And that’s nothing at all to apologize for.
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