Milos Raonic is one of the biggest servers in the history of tennis. His supersonic-missile of a serve has left many a player frustrated. However, there is one player who has tackled his service quite well throughout all their meetings. That player is none other than Novak Djokovic.

Milos wins many matches solely with his serve. I’m not saying he doesn’t have other weapons in his locker, he just doesn’t require them, usually. In fact, among the current crop of big servers, Raonic is easily the most complete player. He has a very good all-round game to back up his wonderful service.

All of this changes when the Canadain comes up against the greatest returner in tennis history- Novak Djokovic. Novak’s return has been a bane for the Canadian’s fearsome serve.

The Serbian just doesn’t allow Milos to get too many free points on serve. He not only manages to a very high percentage of returns in, but he also makes it awfully difficult for Milos to take control of the point.

It is evident from their head to head statistics, that Milos simply cannot rely on his service to beat Djokovic. The Serb has won all of their 10 meetings up until now.

Raonic explains how Novak Djokovic dismantles his service

Raonic’s serve, unsurprisingly, isn’t all too easy to break, even for Novak. This has resulted in many tie-breakers in their 10 meetings. However, tie-breaks bring a lot of pressure with them, and there is no one better than the World No. 1 in handling it.

In a recent interview in Canada, Raonic talked about Nole’s return. His take on it was quite analytical and insightful.

“First, he gets a lot of returns in. Novak doesn’t really go for that much(on return), he just goes up the middle. It’s tough because then you don’t have an angle. It’s not only on the return, he plays up the middle until he can get into a position where he can go for it.”

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Now that is a blueprint on negating big servers in the sport. Of course, you still have to be able to do that once you know it.

Milos had more to add on Novak.

“All he is doing by that is just taking away angles, forcing you to go close to the line, if you want to make an angle. He makes the court feel a little bit smaller. I think there are some guys faster than Novak, but since he shrinks the court for you, he is able to cover everything with his speed.”