Milos Raonic deserves more consideration as he looks set to make another strong Wimbledon bid

Nick Bollettieri, writing exclusively for The Independent, discusses last year's Wimbledon runner-up, Angelique Kerber and much more

The Canadian beat Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 in his first match (Getty)

In all the talk about who might win the men’s title, why is nobody mentioning Milos Raonic? Holy cow, the guy only finished runner-up last year to Andy Murray at both Queen’s Club and Wimbledon! He’s only 26 years old and when that big serve of his is firing on all cylinders he takes some stopping.

What impressed me most about his 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 win over Jan-Lennard Struff was not actually his serve but his ground strokes. Man, they’re so good he could do us coaches out of a job. His forehands and backhands could have been taken out of one of my coaching manuals.

However, for me there is always one major question mark over the big Canadian. He doesn’t move badly for a guy who is 6ft 5in tall, but when you get him on the run he can be vulnerable. He’s fine all the time when he’s in a position where he can control the play, but when he’s being stretched he can struggle.

Raonic has improved his volleys in the last couple of years, but I think he has to come into the net even more. That might mean taking more of a risk with some of his approach shots, but I think he has to avoid getting trapped on the baseline.

I was also impressed by last year’s runner-up in the women’s singles. Angelique Kerber has had a difficult time since she went to the top of the world rankings, but in beating Irina Falconi 6-4, 6-4 she showed many of the qualities that took her into last year’s final.

What Kerber always needs to do is keep her composure. It’s when she lets her mind wander that she can make a lot of unforced errors and let slip her grip on matches.

Milos Raonic has tremendous ground strokes (Getty)

Wednesday’s match of the day

I’ll be fascinated to watch Rafa Nadal take on Donald Young in the second round. For one thing, it’s not often that you get two lefties facing each other. Left-handers generally have a big advantage serving from the ad court out wide to a right-hander’s backhand, but that doesn’t apply when you’re facing a fellow leftie.

Donald spent a lot of time with me at the IMG Academy when he was younger and I’ve followed his career closely. He’s got huge talent but hasn’t achieved what many thought was his potential. However, there’s still time and he’s been doing well lately. I know he’s been working hard on his fitness in the last year.

Rafa Nadal takes on a fellow leftie in his second match (Getty)

Nadal won his first match against John Millman in double-quick time. Holy mackerel, I thought the guy must have had a bus to catch given the speed at which he played. It was hard to judge the quality of Nadal’s performance because he wasn’t pushed too hard, but I’ve been impressed this year with the improvements to his serve and the fact that he’s flattened out his forehand.

I think the outcome of this match lies with Young. He has a very good forehand and he has to make the most of it. He needs to attack and sneak into the net every now and then. If he wins one of the first two sets we could be in for a very good match, but I’d still have to take Nadal to win.

Tales from the IMG Academy

Hearing some of the crazy debate about how Serena Williams might fare in the men’s game reminded me of an incident at the academy in the very early days of her career.

Richard Williams had brought his girls, Serena and Venus, to train there and they made an instant impression. Boy, I sometimes had to replace their hitting partners every 15 minutes because they just got exhausted under the barrage of big shots from the two girls. Sometimes I even put two guys on the other side of the net to each sister.

One or two of my male students started to get to a bit irritated by all the attention they were getting. Tommy Haas, Xavier Malisse and Max Mirnyi all grumbled about the time Venus and Serena were getting on the main teaching court.

John McEnroe's remarks about Williams stirred up quite the controversy (Getty Images) (PAUL CROCK/AFP/Getty Images)

On one occasion the girls heard Tommy complaining, after which they invited him to come and join them on court. Some of the other guys went on too and I think they were all surprised at how Venus and Serena held their own against them.

As for the hornets’ nest that John McEnroe stirred up last week with his suggestion that Serena would be ranked around No 700 in the world in the men’s game, I’m reminded of something my father always used to say to me: “If you ain’t got nothing good to say about someone, don’t say it.”

I have huge respect for John, who is one of the best commentators we’ve ever had in tennis, but I don’t think that was the right way to talk about the greatest female player in history. And if we’re going to start comparing the sexes I’ll ask John this: “Do you think you could carry a baby in your body for nine months?”

A tip from the top

The mindset of most players is to attack a second serve. If you have a weak second serve, it’s therefore often vital to get your first serve in. Take some pace off it if necessary and concentrate on placement: hit it deep and into the corners. Rohan Goetzke, the Director of Tennis at the IMG Academy, sometimes has our students play sets using only one serve on each point. I would recommend that to every club player once in a while.

The perfect tennis player

Each day during Wimbledon I’m building a picture of the ideal tennis player by looking at a different aspect of the game. Today: the smash. This is an easy one because nobody could smash the ball like Pete Sampras. The seven-times Wimbledon champion’s “slam dunk” smash, which he hit while in mid-air, became his trademark.

Roger Federer has perfected the smash (Getty)

Of today’s players, Roger Federer has a magnificent smash. Baby, what part of his game isn’t magnificent? The thing with Roger is that he gets lots of chances to smash because he comes into the net more than most and that inevitably means opponents are going to try to lob him.