One of our staff writers speculates on where Raonic will end up in the rankings after Memphis concludes.
Milos Raonic, the 20 year old Canadian, is skyrocketing on tour behind his barrage of aces. The Canadian has proven that his fourth round appearance at the 2011 Australian Open was no fluke as he won ATP San Jose over the just past weekend and now he is into the third round of ATP Memphis, with a good draw to survive another match.
In the third round Raonic will face Robert Kendrick, an American player who is 31 years old and outside of the top 100 on tour. That is a favorable match for Raonic, currently ranked 59th, and a semifinal match in Memphis against either Sam Querrey or Mardy Fish may be looming.
If Raonic does go on to beat Kendrick and then goes out in the semifinals to Sam Querrey, for example, the jump in the rankings would still be significant for the young star.
He has no points to defend for the February 21st rankings and so a semifinal appearance in Memphis would yield him a net gain of 180 ranking points.
That should easily put him into the top 50 with a likely ranking between 44th and 46th.
With the progress the Canadian is making, he seems a clear threat to be seeded for both Roland Garros and Wimbledon later this year and then for who knows how many Slams after that.
