Canada’s former world number three Milos Raonic announced his retirement from tennis on Sunday at the age of 35 after winning eight ATP Tour titles and more than $20 million in prize money in a decade and a half on the tour.
Notable for a powerful serve that earned him the nickname “Missile”, Raonic’s career peaked in 2016 when he reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the Wimbledon final, losing to Andy Murray in both matches.
“It’s a moment that you know will come one day, but somehow you never feel ready. This is as ready as I’ll ever be. Tennis has been my love and obsession for most of my life,” Raonic wrote in a post on social media platform X.
“I have been the luckiest person to be able to live and achieve my dreams.
I have to show up every day and focus on improving myself, to see where it takes me.
Born in the former Yugoslavia during the country’s violent breakup in the early 1990s, Raonic and his family moved to Canada when he was three.
He turned professional in 2008 and won his first ATP title at the Pacific Coast Championships three years later, beating Fernando Verdasco in the final.
Raonic played in four Masters 1000 finals from 2013 to 2020 and lost them all, the first at the Canadian Open against Rafa Nadal and the other three against Novak Djokovic.
His loss to Djokovic at the 2020 Cincinnati Masters was his last trip to an ATP Finals and his last tour-level event was his first-round loss to Germany’s Dominik Koepfer at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“What’s next? I won’t slow down,” Raonic added in his social media post.
“There’s so much more life to live, and I’m as motivated and hungry as I was in 2011, when I broke through on tour.”
