Milos Raonic Wins The Lionel Conacher Award Again

The Canadian tennis superstar, Milos Raonic had three main goals at the start of the 2014 season -- he aimed to reach the top six in the world rankings, to go higher in Grand Slam events and to be accepted for the ATP Finals. Undoubtedly, it has been a good year for him as he reached all these goals over a campaign highlighted by a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon. Last Friday, he ended the year by winning the Lionel Conacher Award for the second year in a row. The award is given to Canadian Press male athlete of the year annually.

Although he lost to Roger Federer, Raonic is the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam men's singles semi-final in the Open era. But later on, he bagged his first career victory over the Swiss Maestro at the Paris Masters, which made him qualify for the ATP World Tour finals in London. Milos Raonic ended the year as the world no. 8 with a 49-20 record.

"I did achieve the goals that I specified but I always have this yearning for more, more, more," Raonic said in a phone interview. "It doesn't matter how much I do, I always want more - especially when it comes to my tennis."

It is apparent that Raonic is getting stronger mentally, which is essential for him to get results throughout the 2014 campaign. Furthermore, he made progress at the Grand Slam and Masters Series events and he also became better in playing on clay and grass surfaces. The Canadian expressed that it is difficult to maintain good performance throughout the year but he still managed to consistently play well.

The 24-year-old gained 35 per cent of votes of sports editors and broadcasters across Canada. Drew Doughty of Los Angeles Kings, who smashed all his opponents and won the Olympic hockey gold at the Sochi Games and the Stanley Cup title ranked second with 23 per cent of the votes. Freestyle skier Alex Bilodeau was third with 17 per cent of the votes.