ATP: Jürgen Melzer after the sensational victory against Milos Raonic: No sign of retirement

Jürgen Melzer caused a real sensation with his victory over Milos Raonic on Monday evening. The 37-year-old beat former third in the world rankings Milos Raonic in two sets and thus postponed his career end in the singles.

“I don’t know how many messages I got,” said Jürgen Melzer after his first-round victory. They all had the same tenor: He should enjoy the game against Milos Raonic as much as possible.

Melzer himself was immediately clear that this could only happen in one way: “There is too much athlete in me. I can only enjoy this if I win.”

No sooner said than done. The former number eight of the world prevailed against the serving machine Raonic in two fierce sets with 7:6(6), 7:5 and continues his single career at least for another match.

Melzer explained the way to success with the former number three of the world amazingly simply: “He can already have a day where he can’t get anything in from behind. And then all you have to do is win two tiebreaks.”

After Melzer didn’t win a single point in his opponent’s first four service games, he got along better and better with the hard service during the game. Although he scored three points less than Raonic, he took the first set also thanks to classic Melzer backhand stops and spectacular passing balls, past Raonic storming to the net.

In the second run he didn’t need a tiebreak anymore, but Raonic even took the serve for a sensational match win at 6:5. Despite all the euphoria, Melzer nevertheless relativized his performance in the analysis.

“You have to leave the church in the village. I played okay and served smart,” said the five-time ATP title holder. “He’d already played badly from behind, and I took advantage of his mistakes. “I’m afraid I’ll be able to win even longer in games like this.”

The next chance in a similar match could be Melzer’s on Wednesday, when he faces the number two of the tournament, Kevin Anderson, in the round of 16. But Melzer knows that the South African is a more complete player than Raonic, despite his height of over two metres.

The fact that Melzer already gave his first performance on Monday – and thus on a supposedly less frequented day – was agreed with tournament director Herwig Straka in advance.

There had been “a little gratitude” from Melzer for the Wild Card to make the first tournament day a little more attractive from an Austrian point of view. “When Dominic plays on Tuesday, he owns the stage – and rightly so. So people were there to celebrate my farewell,” Melzer said with a wink.

One could now experience this on Wednesday, although Melzer can also be seen beyond that. Because of his first-round success in the singles, he will probably only serve in the double competition alongside Philipp Oswald for the first time on Thursday.

Not only this week Melzer has big plans for the next season. “Once you’ve won two Grand Slams, you want to go back to that region. If I specialise in it, I can become even better in this competition,” he said.

The double is generally a completely different chapter. “One’s finished, we’ll keep writing the second.” This is another reason why there is little sense of melancholy about an end in the individual.

It is even pleasant for Melzer to know that no tournaments are planned after this week. After 19 years of professional tennis, the body no longer plays along. But it was important to him to say goodbye to the tennis stage with such a memorable performance. “And not limping around, so people think, ‘Why did they give him a wild card?’ Now I have found my peace.”

But this peace may be short-lived. At the end of the press conference, he once again leaned out of the window: “If I win the tournament, then I’ll continue playing in the singles. I promise you that.”