Milos Raonic delivers serving masterclass to break ace record; accidentally hits ball kid and umpire in the process at Queen's Club Championships

Milos Raonic broke the record for the most aces in a best-of-three match in the first round of the 2024 Queen's Club Championships against home favorite Cameron Norrie. The Canadian served 47 aces, breaking Ivo Karlovic's record of 45 he set against Tomas Berdych at the 2015 Halle Open.

Raonic has been having a year riddled with injury and withdrew from the Australian Open and the Indian Wells Masters. He also sat out the entire European clay swing and made his return at the Libema Open using his protected ranking to kickstart his grass swing where he scored impressive wins against Jordan Thompson and Roberto Bautista Agut in the opening two rounds.

The Canadian fell to the eventual champion Alex de Minaur in straight sets, after which he entered the Queen's Club Championships. His serves have always been a threat throughout his career, however, his form has been inconsistent in the past few years due to multiple injuries and a lack of matches.

The 33-year-old brought out his best and delivered a serving masterclass against Cameron Norrie to defeat him from a set down 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-6(9). He won a total of 110 points in the match, out of which 47 were aces, breaking Ivo Karlovic's record in the process.

During the 10th game of the first set, Milos Raonic served out a perfect game, hitting four unanswered aces. However, he accidentally hit the line umpire and a ball kid with some of his aces.

Here's a look at his perfect game.

"If I didn't have my serve, my career would be very different" - Milos Raonic talks about the importance of his serve

Milos Raonic

During the post-match interview, Milos Raonic was told that he served almost 50 aces and was asked to talk about its importance.

The Canadian acknowledged it as a huge part of his game and admitted that if he didn't have his dangerous serve, his career would've been much different. Raonic said that he was happy with the serves and was trying to improve the other aspects of his game as well.

"Yeah, it definitely makes a big difference, it's a big part of my game. If I didn't have my serve, my career would be very different, so, I'm very thankful for that and you know trying to make everything else around me a little bit better too."

Milos Raonic will play the winner of the match between Taro Daniel and fourth seed Taylor Fritz in the second round.