Back to the drawing board for Raonic

Melbourne - Slovakian journeyman Lukas Lacko accounted for Canadian 22nd-seed Milos Raonic (5/7), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in their first round Australian Open clash on Tuesday.

Lacko maintained his record of never having lost a match at the Australian Open to an opponent outside of the top 10 in the world rankings.

Halfway through 2017, Lacko's ranking wasn't high enough to earn an automatic place in the main Australian Open draw.

However, two great results in challenge tournaments towards the end of last year sufficiently improved his ranking points to earn automatic qualification.

Lacko admitted to sometimes finding it hard to get motivated for smaller tournaments.

"I love the bigger events, larger crowds and better opponents," said Lacko post-match.

Raonic on the other hand lamented an injury-ravaged 2017 and felt that physically he wasn't ready to compete at his best.

"I had wrist surgery, a torn calf muscle and then a knee injury.

"I was underdone. I just ran out of time to get myself to the level required for this opening grand slam."

It's onwards and upwards for Lacko who will play unseeded Argentine Nicolas Kicker in Round 2 - and back to the drawing board for Raonic.