Milos Raonic put in plain words why he chose to hire former World No. 1 John McEnroe as his consultant for the grass court season: to help him out, and to make his opponent’s feel as scratchy as possible during the proceedings on court.

“I have known John personally, we have a lot of friends in common and I thought he could help me not only help myself exploit coming forward, but also the way I can manipulate how my opponents feel,” the ninth-ranked Raonic said upon his arrival in London.

The Queen’s Club event in London would be Raonic’s first assignment after joining forces with McEnroe. Although the Canadian has a tough first-rounder in Nick Kyrgios, he’s confident of implementing the “positive” sessions under McEnroe’s supervision.

“He’s helping me with everything. But both he and I believe that I can show up there more often. The first training sessions have been very good, we have made ​​good progress and we will continue to try to improve,” added Raonic, who will look to improve his 27-7 record.

Meanwhile, Raonic trials Kyrgios 2-3 in career head-to-head ahead of the Tuesday’s battle, which is scheduled for third match on Centre Court, 11:30 am local time onwards.