What goes through the mind of Milos Raonic when he thinks about the possibility of a summer without Wimbledon?

"It'd be a hard decision to accept at first," he admits, "but it's also going to be one that you understand is completely the right choice with everything going on around the world."

The All England Club is holding emergency meetings to determine the fate of this year's Championships with a decision expected Wednesday. It appears likely they will opt to cancel the event, which starts in late June, for the first time since the Second World War.

What's her name?

"Charlie."

How long have you wanted a dog?

"I remember when we first moved with my family, when we first immigrated to Canada in '94, I always kept asking my parents for a puppy. Back in Yugoslavia, for me, having domestic pets wasn't a thing. You know, we had a lot of stray dogs around and I would always bring them home and that kind of thing, but it's not a thing that could work. I remember my parents promised me when we moved from an apartment to a house, 'You can have a puppy,' but then I was playing tennis and then tennis was always the reason it wasn't possible, at least from them to me. And then I started travelling and it's something I just didn't even think about. So, I said, 'If this is going to happen, it has to happen now and then I'll figure it out after,' and so far it’s been incredible."

What are you hearing from the ATP and Players' Council? Do you have any idea what needs to happen before play resumes?

"It's hard to know, because tennis is such a set schedule geographically. It's not like we're waiting for one market to open up and for one country to be safe. There's so many factors in tennis that other sports will not have to face, because in tennis it's not about just getting people that are already in the U.S. or that are in Canada to a venue in the U.S., it's about getting people from everywhere in the world to a certain venue and a certain country.

"And the summertime, if Wimbledon doesn’t happen, is meant to be, most of it, in North America ... the numbers (of those infected by COVID-19) are still rising throughout North America, who knows what the state will be, if it will be clear enough. Also, what the travel restrictions are, I don't know if it would be necessarily fair to players if some can't play because their country (residents) have been banned from entering another country and some don't have the possibility to play. Tennis has always been a sport of equal merit, your ranking gets you in, what you've done over the last 52 weeks gives you an opportunity to play and if that can't be incorporated you have to sort of find what is fair.

"So, I think there are a lot of factors that are going to have to be considered. Obviously, everybody wants to contemplate that. Tennis is a sport that you're paid to play, you know, you have to be in a tournament to make money, you have to win matches, everything is result-based, it's not necessarily guaranteed contracts for most players, there's not guaranteed salaries so you have guys who are very eager to play. It's just going to be about when it's safe to play and when we're allowed to play and when everyone will have the equal opportunity to play."

Players want to play and tournaments want their tournaments to be played. What did you think of the French Tennis Federation making the unilateral decision to move the French Open to one week after the US Open?

"Overall, is it the right choice? Yes. Did it happen in a way where the players felt valued and respected? I don't necessarily think so. The day it came out I learned about it over Twitter. We have this massive group chat with 70 of the top 100 players and everybody did learn it over Twitter. I think only really one person was reached out to ... and even the president of the ATP, as well, was only reached out to so that's only two people and they weren’t even looking for opinion it was just more about, 'Hey, it's a heads up, we're going to do this, we're not asking anybody, we don't care, this is what needs to happen.' I understand it from their perspective. They've done a lot of renovations this year, they've put in a new roof, they're still working on it. I know it's not finished so the question is when will the French government allow them to have that many workers in a tight space to finish construction. That's also going to be another factor for them as well, because I don't think you can necessarily play while it's a construction zone.

"I think they wanted to secure a week, because they were nervous that a lot of tournaments will be looking to move ... I think they said, 'We're going to go there and we'll bank on the idea that players will want to play grand slams rather than smaller ATP events and the Laver Cup.' And, at the end of the day, grand slams are the thing that is the most meaningful to us, that is the most meaningful to us from a personal standpoint ... players want to achieve big things and also financially, because of their size they’re able to reward the players that do well the best. So, I think they sort of said, 'Hey, we're the French Open, we know it, we're going to go there and we think people will show up,' and I think people will.

"The only question is how is it going to (be for) players who play three-of-five sets (over) four out of five weeks and with a change of surface as well. So, some players that don't do well at the US Open will have an advantage automatically, because instead of seven days of preparation it's going to be 20 or 16 days and that's a big difference. So, it's the right decision because we want to play and we want to play as much as possible, we just sort of felt a little bit offended by how it happened."

Another thing this break does is it gives you more time to think. Have you reflected on where you are in your career? I know your goal is to win a grand slam, where do you feel you are in that journey?

"The big picture was to win a slam, but I think there were a lot of steps I needed to go through ... to (find) a path that's beneficial for me. I've stayed healthy through the start of the year. I was playing back-to-back and a lot of time I was struggling to do that before. But now I'm not only not struggling with it, I'm actually going day to day without even small amounts of pain so I've been very eager to practice, very keen on every practice ... I can think about, 'What should I do to be better?' Instead of, 'What can I do?' or 'What will my body allow me to do?' So, that's given me a lot of freedom and that's been such a positive and a sensation I haven't had for a long time. That's meant a lot to me so I've really been working hard to keep that going.

"And then it's to get back (to) that perspective of, 'Hey, how can I get into every tournament I play with the best possible chance to win the tournament, to win every match?' ... I think I've improved over the last few years. Definitely my results haven't been where I've liked, but I've improved as a tennis player and I think if I can give myself the possibility to create some momentum, get back into the habit of playing match after match, week after week ... it's been a long time since I've done that and it's hard to switch that on, that's sort of an instinctual and trained skill and if I can get into that I think I'll be able to do better than I have before and I'm excited about that and that means a lot to me and it gives me a lot of energy and a lot of motivation."

You mentioned this is a break unlike anything anyone has experienced before. I mean, the tennis off-season is pretty short. I know you're always looking for an edge. Do you think that everyone will come out of this sluggish or is there an advantage to be gained?

"It will be very different, because this is the first time individuality can really come through. Before individuality would sort of come through maybe the first grand slam of the year, you sort of see where you are, but then everybody was sort of in the same cycle and it was about who can manage that throughout a whole season best. And, obviously, the top guys have done it so many times over and over again and they've learned how to get the best out of themselves consistently for at least 14 out of the 16 or 14 out of the last 17 tournaments that they've played. So, I think you'll see some players come out very strong and I think you'll see some players take a little bit of time to sort of get back into it.

"For me, one thing that's motivating is I've always played well in Australia. When it comes time to play in Australia I've always found a way, because I've always relished opportunities to train, to really work on things without the immediate sort of deadline or pressure of a tournament coming up and then having to feel like, 'How much can I train?' When I have the freedom to train, when I've been healthy, when it's day-to-day, week-to-week with a set schedule that you can follow that's not fluctuating because of travel or results and this sort of thing, I've always been able to get a lot out of myself and that's a very positive thing. I think that's why I haven't really sat down or taken any time off since any of this news broke. It's sort of been, 'OK, what can I do day by day,' and I've just lowered the volume, because you have to figure out a way to be able to make that intensity last ... to always find a way that you're making progress, but not where you've gone too far and then by the time you start getting closer to the possibility to compete you're resting."

TSN is replaying classic tennis matches to keep fans entertained right now. If we did a week dedicated to the best of Milos Raonic, what matches would you like featured? Certainly, I've got to the think the 2014 Wimbledon semifinal win over Roger Federer tops the list.

"That one. In 2014, I believe it was the quarterfinals against Roger, it was the first time I beat him and it was to qualify for the World Tour Finals, it was in the Paris Masters, that was a very important one. I guess I remember the matches that didn't go the way I would've liked a bit more, but there'​s been some I played great in, but it didn't edge out my way. I played really well in that semifinal when I got hurt against Andy (Murray) in Australia in 2016. We had that match with many breaks towards the end in the semifinals of the World Tour Finals with Andy as well in 2016, I would put that one up there. I played really well against Stan (Wawrinka) in the early rounds of the 2016 Australian Open, I think it was the fourth round. Those are some of them. I guess I like to watch the ones where I could do things better. Those are the ones that are sort of always playing in my head ... I like to watch all my matches regardless and probably even the ones I lose a bit more, because they tend to put a fire underneath me."

The match I had on my list that you didn't mention was the 2011 Australian Open and that third round win over Mikhail Youzhny, because it really felt like that was the first time Canadian sports fans, in general, got introduced to you.

"Beating Youzhny, yeah, and also that year, oh, now I can come up with a lot more, beating (Fernando) Verdasco to win my first title in San Jose. Then right after that losing a really tight match with (Andy) Roddick 7-5 in the third set in Memphis. I would even put that 25-23 loss in the third round of the Olympics against (Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga at the All England Club in 2012, that one is up there. That actually came up in conversation with the postponement of the Olympics. So, there's a lot. Win or lose, you have to remember it doesn't just depend on one guy. It's not enough for me to play well, you have to find a way, because there's another guy on the other side of the net who has his say in the match as well."