Milos Raonic hopes history repeats itself when he returns to the Mubadala World Tennis Championship this year. He started his season last year in the Abu Dhabi tournament ranked 14th in the world, and it turned out to be his best one to date, having improved to No3.

The Canadian star receives a bye to day two of the tournament, where he will face either Tomas Berdych or Rafael Nadal on December 30 at the International Tennis Centre in Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi.

Raonic made his debut at the tournament last year, where he dispatched Kevin Anderson before stunning favourite and then world No4 Stan Wawrinka, with his ruthless and unrelenting serve.

That win secured a meeting in the final with Rafael Nadal which he lost. On returning to the MWTC, Raonic said: “My great 2016 season started in January, at my first Mubadala World Tennis Championship. It helped set up the best season of my career. Being in tough finals and playing for the biggest titles this year has really helped improve my game.

“This Championship is the perfect way to set me on course to continue that. For me it’s like starting my season off by stepping into the semi-final of a grand slam. I look forward to playing any of the other five players in the tournament and aim to be in the final once again.”

Since his final in Abu Dhabi, Raonic has built on the momentum. He made history at the Australian Open as the first Canadian man to reach the semi-finals, losing out to current world No1 Andy Murray.

At Wimbledon, he reached his first grand slam final. Although he lost to Murray again, he clocked an astonishing 147mph serve in that match which was just 1mph shy of the Wimbledon record for fastest serve of all time.

For tickets and information, visit: www.mubadalawtc.com.