MELBOURNE, Australia -- Milos Raonic dedicated his third-round victory at the Australian Open on Saturday to victims of a shooting in Canada which left four people dead and several injured.
"Today, before I stepped out on court, it was a difficult day back home," the 25-year-old Canadian, his voice sounding emotional at times, said after his win over Viktor Troicki.
"Unfortunately in Saskatchewan in a very small community there was a shooting at a high school, so I want to take a moment and give thoughts to that community, the family, the students and the school affected. We wish you all the best."
According to RCMP, two people were killed and seven were injured when a gunman opened fire at the Dene high school in La Loche while two others were found dead at a home in the remote northern Saskatchewan community.
Raonic did not speak about his match, as is the usual custom in on-court interviews.
"Today's victory was for that community, and a quick recovery and all of Canada, and I'm sure the world is behind you," he said.
Raonic pays tribute to Saskatchewan, Canada #AusOpen https://t.co/pXTZv1qxYj
— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) January 23, 2016
Raonic later explained that he made his on-court comments because it was important to let any Canadians watching the match on television know it was on his mind.
"I know there is a lot of Canadians that stay up," to watch the tennis, Raonic said. "Stuff like this doesn't happen much back home. I'm sure not just in that small community, but throughout Canada it was a lot of people that were sort of heartbroken over it."
He said the incident caused him to reflect on his family's move from Montenegro to Canada in 1994 -- when Raonic was 4.
"Canada has been phenomenal to myself, my brother, my sister, their kids, my parents," he said. "They came there. They worked very hard. They came with great education, very good heads on their shoulders with the simple thought of going there with almost nothing and just saying, 'We're doing this to give our kids the best opportunity possible."'
A 17-year-old boy has since been charged with four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted murder and a single count of unauthorized possession of a firearm in connection to the shooting.
--- with files from CTV Saskatoon