TORONTO -- Milos Raonic entered uncharted territory for a Canadian mens tennis player this year, reaching the top 10 in the world singles rankings and leading the Davis Cup team to unprecedented heights. Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus Jersey . He also won two tournaments in 2013 and thrilled Canadian fans by reaching the final of the Rogers Cup last summer. He capped his impressive year Thursday by winning the Lionel Conacher Award as the 2013 Canadian Press male athlete of the year. Raonic made some big strides this year despite going through some early-season struggles and a coaching change. "The fact that I was performing under those circumstances when things werent the best leading into those events, its really great for me," he said. "Its what Im most proud of." The Conacher award is named after the multi-sport athlete who was chosen Canadas athlete of the first half-century. The winner of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canadas female athlete of the year will be announced Friday and the team of the year will be named Saturday. Raonic finished with 45 per cent of the vote in balloting of sports editors and broadcasters across the country. Calgary Stampeders running back Jon Cornish was well back at 22 per cent, followed by golfer Graham DeLaet (13 per cent) and figure skater Patrick Chan (eight per cent). "Raonic had the most successful year in the history of Canadian tennis and his outstanding performance in the Davis Cup played a leading role in the countrys semifinal appearance," said Yahoo Canadas Steve McAllister. "Raonics climb up the ATP Tour rankings happens in an era that features more depth than ever before." Raonic finished second in last years voting behind cyclist Ryder Hesjedal. Hes the first mens tennis player to win the award, which dates back to 1932. "To have them vote (for) me and tell my story back home and being so positive about it, its really great to see," Raonic said when reached after a training session in Monte Carlo. "To (be) recognized through an award like this means a lot to me." A number of womens tennis players have won the Rosenfeld Award over the years. Aleksandra Wozniak was the last to do so, taking the honour in 2009. Raonic won indoor hardcourt tournaments in Bangkok and San Jose and finished with a 45-21 singles record this season, picking up more than US$1.72 million in prize money along the way. Known for his booming serve, the six-foot-five Raonic showed improvement in other facets of his game in 2013. His ground strokes, backhand and net play were stronger and that helped him to some big victories. Raonic was ranked 15th at the start of the year and hovered in the teens for most of the season. He rose to a career-high No. 10 in early August before falling to No. 11, where he has remained since. He won the San Jose title for the third straight year last February after beating Tommy Haas in the final. Raonic also helped the Davis Cup team to wins over Spain and Italy as he endured a stretch of middling results on tour. The Canadians power game has always been most effective on hardcourts but Raonic enjoyed some success on clay this season as well, reaching the semifinals at Barcelona in April before falling to Rafael Nadal. However, he struggled on the grass courts and made a second-round exit at Wimbledon. Raonic managed an injury-free season for the first time since joining the tour and was able to fight through that early-season inconsistency. "I learned for the first time in the first three years of my career how to deal with the tough moments," he said. "Not any moments disrupted by injury or anything, just like a little bit of a slump, lets say. It gave me a lot of experience and its helped me grow a lot. "Its great from the educational side, but then also the way I turned around the second half of the year and really gave myself an opportunity to achieve my goal." Raonic made a coaching change in the spring with Ivan Ljubicic replacing Galo Blanco, who spent more than two years in the position. An adjustment phase followed before Raonic really got the countrys attention with an impressive performance at the Rogers Cup. With Ljubicic pushing him to play a more aggressive, higher-risk game, Raonic responded with wins over Juan Martin del Potro and Davis Cup teammate Vasek Pospisil before losing to Nadal in the final. It was a rare run of homegrown success at the countrys biggest tennis event as Raonic became the first Canadian to reach the championship match in more than 50 years. He lists qualifying for the final in Montreal -- his first Masters 1000 final appearance -- and reaching the Davis Cup semifinal as his standout moments. "The fact that I was able to execute and bring my level up in those moments and to do well, its important to me," Raonic said. The Canadian made it to the fourth round of the U.S. Open in September and pushed Richard Gasquet the distance before falling in a four-hour 40-minute marathon. A trip to Serbia soon followed as Canada continued its historic run in the Davis Cup World Group with its first-ever semifinal appearance. Raonic, who was 5-1 at the international team event in 2013, got by Janko Tipsarevic before losing to top-ranked Novak Djokovic, and the host side later won the deciding match. "Its really been great what we put together this year," Raonic said. "Doing it in tight moments, doing it at home in Canada and playing well. So really its special for us to share this moment as a team considering how individual of a sport we are. "To see four, five, six Canadians doing well, its a lot more motivating for a country than just to see one." After the Serbia loss, Raonic came out gunning at his next tour event in Bangkok. He avenged the Gasquet loss and then beat Tomas Berdych for his second tournament win of the year. Raonic is still trying to break through against the sports elite. He has won two of three career meetings against Andy Murray but is a combined 0-13 against Nadal, Djokovic, David Ferrer and Roger Federer. However, Raonic -- who turns 23 on Friday -- has age on his side. Hes the first player born in the 1990s and the first Canadian to crack the top 10 in the mens singles world rankings. "Hes one of the most focused guys on tour," said Davis Cup teammate Daniel Nestor. "Someone who is (turning) 23, I think his maturity is far beyond his years. "Hes really impressive with his positive attitude and real focus and drive to be a champion." Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., has spent the last few weeks training for warmup events ahead of the Australian Open next month. He also has his eye on Canadas Davis Cup tie against Japan in late January. "I think its just about development," he said of the upcoming season. "Getting better day in and day out and picking up experience through matches, making sure that Im making the progress and that Im pushing myself every day, which I do already. "I think its just about time and Ive got to keep working away." Raonic wants to crack the top six in the world rankings next year, go deeper in the Grand Slam events and qualify for the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals. "Even as a junior, he was just aiming high," said Davis Cup coach Martin Laurendeau. "He wanted to be a top-10 player and even beyond that and he just believed it. It was just a matter of giving him the time and opportunities to be able to do that. "His dream is coming true. I know that hes not happy or satisfied with No. 10 or No. 11 -- he wants to go higher and I think he will." Blank Juventus Jersey . 1. CAVALIERS: At 19-20, theyre a mess. Watched the game Tuesday night vs. Phoenix and their defence was poor (107 points and 52 per cent for Suns). Where is the high level play from Kyrie Irving and LeBron James (13 turnovers!)? Kevin Love looks like a man thats wondering what he got himself into. Paulo Dybala Jersey . -- Sami Salo joked that as the shootout went on and on, one thing went through his mind: "Youve got to tie up your skates. http://www.juventusfcpro.com/Kids-Mario-Mandzukic-Jersey/ . A 19-game winner with the New York Yankees in both 2006 and 2007, Wang spent most of this year at Triple-A for the Yankees and Blue Jays. The 33-year-old right-hander was 1-2 with a 7.JEREZ, Spain -- Engine trouble limited Red Bulls new car to a handful of laps on the third day of Formula One preseason testing, with Daniel Ricciardo sputtering to a halt seconds into his debut with the world champion on Thursday. Ricciardo made it only halfway around the Jerez track before his RB10 rolled to a stop and began spouting smoke from the back. After team mechanics tended to the car, Ricciardo went back out for a mere two trips around the circuit before calling it quits. That gives Red Bull a measly total of 14 laps through the first three days of testing, which ends on Friday. Fernando Alonsos new Ferrari also stopped after 26 laps just before the Ayrton Senna chicane. His Spanish fans cheered him on from the stands as he was ferried back to the pitlane. But after a quick fix in the garage, Alonso was back out and adding up the laps to finish his first day of testing with 58. "It was good to get back behind the wheel," said Alonso, who added that he expected Red Bull to have worked out the kinks by the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 16. "Its not our focus what others are doing," the former two-time champion said. "They have little running so far but plenty of time before Australia. They will put things in place." Kevin Magnussen impressed in his F1 debut for McLaren by posting the days fastest lap at 1 minute, 23.276 seconds after he took the wheel from Jenson Button in the afternoon and blazed through 52 laps. McLaren has rebounded nicely from its no-show on Tuesday due to an electrical problem and has clocked the quickest lap timme for two straight days, with Button doing so on Wednesday. Mattia Perin Jersey. Felipe Massa also had a strong start to his stint at Williams with the sessions second-fastest lap, 0.424 seconds behind Magnussen. Mercedes Lewis Hamilton was the busiest driver, putting in a days high of 62 laps and showing no jitters after Tuesdays crash. Red Bulls sister team, Toro Rosso, also had a bad day when Jean-Eric Vergnes car stalled in the pitlane. After it was pushed back to the paddock, it ground to a halt in the pitlane a second time. Marrusia finally rolled out its new car shortly after it arrived on a trailer. Ricciardo was debuting for Red Bull after four-time champion Sebastian Vettel was limited to just 11 laps over the first two sessions. Vettels run on day two was cut short when engine-maker Renault reported a malfunction. The Austrian team said "similar issues" still plagued their new vehicle. "The measures we took only partially solved the issue," Red Bull engineer Andy Damerum said. "And, as with yesterday, its more sensible to stop and dig deeper into finding a solution. Its obviously not where we want to be and naturally the whole team is frustrated." All teams are struggling to get their cars ready after F1 made a sweeping revision of the rulebook that included a shift to a turbo engine and integrating more sophisticated energy recovery systems. But, so far, traditional contenders Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren are dealing better with the new regulations than the titleholder. After testing in southern Spain, two more tests follow in Bahrain. ' ' '