The revamped Hawaii Open’s placement on the map and the calendar helped convince Milos Raonic to end the year with a trip to Oahu.

Raonic, who hit No. 3 in the ATP rankings and reached the Wimbledon final two years ago, committed to round out the Hawaii Open’s six-player men’s field in the tournament set for Dec. 21-23 at Blaisdell Arena. The event provides a chance for the players to sharpen their games in advance of the Australian Open in mid-January. Plus, “no one ever needs reasons to come to Hawaii. Who doesn’t want to come?” Raonic said in an email to the Star-Advertiser.

“When I heard about this event, it sparked my interest immediately,” he said. “For me, coming from Canada … Hawaii is on the way to Australia and it breaks up the long flight nicely. I am looking to play some competitive matches and help my pre-Australian swing get off to the start that I am looking for.”

Raonic, the top Canadian in the world rankings, joins a field headlined by world No. 9 Kei Nishikori of Japan. The men’s field will also include No. 62 Ryan Harrison, Mackenzie McDonald, Bradley Klahn and Jared Donaldson.

The women’s bracket features former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza, inaugural Hawaii Open champion CiCi Bellis, 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard, CoCo Vandeweghe, Christina McHale and Kayla Day.

“For me personally, I hope the matches are extremely competitive,” Raonic said. “This is also the end of a time period where guys are coming off a long training block and will need matches to get in shape before Australia, so I know for me personally, I will treat this as any other tournament and will get out there to win.”

Raonic spent much of 2016 and ’17 in the top 10, but injuries contributed to a slip to No. 40 early this year. He worked his way back to No. 18, despite withdrawing from the Rolex Paris Masters last week.

Raonic pulled out a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the round of 64 but had to retire ahead of a match with Roger Federer due to an elbow injury.

“This year has been a year of ups and downs,” said the 6-foot-5 Raonic. “I try to only focus on the things that I can control myself. Injuries are part of any professional athlete’s journey. Unfortunately for me this year, they played a larger role in my season (than) I would have liked, but as any tennis player does, I have to have a short memory and keep working hard to achieve my goals that I set out to achieve.”

Hawaii Open organizers altered the event’s format — and moved it indoors — after two years as a WTA 125K series tournament held Thanksgiving week at Central Oahu Regional Park. Bellis and Zhang Shuai claimed the two titles.

Tickets are available at hawaiitennisopen.com and ticketmaster.com.