Raonic didn't want to distract team

VANCOUVER - Shortly before the final day of the Davis Cup tie between Canada and France, the news broke - Milos Raonic wouldn't be fit to play world No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth rubber.

A subheading on the Tennis Canada press release which broke the news immediately raised eyebrows: "Raonic unable to face Tsonga due to minor knee injury."

A major competition and a minor injury - sports editorialists across the country began to salivate, and that turned to outright drooling as Raonic's agent declined interview requests prior to the day's matches.

But, following the deciding match of the tie in which Tsonga defeated Canada's third-ranked singles player, Frank Dancevic, comprehensively in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-1, Raonic addressed the media.

"Milos made a decision with our team captain that he felt he wanted to lay low today after he announced he couldn't play because he wanted the focus to be on Frank and Vasek [Pospisil]," Canada Tennis President and CEO Michael Downey told sportsnet.ca regarding Raonic's initial decision not to speak with reporters after his withdrawal. "We still had a live tie and he didn't want to distract at all from that.

"But, I think he realized as well, that the press kept wanting to see him, and to a certain extent that strategy was backfiring because (the press) kept asking to see him, and that's why he changed his mind in the end."

Raonic has withdrawn from a scheduled exhibition doubles match on Monday with John McEnroe in which he was set to face Gael Monfils and Jack Sock, but didn't rule himself outright from the SAP Open next week. SAP is one of the Canadian's corporate sponsors.

"I really have no understanding of what I'm dealing with," Raonic said. "This will give me time to consult with my doctor in Spain to see what the next steps are - what needs to be done and what might not be done, and follow through with that."

Raonic defeated Julien Benneteau in straight sets on Friday before falling to Benneteau and Michael Llodra in doubles play alongside Daniel Nestor on Saturday.

The Thornhill, Ont., native explained it was during that match that he first began to notice there was a problem with his knee.

"Yesterday it felt like it got worse at the end of the first set, just before the tiebreak," Raonic explained. "It started affecting the main parts of my game - the serve and the first step. I said to the team - I don't care how much pain it is, as long as my health is being looked after."

Raonic missed over four months last season due to a hip injury which he eventually required surgery for, and admitted that played into his decision to withdraw.

"If it's something that's going to bother me and not something I'm going to have to worry about, then I can look over the pain, but if it's a matter of not knowing what it is and there being any type of risk - then I went through that last year and I don't want to go through that again."

Captain Martin Laurendeau admitted losing Raonic was a blow, but looking after the player's long-term health was the logic behind the withdrawal.

"It's been three ties in a row that Milos has been out of action for us," Laurendeau said. "We hope he can get better soon and get to play good tennis again. Milos is young, he's 21, and he'll get to play a lot of Davis Cup matches again. We've got make sure for his own sake he doesn't go four, five months off the tour again like he did last year.

"He's got a lot of tournaments this year. It's a busy schedule and the sooner he gets back out there the better. We have to think about the guy's health first and unfortunately he couldn't be part of the lineup today."