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Without Raonic and Nestor, Canada still sweeps Chile in Davis Cup

Despite Raonic's absence, the Canadian Davis Cup squad swept the overmatched Chilean team in Halifax this weekend. (Twitter)

Without Milos Raonic and Daniel Nestor, Canada’s Davis Cup team still had a hugely successful weekend in Halifax.

Led by Vasek Pospisil, the squad swept an overmatched team from Chile 5-0 in a relegation playoff and thus will remain in the 16-nation World Group for 2017.

The alternative was to be relegated to the second-tier Americas zonal competition, unthinkable for a country boasting a top-10 singles player and a world-class doubles team. Luckily, it didn’t happen.

As well, once the tie was clinched, 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov made his Davis Cup debut and earned a 7-6, 6-4 victory over Christian Garin Sunday.

“It’s incredible to win, it was a lot of pressure knowing I was going to play today. I hardly slept yesterday. It’s a different match playing for your country, you’re representing your nation so it was tough but I think I controlled myself really well, and fought as hard as I could, and I’m happy I got the win," Shapovalov said.

He and 16-year-old Félix Auger-Aliassime are expected to anchor the team down the road, so it was a good chance to get his feet wet.

The elephant in the arena – the subject players and television commentators danced delicately around all weekend – was the absence of Raonic.

Unlike countrywoman Genie Bouchard, who was raked over the coals when she twice missed representing Canada in Fed Cup competition over the last few years, Raonic escaped criticism for the most part.

That doesn’t mean his teammates bought the reason for his absence, which was that he was still recovering from the effects of the cramping he suffered during a second-round loss to feisty American Ryan Harrison at the US Open.

That match came more than two weeks before this weekend’s tie; Raonic recused himself from competing in Halifax a full 10 days before the tie began.

In short, the top Canadian had three opportunities to represent his country in 2016, and took a pass all three times.

The first came when Canada met France in Guadeloupe in early March in a World Group first-round tie, more than a month after Raonic suffered a recurrence of an adductor injury against Andy Murray at the Australian Open in a semi-final match he had in hand.

The conditions in Guadeloupe were difficult, clearly, and the chances of winning even with Raonic slim. The change to a clay-court surface in the middle of a hard-court stretch of the season was going to be particularly challenging on movement for someone with a leg injury, not to mention the best-of-five set format. Still, Raonic was fit to compete at the big Indian Wells tournament immediately following the tie. He reached the final.

Raonic also passed on representing Canada at the Olympics in Rio.

At first he attributed his decision in part to concerns about the Zika virus. A few days later in an interview with Sportsnet before the Rogers Cup, he was more forthcoming.

“It’s the best choice for me to put the attention to Toronto and Cincinnati and also lead it up to where I want to take things in New York, To really made that difference” Raonic told Sportsnet. “I’m close, and I’m getting closer in each and every tournament. And I really badly want it, so it’s about putting those pieces together as much as I can to make that happen for myself."

So it was a decision made for the benefit of his career, which is fine; if you don’t take care of your own career – as short as it is – no one is going to take care of it for you. But he could have said so up front.

In light of all the emphasis Raonic put on the final Grand Slam of the season, the US Open had to be a major disappointment. The physical issues during his loss, he admitted, were much more a result of stress than the heat and humidity in New York. He had never before in his career cramped during a match.

Perhaps the decision to skip Davis Cup was partly to reassess and recalibrate before the rest of the season. Raonic stands at No. 4 in the race to qualify for the ATP Tour Finals in London, and there are some big events coming up in Asia.

But it did continue a pattern – especially given he will play the ATP Tour event in St. Petersburg, Russia this week, where he is the No. 2 seed and defending champion.

*Raonic was absent for a winnable quarter-final tie last year in Belgium when, after rushing back after foot surgery to play Wimbledon, he found himself dealing with a number of physical issues as he compensated for the weakened foot. (Pospisil, with a wrist injury suffered as he reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, also missed that one). The rest of Raonic’s 2015 season indicates that he continued to struggle physically.

*In 2014, an ankle injury forced him to miss a first-round tie against Japan in Tokyo right after the Australian Open. Raonic twisted the ankle in the first round in Australia but it didn’t seem to be a major issue at the time – until it was announced at the draw that he wouldn’t play. He returned to the tour more than a month later at Indian Wells.

*In 2012 in Vancouver, after he was chosen to team up with Daniel Nestor in a key doubles rubber against France (they lost), he couldn’t answer the bell to keep Canada alive in the reverse singles the next day against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

There was legitimate concern at the time, mostly of the unknown because Raonic was unable to get an MRI done on his left knee in Vancouver and thus didn’t know if he would be making it worse by playing.

But the optics of that decision took a beating a few days later when he arrived at the now-defunct ATP Tour stop in San José, Calif. The title sponsor of that tournament, SAP, was also Raonic’s personal sponsor, and he was the defending champion.

He won the tournament.

Davis Cup captain Martin Laurendeau defended Raonic during a conference call before the Halifax tie, saying his No. 1 singles player had truly wanted to be there and had even asked for the Sunday schedule to be moved ahead so he could make his flight to Russia.

Raonic’s teammates said little, but their actions spoke for them.

Nestor, whose calf injury suffered in the first round at the US Open cut short what he hoped would be a title run with Pospisil, made the trip to Halifax anyway to cheer from the sidelines.

Pospisil, who was dealing with pain and numbness in his right elbow, won both his singles and the doubles with Adil Shamasdin on anti-inflammatories.

“I feel extremely proud to represent this team, to represent my country, and also for my federation. Tennis Canada has been incredible. Honestly, it’s not talked about enough, how much they’ve given to the players, to myself and to Milos. So it’s an absolutely no-brainer to be here, from that standpoint,” Pospisil said on Sportsnet during the broadcast Sunday. “But obviously it transcends that as well. It’s the pride of being out there and carrying the flag, and leaving it all out there for your country. At the end of the day, even if I’m a little bit injured, unless it’s a career-threatening injury, I’ll do everything I can.”

The 2017 World Group draw will be made Tuesday morning in London. There is a very good chance Canada’s first-round tie will take place at home.

Of the eight possibilities, four are guaranteed home ties (France, Serbia, Belgium are among them; the Canadians were on the road the last time the two countries met so would host this time). For the other four (including Great Britain and the Czech Republic), home-field advantage will be decided by a coin flip.

The first round will be played Feb. 3-5, 2017, right after the Australian Open. Hopefully Raonic will be back in the fold because unlike this weekend in Halifax, they're really going to need him.