Tebbutt's Take: February 12

It was not the conclusion that Canada had hoped for the when Davis Cup World Group first round versus France began on Friday – playing a match with the tie on the line and its best player unable to be out on the court.

But that was the reality when Milos Raonic had to pull out with a knee injury and Frank Dancevic was his substitute.

No. 6 in the world, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, against the No. 178-ranked Frank Dancevic was not really a fair fight and the final score, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 for the Frenchman was about what was expected.

The very first game of the match lasted 10 minutes and had five deuces, and the outcome was a sign of things to come as Tsonga broke Dancevic’s serve.

He quickly took a 4-love lead but then Dancevic found himself and played entertaining, if not winning, tennis against Tsonga the rest of the way.

It was tough to be thrown into the fire as Dancevic was, and it was good to see him at least go for his shots to try to rattle Tsonga.

His effort provided a fun match for the full house at the Thunderbird Sports Centre on the campus of UBC but was not enough to force a fifth match.

So, added to the disappointment of Saturday’s doubles loss, Canada’s first World Group action in eight years ends with a 3-1 loss to France and now it will play a World Group Playoff tie in September to try to maintain its spot in the World Group for 2013. The opponent and venue will not be known until July.

But worst of all is Raonic not being able to play – what a fascinating match-up it would have been had he taken to the court against Tsonga.