Raonic to assess knee injury, hopes to avoid surgery

Milos Raonic's next step after Australian Open elimination is to examine his ongoing knee injury in the hope to avoid surgery.

The 16th seed was beaten 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 by Lucas Pouille on Wednesday - his fourth successive defeat in grand slam quarter-final appearances.

After the match Raonic talked of a troublesome knee problem, one which has bothered him in the past, and suggested that he would play no part in Canada's Davis Cup tie against Slovakia on clay early next month.

"I've just got to evaluate where I'm at," he said. "I have to have a check-up done on my knee, then see what's in the schedule for the next few weeks.

"I'm not sure if I can play the Davis Cup, switching surfaces, for one week. I'm going to take the next 24 hours to make that decision. Then it would be to play indoors in Rotterdam.

Well fought @milosraonic. See you soon #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/bQL1phNFMs

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 23, 2019

"The knee is in the scenario where it was last year. It's tough for me to switch for clay because of the rotation.

"There is damage inside my knee that I'm aware of that I'm trying to avoid potentially having to have surgery on. I don't know if I can afford that risk at this moment."