Otto Virtanen has been in trouble since the Davis Cup sensation. Kazakhstan’s Denis Yevseyev was better on Wednesday.
A place in the main series of the Grand Slam and three tough Davis Cup victories let us expect that Otto Virtanen would shine in this fall’s government period.
However, he has not even reached the second round on the challenger tour, and the loss in the opening match of the home tournament on Wednesday does not alleviate the predicament.
Kazakhstan qualifier Denis Yevseyev beat the 22-year-old Finn 7–5, 6–3.
– I myself made today’s match difficult. I’m doing really well in training, but when I go to the field, everything feels like the opposite, Virtanen lamented.
He says that he would like more matches, which are eaten away by early losses. Virtanen recognizes that good energy has previously been found in training periods.
– A month and a half before the US Open, I practiced and played well. Before that, I took a break and trained well, then straight through training to the Davis Cup.
Virtanen is still involved in doubles, where he made it to the second round of the US on Tuesday Maxime Cressyn with.
Emil Ruusuvuori continues his games on Thursday as the top-ranked player in the singles chart, as the No. 1 seed, Czech Tomas Machac walked off the field with a 1–0 set lead with a medical person and gave up his second round match.
The second-ranked Finn will face Slovakia by Alex Molcan at 5:30 p.m.
The Helsinki tournament is an ATP challenger tour, so only male players are participating.
Finnish players bring money
Although Virtanen won the hearts of the Finnish tennis people in the Davis Cup, his popularity did not fill the stands like Ruusuvuori on Tuesday.
Competition Director Pekka Mäkelä is satisfied with the number of visitors at the beginning of the week. He told STT how important the presence of top domestic players is for the event.
– We have experience that admission ticket income is 20,000–100,000 euros. It’s so easy to calculate that in the years when we have our best players with us, we sometimes move at the top end.
Players will be awarded 145,000 euros in prize money in Tali. The sum is the largest in history in a Finnish tennis tournament. In total, the tournament has required around 300,000 euros, which, according to Mäkelä, should be “tenfolded” if you want to go to the next level.
Finding facilities that meet the ATP regulations is also difficult, says the competition director.
Espoo’s arena has been suggested due to the success of the Davis Cup events, but that alone is not enough. Tallinn lacks a big enough center field.
The world plays in exhibition centers, but the Helsinki exhibition center is booked for many years on the days when the tournament could be held. According to Mäkelä, combining different localities is also not possible.