Finland has good opportunities to remain at the highest level of men’s national team tennis for a long time, writes Urheilu’s Sakari Lund.
Sakari Lund sports reporter
For decades, Finland chased a place in the top 16 of the tennis Davis Cup. It was successful for the first time last year, when Finland unbelievably entered the top four right away.
Now, the very next year, Finland will be among the top 16 again. It had suddenly turned into a completely expected and even routine performance. The place came off with a superior performance against Portugal. It can be said that Finland is starting to establish its place among the top countries.
Finland does not have huge numbers of players close to the top of the world, but an absolutely excellent line-up considering the Davis Cup. Two tough singles players and one fours player are perfectly sufficient for the Davis Cup format.
Emil Ruusuvuori has long proven to be able to beat even the absolute top players in the world. It seems that this year Ruusuvuori has further improved its game. Based on the beginning of the year, we can expect a really good season for Ruusuvuori.
Otto Virtanen is more uneven, but even Virtanen’s potential is huge. Fortunately for the national team, he will be at his best in the Davis Cup.
Harri Heliövaara is the world’s top-class four player and a great atmosphere creator.
In addition, Finland has been very lucky in that it has received a lot of home matches in recent years, for which it can choose the platform. Jarkko Nieminen the platform made according to wishes has been used in Finnish games both in Espoo and Turku.
The court is fast and has a low bounce and is excellent for the aforementioned Finnish players. If we had to play an away match on, for example, a mass field, it would be more difficult for Finland. In addition to all that, last fall’s final tournaments in Split and Malaga also had the same type of platforms.
With this frame, Finland can stay at the same level for a long time. And new young people are coming By Linus Lagerbohm under.
An interesting scenario in the near future could be playing the group stage of the final tournament in Finland already next fall. Finland has submitted a preliminary application to organize the group stage in Espoo.
The CEO of the Tennis Association Teemu Purhon the costs of organizing it would be around 1.5–2 million euros.
Finland’s opportunities will certainly be improved by the tennis boom that has started in Finland. There were a total of more than 14,000 spectators in Turku during the weekend match against Portugal over two days. The Finnish fans who filled the stands in Malaga last fall were amazed by the entire tennis world.
Decisions about the host cities will be made in March. For Finnish tennis and Finnish tennis fans, getting a group would be a wonderful thing. Then, in addition to the Finns, the best players from three other tough tennis countries would play in Espoo.