“Marry me Otto!”
That’s how an enthusiastic male voice rang out in the stands of the Malaga arena Otto Virtanen in the singles match and in the stunning Davis Cup quarter-final against Canada, which ended in victory.
It’s a classic tennis joke from the 90s and its original form is “Steffi, will you marry me?”.
The subject of a shout from the Wimbledon crowd in 1996 was then Steffi Grafwhose immortal answer was: “How much money do you have?”, i.e. “How much money do you have?”.
Virtanen did not think about such things in the evening in Malaga, but was fully focused on making Finnish tennis history.
However, it became clear that he had played himself into the hearts of Finnish tennis fans.
Virtanen’s name was shouted and sung every now and then. On several occasions, the referee had to calm down the Finnish audience of several thousand who were crazy about Oto.
According to the wildest estimates, there were up to 6,000 Finns in the Malaga arena. More than a thousand tennis lovers had bought their tickets through the association, a whole 14 busloads of them had arrived from the Finnish village of Fuengirola, Los Pacos, and on top of that, I know how many had traveled their own routes to the Sunshine Coast.
There were enough twists and turns anyway. A good hour before the first singles match of the day, the captain of the Finnish team Jarkko Nieminen revealed that the number one player who suffered from a shoulder injury Emil Ruusuvuori had not recovered to playing condition.
Oh, and oh my, Wimbledon, I’m sure many people in the home audience thought. Is that where Finland’s further opportunities went?
Moments later, Canada announced that the country’s number one player, and one of the tournament’s biggest stars Felix Auger Aliashe’s not fit to play either.
To everyone’s surprise, the player ranked 715th in the world entered the first singles match Patrick “Who?” From afar and Milos “is it really still playing?” Raonic.
However, the 2016 Wimbledon finalist and former world No. 3 Raonic’s cannon passes started in the old fashion. And when Kaukovalta’s passing game also worked spectacularly, and there were no foul ball situations, the match reminded us for a moment Pete Sampras and by Goran Ivanisevic between grass matches.
Raonic lost only three weak points in his own serving turns, and won the match directly 6-3, 7-5. However, Kaukovalta performed well in a tough place, and one can only congratulate him on a memorable Davis Cup singles debut.
At this stage, Canada led the national match 1-0, but then Otto Virtanen entered the ring. First, he extended his Davis Cup winning streak to four matches by knocking down Gabriel Dialloafter which Nieminen asked if there was still a desire to play doubles.
Initially, Nieminen had announced Heliövaara as a couple Patrik Niklas-Salminen. Virtanen and Harri Heliövaara hadn’t even played a couple of balls even on the practice field, but in Nieminen’s opinion, Virtase had the flow on.
A tough decision that turned out to be absolutely correct.
Arena’s dj alternately covered Daruden’s Sandstorm and Käärijä’s Cha Cha chat. The audience enjoyed it, and so did Heliövaara and Virtanen, who played in ecstasy.
When Virtanen hit the match ball with an ace, Sandstorm started playing once again, but it was not possible to hear it under the roar of the audience. The people shouted and Harri Heliövaara aired as faithful to his ways as the last day. The biggest hero of the day, Otto Virtanen, took the situation calmly, and laughed next to him when Heliövaara bounced and hooted.
Incredible moments were witnessed. Finland had cleared its way to the top four tennis countries in the world. An incredible achievement.
In the name of honesty, however, it must be stated that Finland was offered quite a seam. Canada’s lineup included two former stars who are at least semi-retired. In addition to Raonic, a player with a back problem was seen on the court in doubles Vasek Pospisilwho received treatment a couple of times during the match.
Jos Auger-Aliassime and Canada’s other star player Denis Shapovalov had they been healthy, Finland might already be on its way home.
On the other hand, this is completely pointless speculation. After all, Finland also had Ruusuvuori on the sidelines.
Davis Cup is a wonderful world. Finland has already proven that many times this year.
Finland’s unstoppable progress is also admired in the international media. Even in Split, Finland was of little interest to foreign journalists, but in Malaga the mood is different. The biggest reason for that is the massive flock of Finnish fans who have arrived, which has not gone unnoticed by anyone.
In the press gallery, the crowd of Finns and the carnival mood it created were admired. The media representative of the Canadian team stated, almost ashamed, that about 100 supporters have arrived from Canada.
At the press conference after the match, questions were asked about the status of tennis in Finland, about the fans, and people laughed in disbelief at Harri Heliövaara’s revelation of his non-existent playing history with Otto Virtanen.
Well-known tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg described the trip to Finland as a “wild Cinderella story” on social media.
The story will continue on Friday, when either the Czech Republic or Australia, who have won the Davis Cup 28 times, will play. Neither of them have superstars in their ranks, so Finland’s place in the finals is completely realistic, as incredible as it sounds.
However, in the semi-finals, Finland desperately needs a fit Emil Ruusuvuori. The clock is ticking, but fortunately there are two more days to rehabilitate the shoulder injury.
Whatever happened on Friday, the entire Finnish team has already made quite a bit of history.