Harri Heliövaara and Lloyd Glasspool work in all aspects of the game, writes Sakari Lund of Urheilun.
Harri Heliövaara and Lloyd Glasspool played again on the tennis courts for one great week. The week didn’t quite get a complete conclusion when last summer’s Wimbledon winners Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic were slightly better in the final of the Queen’s Club’s traditional grass field tournament in London.
The rise of Heliövaara and Glasspool towards the top of the world has been wild this year. Thanks to the final place, Heliövaara will already rise to 32nd place in the world list of doubles.
Wimbledon will start in a week. All aspects of the game work so well for the duo now that talking about the Wimbledon championship is by no means unrealistic.
Above all, the duo’s feed game runs like a dream. Glasspool is a top-class pitcher and Heliövaara’s game openings are also producing a convincing result. It seems that at the moment, one’s own feed shifts do not “know” to lose. During Queen’s Club week, they didn’t lose them at all. It’s good to build on top of that, as the recovery game and online game also work great. Opponents find it difficult to find weaknesses to strike.
The co-operation between Heliövaara and Glasspool worked well and at the beginning of the cooperation, which lasted about a year and a half, and it has been improved all the time. Both always know what the other is doing and both trust each other.
The couple also receive significant coaching assistance and support from the English Tennis Association. Among other things, a doubles coaching guru Louis Cayer strongly believes in the duo.
The French Open started with the knocking out of a double champion pair and the loss came only marginally in the semi-finals. However, the grass field is basically a better start for the two than the mass field. Three top pairs crashed during the Queen’s Club week and the fourth was close, although the preparation for the finals was not optimal when the semi-final had to be played on the same day.
Wimbledon’s championship or even going far would be a tough achievement in Finnish tennis history. In adult series Henri Kontinen has won the mixed doubles game and reached the semifinals at its best in the doubles. In a duel Jarkko Nieminen has been in the quarterfinals.
However, it must be remembered that in doubles, the margins are small and losing in the first round is not impossible. However, making such a duo is convincing now is hard to believe. The starting points for Wimbledon are teasing.