As expected, the Finnish tennis players were left without a place in the Davis Cup. The ride was cold without number one Emil Ruusuvuori, writes Janne Karinkanta.
Janne Karinkanta
MANCHESTER.
The Finnish Davis Cup season ended this year in the group stage of the tournament. The matter was sealed when Eero Vasa lost to Argentina on Saturday To Tomas Etcheverry.
The balance of Manchester’s trip was three defeats in away matches, while also Otto Virtanen and in doubles Harri Heliövaara and Patrick from Kaukova bowed to the Argentines.
Last year, the union of Finnish cap men even lasted Emil Ruusvuoren injury and carried in Malaga all the way to the semi-finals. However, Ruusuvuori’s absence now left the team far too weak.
Finland’s number one player announced a week before the group stage of the Davis Cup that he will take a break for the rest of the year due to physical and mental overload.
For the sake of the Finnish Davis Cup team and of course Ruusuvuori himself, it is to be hoped that the break will heal and the man will recover.
Hurmos was not seen
Stretching and ecstasy like last year was not seen from undermanned Finland this time.
Eero Vasa’s opening sets of all three matches were positive, where he struggled until the tiebreaker against players clearly higher in the ranking than him. The second sets then went to the opponents with clear scores. The Turkuin’s passes and forehands hit spectacularly at their best, and he played the strongest tennis of his life.
The losses clearly took Vasa to heart. It’s a great proof that, despite the difficult starting points, they didn’t just come here to participate, but to actually challenge superior opponents in advance.
Otto Virtanen’s week in terms of singles did not rise to the level of the previous national matches. The “Davis Cup -Virtasa” was not seen in Tampere, England.
However, it’s not worth blaming the guy too much. Virtanen, who ranked Ruusuvuori as the number one player, had not played for a whole week before leaving for Manchester due to a nasty back injury he got at the US Open. And there was a player ranked higher than the Finn on the other side of the net in every match.
Opportunities ahead
You could say that this week in terms of results has gone exactly as it should have gone. Overclocking was hardly seen, but entertaining games were.
And fortunately also a few Heliövaara trademark vents.
The Davis Cup games will continue for Finland in February. Finland, which is currently tenth in the Davis Cup ranking, will probably remain among the top twelve. It would mean that Finland is once again among the ranked countries when the match pairs for next year’s qualifying phase are drawn.
If Ruusuvuori rises from its hole and Virtanen’s maturation into a top player continues, the team will have opportunities for anything again.
We also hope that the 35-year-old Heliövaara’s great doubles performances will continue.
And let’s not forget Eero Vasa. He proved this week that he is a credible Davis Cup gambler and a very useful hammer in captain Nieminen’s toolbox.