Emil Ruusuvuore’s withdrawal greatly weakened Finland’s chances. However, last year showed that Finland can manage without its number one player, writes Urheilu’s Janne Karinkanta.
Janne Karinkanta sports reporter
Finland’s Davis Cup matches will be shown on channels from September 11. Shipping information can be found at this link.
Knockout.
That’s certainly how many people thought about Finland’s chances of success in next week’s Davis Cup, when Emil Ruusuvuori on Wednesday announced that he will no longer play tennis this year.
Finland has advanced to the top 16 in the tournament for the second year in a row. In the four-team group played in Manchester, Great Britain, Canada and Argentina, known as the toughest tennis countries, will compete against each other.
Last year, Finland defeated both Argentina and Canada in the Davis Cup. The season culminated in an ecstatic Finnish invasion of Malaga, where Jarkko Nieminen the skippered team progressed wonderfully until the semi-finals.
If Suomen Ikköstykit were in full swing, the team would have a completely realistic chance of progressing from the group to the next round and into the group of eight.
Unfortunately, the situation is anything but bright. Suffering from overload, Ruusuvuori will therefore not play and Malaga’s hero Otto Virtanen fitness is a question mark.
The problem for Virtanen, who always rises to a new level in the Davis Cup, is his back. The pain that struck in the second round of the US Open practically nullified Virtanen’s chances in the second round match against the Australian star player, which started well Alex de Minauria against.
After the injury that happened on Thursday of last week, Virtanen was unable to do anything but walk for a few days. Selkä has teased Virta earlier this season.
It was a whole week after the game break, when Virtanen stepped onto the training ground in Espoo today. The club swung with familiar ease, but the fear is still that the back will get stuck again. There is absolutely no way Finland can afford that, if you want to go to the Malaga sun again in November.
Virtanen, ranked 125th in the world, is Finland’s number one player after Ruusuvuori’s withdrawal. The team’s other singles players are Eero Vasa and Patrick from Kaukova. Their rankings are 706 and 853.
The corresponding numbers of the top players of the countries that will meet in Manchester are significantly lower.
Virtanen also goes to all matches as a clear contender. On the other hand, he showed last year that he plays clearly better tennis than his ranking while wearing the Suomi shirt.
In the Davis Cup, a total of three matches are played against each country – two singles and one doubles. So the system is the best of the three. This means that you can afford to lose one match.
Ruusuvuori has played a huge role in Finland’s rise to the Davis Cup elite in recent years. He has taken important victories not only in singles but also in doubles Harri Heliövaaran roll.
But even if Ruusuvuori’s absence significantly weakens Finland’s attacking ability, it is worth remembering that last year Finland was in a similar situation in the quarter-final match against Canada.
Ruusuvuori then had to withdraw, and substitute Patrick Kaukova was promoted to the playing lineup. Kaukovalta lost his own match, but Virtanen took care of the job by taking the wins in both singles and doubles.
Finland continued without Ruusuvuori’s help. Of course, there was also luck on the way, as Canada’s best players were injured on the sidelines, like Ruusuvuori.
However, last year showed that Finland can do well in the Davis Cup even without its best player. You have to win one of the doubles games, after that the solution is sought in the fours game. And Finland has the Wimbledon winner Heliövaara to throw at it.
However, Virtanen has a lot on his shoulders. Hopefully the back holds up and we will see “Davis Cup-Virtanen” again on the field.
Finland’s Davis Cup matches will be shown on channels from September 11. Shipping information can be found at this link.