Finland will face Belgium in the Davis Cup. The winner will advance to the final tournament in the top 16 countries. Russia’s attack on Ukraine also speaks for itself in tennis.
The Finnish men’s national tennis team has the opportunity to make a history of Finnish tennis in the next two days. Finland will face Belgium in the Davis Cup in Espoo and the winner will advance to the final tournament of the Davis Cup at the end of the year, among the 16 best countries in the world.
– All the other matches have been big, because without them we wouldn’t have gotten here, but this is a historic match, Davis Cup captain Jarkko Nieminen said at the Davis Cup raffle on Thursday.
Finland has played three times in the world block qualifier, which corresponds to this final tournament qualifier. In 1990, Finland lost to Sweden, in 1999 to Italy and in 2002 to the Netherlands.
Finland’s number one names Emil Rose Mountain in duel and Harri Heliövaara The quadruple games have been a great hit since the beginning of the year, and according to Nieminen, both have developed further compared to last year.
– The level of the worst match of both has risen a lot. There are hundreds of players in the world who play great on the best day, but it doesn’t carry very far during the season. Baseline levels have risen significantly in both.
Belgium is purely a favorite in terms of rankings, but in practice the preconceptions are even and Finland’s chances of winning are completely realistic.
Belgium’s number one player David Goffin has been at its seventh on the world list at its best, but is not in the mood for its best days. Just last Monday, Goffin dropped another 20 places down to 68th place, so he is now only three places above Finland’s number one Rose Mountain.
After all, Mount Rose defeated Goffin just a couple of weeks ago in Doha. Goffin was already close to victory, but Rose Mountain turned the fight to his advantage. Especially at the beginning of the match, all the feed shifts were a wild twist.
– There were much slower conditions than here, but the start was really long, I have never played like that before, Ruusuvuori said.
As a result of the draw, Finland’s second player Otto Virtanen (ATP-405) will start on Friday night against Goffin and Ruusuvuori will face the second player in Belgium. Zizou Bergsin (ATP-163). Rose Mountain is well known to Belgian players.
– Everyone knows how good a player Goffin is. He’s been in the top 10 and has really tough achievements on any platform. Bergs and I played in the juniors at the same time. We met several times then and have met at least once as professionals. In June, we sometimes shared the same room. He is able to play at a high level, but let’s see how long he can maintain it, Rose Mountain said.
– Paper with a fairly even torque coming. The margins are small, but we have played well in the Davis Cups. I totally believe we can turn this into a victory.
Rose Mountain advanced to their semifinals in their first tournament of the season in Melbourne, losing a steady match Rafael Nadalille. At the Australian Open, the Helsinki resident really kept the top tense of what was at the beginning of the season Felix Auger-Alias Association. In Pune, India, Rose Mountain reached the first ATP final of its career and was a winning favorite. However, the first tournament win was not yet taken.
Rose Mountain feels that development has come again.
– It seems that everything has moved forward. The package has been very piled up and from here it is good to continue to the Davis Cup and from there to the Yankees.
Heliövaara gets a different pair in the Davis Cup
Harri Heliövaara’s games have also gone well, except for the very first weeks of the year. There has been a risk of helium Lloyd Glasspool with two in the ATP Finals and most recently in the semi-finals of the Acapulco ATP500 Tournament. Heliövaara, 32, is already ranked 50th on the world list of doubles.
– We have found a little tweaking in our game and we know each other better and better, Heliövaara said.
In the Davis Cup, the pair is Rose Mountain – at least if no last-minute changes are made. It brings changes to the game.
– It’s a bit of a different kind of doubles that I’m used to playing with my pair of doubles specialists. We have played with Emil before and with good success. We’ve been training together this week and it’s Emil’s pretty good tennis player. There will be performances that do not necessarily come from a pair of norms.
Doubles play an important role in the international game. Belgium have to throw tough field doubles specialists Sander Gille (ATP-31) and Joran Vliegen (ATP-38).
– I’ve never met them in a match. I have been in the same field during the exercises. They have been playing together for many years and made a steady rise. One is left-handed and the other right-handed, they have good chemistry. Hopefully with tennis expertise, better feed and returns, we will be able to gain an advantage.
Heliövaara also believes that Finland has a full chance of winning.
– I honestly think all matches are winning and three out of five should hit.
Russia’s attack also affects tennis
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has cast a shadow over the world and has a major impact on sport. In tennis, Russia is ruled out of team competitions like just the Davis Cup, but Russian players are allowed to play on tours without country codes.
– A rather distressing situation for myself. It’s not nice to open up the phone or TV in the morning and watch the news. I think that the situation has been taken insanely well by the Russian and Belarusian players. They have made a nest difference in domestic politics. Many have said no to war. I think they should be rewarded for participating. In tennis, closing them would be unnecessarily hard on individual players, Heliövaara said.
Heliövaara also said that representing Kazakhstan but living in St. Petersburg Alexander Bublik received help from Finland to get out of Russia to play his own Davis Cup match. Bublik came through Finland and went to play in Norway.
– Players help each other when well known.
The exclusion of Russia from the Davis Cup will also open up one extra seat to the final tournament. CEO of the Tennis Association Teemu Purhon according to which the filling of the place has not yet been announced. He doesn’t think additional qualifiers would be played but the place might be filled according to the rankings.