Captain Jarkko Nieminen was positively surprised by the rapid mass field of Austria. The winged Finland will get Otto Virtanen on the field.
will show the Davis Cup between Austria and Finland on Friday and Saturday at TV2 and Arena.
The Finnish men’s tennis team will meet tomorrow Friday and Saturday at the Austrian Davis Cup. The winner of the qualifying encounter is among the top 16 countries, where the blue -white has played for two consecutive years.
Finnish national team captain Jarkko Nieminen On Friday there was news for the Finnish tennis audience. Nieminen told Sports that one of the top players in the wing of Finland Otto Virtanen is in the game despite his back pain.
– The issue was a question mark on this week. However, despite his feelings, Otto has been able to train all the workouts. And he wouldn’t go to play tomorrow if something was bad with it. This is how we knock on the wood in advance to keep his back as good.
Virtanen (ATP list 97th place) will open the national match on Friday Lukas Neumayer (ATP-219) Against, after which they get their turn on the field Oscar Paldanius. 17-year-old Paldanius (ITF-junior Ranking 5, ATP-1599) Play Jurij Rodionova (ATP-155) against another game game.
In addition, Finland, which has been training in Schwechat, Austria throughout the week, has become a whole team with you with the mass field. The Austrian field selection was a bit surprising, but it seemed to be the reason for Finland’s strong grip on fast hallway.
However, Nieminen was positively surprised at how fast the Schwechat mass hall was.
– The chassis change was not as dramatic as we imagined. Indeed, the mass field chosen by the home team is surprisingly fast in terms of circumstances. Although it has a different friction, it is a positive surprise. The bounce is fast.
The lack of Heliövaara brings opportunities for others
The tennis team has been preparing for the field in Austria since Monday. According to Nieminen, each of the team members has adapted well to the field.
– The fighting and impact team will go tomorrow. We would certainly be able to play well in the slower mass field, but of course we have chosen fast conditions in the home match.
– However, the Davis Cup block stages and finals have been played on fast platforms so that the choices did not have to be dependent on us. Still, Austria has certainly been mirrored by those (indoor fields) results, he laughs.
Both teams go to games without their top names as the number one player in Austria Sebastian ofner not included. Top two in Finland Emil Rose Mountain and Harri Heliövaara Also missing the Davis Cup.
The absence of Heliövaara, who has captured the Australian Open Fourth Championship last week, annoys the peninsula, but also the current Finnish tennis star himself.
– I still understand with Harri after talking to this decision. We have all seen in the past how committed Harri has been to the national team’s Davis Cup and know how much the national team means to him.
Nieminen does not deny that the lack of Heliövaara would present challenges, as we are talking about the recent Grand Slam winner and the 4th place in the world rankings.
“Now that Harri and Emil, who won many points for us, are gone, our other teams have the opportunity to take them and fill their boots,” he says decisively.