Otto Virtanen, who suffered from heart and breathing problems, made his debut in the main series of the Australian Open after a longer rest period.
Suffered from health concerns Otto Virtanen is preparing for the Australian Open tennis tournament starting at the end of the week.
Virtanen, 23, is ranked 92nd in the world and thus grabbed a direct spot in the main series of the tennis grand slam tournament for the first time in his career.
In November, Virtanen was a notch higher and so far in the best place of his career, 91.
Virtanen, who is playing in the main series of the Australian Open for the first time, has been training in Australia for a week. The main series starts on January 12th.
– I am fit to play, my body feels good and I can press on the field for longer periods of time. The week has been training hard, Virtanen says.
Health problems behind
The situation needs to be alleviated, because in December Virtanen said that he suffered from heart and breathing problems after the first training weeks of the season. After the blood tests, the need for further examinations was revealed.
– It was ensured that there is nothing wider or bigger. At first, it looked bad, when some of the tests dragged on for a couple of weeks, but in the finals, everything was fine and I got approval that I can start training again.
Due to research, Virtanen says that the start of the season was delayed by a couple of weeks. Virtanen, who became Finland’s number one player during the fall, returned to the sport and training around Christmas.
– Since then, I’ve been feeling perfectly healthy. It was also all due to the fact that I was sick for many weeks after the holiday. The flu lasted and didn’t go away, even though I had to stay at home also because of these examinations
Towards the Davis Cup
The result of the Australian Open also determines Virtanen’s January competition calendar. If the games end early, there is, for example, a challenger tournament to be played in France at the end of the month.
There is plenty to do, as the Finnish men’s national tennis team starts the Davis Cup qualifiers with an away match against Austria at the turn of January-February.
– The Davis Cup is also certainly one of the highlights this year. A cool month this January, Virtanen says.
Otto Virta was interviewed by Helen Scott-Smith.