Tennis professional Otto Virtanen21, took a big step in his career when he won his first ATP challenger tournament in early November in Bergamo, Italy.
Virtanen had to start the Bergamo tournament in the qualifiers and went on to win the tournament without losing a single set. Many big names fell on the way.
– After the victory, there were very good feelings. The first title came rather unexpectedly, Virtanen said in Helsinki Tal, where he played his last tournament of the season before a well-deserved break from the Games.
With his tournament win in Bergamo, Virtanen is in tough company, as the three previous champions of the tournament were Matteo Berrettini, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune. All three have been in the world’s top ten. The young Dane Rune won Novak Djokovic In the final of the Paris Masters tournament on the same day as Virtanen celebrated the championship in Bergamo.
After Bergamo, in the ATP challenger tournament played in France the following week, Virtanen progressed to the semi-finals. No less than ten matches were added to the winning streak. In Tali, the job ended in the second round. Thanks to these three weeks, Hyvinkääläinen’s ranking jumped from 265 to 176.
– I started the games with a good attitude. I took the matches through a slightly different formula. I started playing one day at a time and having fun. I didn’t stress too much about the result, Virtanen told about his recipe for success.
Virtanen’s potential has been known for a long time. His father Pasi was once one of the best players in Finland, who later became a coach. Otto, who grew up in a tennis family, was a big promise, from whom much was expected from an early stage.
Expectations rose really high at the latest when Virtanen won the Orange Bowl, which was considered an unofficial World Cup tournament for juniors, in 2018. In the same year, he also celebrated the Wimbledon boys’ doubles championship.
Virtanen says that the expectations also brought pressure.
– They brought them, when you didn’t understand the world so much when you were younger. Now I’ve been able to ignore those things and think about this as its own thing.
In March 2020, tennis tournaments ended for several months due to the corona pandemic. The break came at a difficult time in the development of a young player who had just moved from junior leagues to professional games. He had been injured for half a year and only had time to play a few months before the corona break.
The climb up the ATP list slowed down in part because of that. A more obvious increase in good investments has taken place this year. As recently as March, Virtanen’s ranking was over 400.
Big guns, but balance is important
Virtanes has big guns in his game. The pitch and the palm hit the field really hard. They make a good mark, but that’s just part of the game. Balance is important in tennis. You can’t hit full all the time, but you have to find a suitable balance between aggressive play and more confident hitting of the ball. Virtanes has sometimes had challenges here.
– It could be that I have tried too many big shots at risk, Virtanen admits.
In recent weeks, the balance seemed to have been found well in the Italian and French games.
– A good balance was found in the backcourt game. Wrist and palm work equally well. I was able to wreak havoc on both sides and keep the ball in court much better.
The mental side plays an important role in tennis. The differences are often small and the important thing is how you can keep your head cool in tight places. Virtanen says that he has progressed in that area and has practiced a lot.
Virtanen sees consistency as the most important development target.
– What the last few weeks have been. If it could be held week after week and year after year.
Another strong phase this season at Virtase was on grass fields in the summer. Grass courts and indoor courts are perhaps the best for Virtanen’s playing style, but he recalls that he was also on a mass court in the semi-finals of a challenger competition.
The next Finn on the ATP tour?
Finnish tennis is doing well. Emil Ruusuvuori has established himself on the ATP tour. Harri Heliövaara has amazingly risen to the ranks of the best foursomes in the world.
Virtanen, who already played in the qualifiers for two ATP tournaments this season in Mallorca and Stockholm, is aiming for a place at the ATP level. A place in the main series has not opened yet. However, Virtanen clearly rose to the challenger level, from the end of the season there were no more smaller ITF competitions in the program.
The current ranking means that Virtanen will be able to participate in the Australian Open qualifiers in January, and he plans to go there as well.
– Next season’s goal is to be successful in the challenger competitions and move on to sniff the ATP tour more. The intention is to play in all grand slams and raise the ranking to the top 100.