On Saturday, the Finnish men’s national tennis team secured their place in the top 16 of the Davis Cup. Finland has applied for the right to organize a further tournament.
Hinn Hirvonen,
Janne Karinkanta
The Finnish men’s national tennis team continued its strong performances in Turku on Saturday, when it secured its place in the top 16 of the Davis Cup for the second time in a row.
The struggle was resolved in Saturday’s first match, when Harri Heliövaara and Emil Ruusuvuori defeated the Portuguese pair Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral set 6–4, 7–6 (8–6).
The doubles victory took Finland to an unattainable 3–0 lead, when Ruusuvuori and Otto Virtanen had won their singles matches on Friday.
The great result of the Finnish pair was fueled by a record audience: 7,824 spectators arrived on Saturday, which is a new daily record for Finnish tennis.
The Tennis Association also reported a record 14,545 spectators for the entire weekend.
The tennis star of the past years also watched the events with joy Brother Paloheimo. Paloheimo, who was ranked 48th in the world at its best, was in Finland’s Davis Cup team in 1986–1992.
– It was quite different, the format was also different, we played best of five, there were often five-set matches. The public could not find the place. If we got a thousand people, that was considered a big deal. Now the ice rinks are filling up.
Paloheimo says that he follows the events of the national tennis team from the sidelines these days. He believes the team’s popularity is related to the players.
– There are pleasant people in the team. Captain Jarkko Niemisten from then on, the players know how to represent well and behave smartly. Good behavior attracts people, the sports legend believes.
Paloheimo believes that Finland has established its level among the best Davis Cup countries in the world – also in the future.
– Profits do not come by accident. The team is young, only Harri Heliövaara is over 30 years old. It seems that if the players stay healthy, there are still some good years left.
Finland applied for the right to organize the tournament
Finland led the national match after Friday 2–0.
In his own match, Otto Virtanen defeated Borges, ranked 47th in the world, 6–2, 6–1 in a match that lasted just over an hour.
Ruusuvuori beat Joao Sousa’s set 6–2, 6–3.
The captain of the Finnish national tennis team, Jarkko Nieminen, was naturally overjoyed after the national match was decided on Saturday.
– Incredible feeling. This is crowned by the fact that we did this again on our home field. Perhaps it has been forgotten that last year we did this for the first time ever in the history of the men’s national tennis team. The very next year we will renew it, this is crazy, Nieminen commented.
The group stage of the final Davis Cup tournament will be played in September. CEO of the Tennis Association Teemu Purho told that Finland applied for the right to organize the tournament.
– We have submitted an application, which can be edited in the next few weeks. Now we start rolling up our sleeves and on Monday we will start calculating what the event would really cost and whether it is realistic that such an event could be organized in Finland, Purho commented.
According to Purho’s estimate, the costs of the event range between one and a half and two million euros.
The groups and playing places of the four countries will be determined in March. Last year, the Finnish national tennis team played in the final tournament in Croatia, from where it advanced to the final tournament of the top eight countries in Malaga. You didn’t know until the semi-finals, when Australia was better in the matches 2–0.