Finland is a country with a rich history in many sports, from winter disciplines such as ski and the ice Hockey until the motoringBut with little tradition in tennis. Only two players from the country have achieved notable results on the ATP Tour. the doubles player Henry Kontinen was champion in Australian Open 2017 and former world number one in that specialty. AND Jarkko Nieminen he reached 13th in singles and won two titles. That’s why he was the great childhood idol of Emil Ruusuvuorithe leader of the Finnish team that will receive Argentina in Espoo, this weekend, to play the series of Qualifiers of the Davis Cup 2023.
Born in Helsinki on April 2, 1999, 43rd in the world ranking, she is the only Finnish racket in the top 100 and has just lost in the second round of the oceanic Grand Slam with the Russian Andrei Rublev. He thus equaled his best performance in a “big” category, in which he could never win two games in a row.
It wasn’t the best start to the season for the Finn, who amassed a 1-3 record in 2023, having lost in his ATP debut in 2023 before his arrival in Melbourne. pune AND Adelaide. This lazy moment shouldn’t relax Argentines, because Ruusuvuori closed 2022 –the best year of his career– clearly on the rise and with his best placement, 40th place. And he has shown that he has the talent to complicate the toughest opponents and the mental strength to face great challenges.
Ruusuvuori, 23, had to work hard to earn a place on the tennis circuit, a sport he discovered by accidentone day he was playing badminton with his mother Eva in a club in his hometown.
“Mika Muilu, who was watching her daughter’s gymnastics workout, came up to me and said: “You seem to have some hand-eye coordination. Do you want to come and play tennis?’. And that’s how I started,” he recalled a couple of years ago in a note with the ATP extension.
The 5-year-old boy immediately took a liking to this new discipline and began closely following the adventures of Nieminen, who became a a model to follow. When he was 13, Emil started training at the academy that his idol has in Helsinki together with the Italian Federico Ricciowho ended up becoming her coach.
Ruusuvuori had to work on something other than his tennis. “The Finns are relaxed people, quite calm,” Ricci once said. “Emil had to build a competitive mindset, which was not natural to him. And that takes time.”
The Finn understood this and it didn’t take long to start reaping results. As a junior he came to occupy the fourth step of the standings and was a semi-finalist in the US Open and sample of ITF Junior Masters In 2017. The following year he made the leap into professionalism and in June 2019 he won his first Challenger in Fergana, Uzbekistan.
With that consecration he made history because he became the youngest Finn to win a tournament on that circuit and the first since Nieminen, in November 2013.
In September 2019, he added his first win against a top 100 player by defeating Dominic Thiem (then fifth in the standings) in a clash between the Davis Cup and got his second title in the Manacor Challengerwhich was played on the courts of the Rafa Nadal Academy.
As an extra reward for that celebration, he was invited to prepare for the 2020 season at that institution. Ruusuvuori did not miss this opportunity and ended up allowing himself the pleasure of sharing some work sessions with him Rafthat I used to watch on TV as a child.
“It’s something really different in how he hits the ball and how hard he hits the ball and how he keeps the practice so intense. It’s something I’ve never experienced and it’s one of the best memories I have. There’s a lot you can see and learn from that, even if it’s just a training session,” he said after that experience.
After that dream preseason in Manacor, he was ready to make the leap in quality, but the coronavirus pandemic stopped him just as he was one step away from entering the top 100.
“It was very difficult. There were many big tournaments that I had never played, such as Indian Wells. We arrived, we trained and the tournament was not played. It was not easy,” he recalled midway through that year. .
To take advantage of the five-month break, he sought a way with his coach to continue developing his game without taking the field.
“Federico gave me the possibility to see the matches of Agassi, Sampras, Federer and Safin. And other classics from the past. All very nice. Agassi was still playing against many of the players who are still in the Tour, so there are many similar things. It was very nice and helped me a lot,” he said.
That work paid off. After resuming the circuit in August, she manages to enter the top 100 for the first time and in October she plays her first semifinal in the Nur Sultan ATP, Kazakhstan. In 2021 he achieved the best victory of his career on the ATP circuit by beating the German in the second round in Miami Alexander Zverevseventh in the world, and became a fixture in the tours most important in men’s tennis.
Last year he had the best season of his short career. He started playing his first final, in punewhere he lost to the Portuguese João Sousa. In October, he reached the semifinals Stockholmwhere he beat the American in the quarterfinals Frances Tiafoesemifinalist of US Open just before, and said goodbye before Stephen Tsitsipas. And finished the year in the top 40.
Goals for 2023: a Scudetto and a win against Argentina
Video game fanatic, he travels with his parents Play station– and the music -he plays the drums very well-, the Finn has his big dream as a tennis player very clear. “It’s an easy question: to win a Grand Slam,” he said some time ago. Even if for now he thinks in the short term.
“The good closing of 2022 shows that we are doing things right. This season I want to improve my performance in the Grand Slams and win a title”, he commented in an interview with the ITF a few weeks ago, before his arrival in Melbourne .
The Finn beat the clash with Argentina, which will be his Ninth series of Davis Cuptournament in which he made his debut in 2017 and amasses a record of nine wins and five losses in singles.
“Representing my country is always special and we usually don’t have that team atmosphere in tennis. Playing at home is super exciting and we want to take advantage of the locality,” said the man who faced two Argentines last year, also if that background won’t help him much.
Is that he played twice with Sebastian Baez (Melbourne ATP first round win and loss at the start of quality of Rome) and many others with diego schwartzmann (fell second at Indian Wells and exultation at Hamburg debut). but neither sheba44th in the standings, nor him small26th, I’m in Espoo.
Despite these and other absences, Ruusuvuori anticipated: “Argentina has many quality players and the level of the series will be very high.”
SA
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.