The Davis Cup match that Argentina will play this weekend against Finland in Espoo, just outside Helsinki, shouldn’t be overlooked for national tennis despite the team led by Guillermo Coria will have a handful of important absences (Schwartzman, Baez and Zeballos , for example). Is that winning will mean getting a place among the 16 countries that will seek the title in 2023 but losing will be condemned to play in World Group I in September. And this will be a serious blow, not just for sports.
In the only instance left to Davis which reminds us of the old and attractive system that Gerard Piqué was in charge of destroying -five points even if in the best of three sets-, Argentina will play in a new venue and against an opponent who only faced one time but no less than 63 years ago.
Beyond the danger that Emil Ruusuvuori (43rd in the world ranking) and the promising Otto Virtanen (21 years old) could represent, in addition to Harri Heliovaara, a top ten in the doubles circuit, the important thing will be to master a difficult surface for the game of our compatriots. Is that Cerúndolo, Cachin, Bagnis (one of these last two will be the second single player) and the double players Molteni and Máximo González will have to adapt their strokes and their movements to the Espoo subway field which was installed in just four hours at dawn on a Thursday because the stadium had been used for a concert.
The surface has a “medium-fast” speed, penultimate step in the list of five levels of the International Tennis Federation, and upon first contact with it the Argentines agreed that “it is a normal indoor circuit court, very similar to those of the tournaments in St. Petersburg and Vienna, with a low shot”. The latter, in general, may be due to the low temperatures that prevail in Finland at this time of year, since the chosen ball slows down due to the fact that the sun does not it warms it and does not make it more alive.
After the draw for this come, it will be necessary to speak on stage in the series. And Argentina has something to make itself heard.
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.