Dominic Thiem moves the masses - also in Finland
The new Kitzbühel winner Dominic Thiem made headlines off the field last week. Davis Cup captain Stefan Koubek named the Austrian tennis number one for the country comparison in September against Finland. There you rub your hands.
by Lukas Zahrer
last edit: Aug 04, 2019, 05:46 pm
"Dominic has agreed 99.9 percent. Of course it is the US Open before that, but I assume that he will be there. He always wanted to play, he agreed early this time," said a pleased Koubek last Wednesday.
Koubek did not miss the opportunity to criticize Günter Bresnik's ex-trainer and manager from Thiem. Koubek called the squad creation under his aegis “a Punch and Judy show”, and he also remembered the Davis Cup quarter-finals of 2015 against the Netherlands in Kitzbühel.
"He was drilled the day before, exercised very intensively for three hours. You normally don't do that," said Koubek resignedly. "Your hands were tied because Günter simply did what he wanted."
Thiem lost his two individual matches that weekend. First he lost to Thiemo de Bakker despite a 2-1 lead in five sets, followed on Sunday by the decisive three-set defeat against Robin Haase, with which the guests fixed the victory.
Austria against Finland: Dominic Thiem there for the time being
Thiem's promise for the away game in Finland comes as a bit of a surprise, since the northern Europeans are also a supposedly feasible hurdle for the second Austrian guard behind Thiem. The game date on September 13th and 14th, immediately after the US Open, could, if Thiems did well in New York, still contribute to the current world ranking fourth being withdrawing in the short term.
Koubek still hopes Thiem will support the team. "The team looks very different with such a top ten player," he said. Dennis Novak, Sebastian Ofner and the doubles Oliver Marach / Jürgen Melzer also appear in the provisional ÖTV squad.
But above all Thiem's promise not only delights those responsible for the ÖTV. The Finnish tennis association also cheered for the nomination and is now hoping for improved conditions for the Home Davis Cup. "This is the news tennis Finland was waiting for," said Jarno Tiusanen, spokesman for Suomen Tennisliitto, the Finnish tennis association, in an interview with tennisnet . "So far we have sold a remarkable 3100 tickets for the event, but now we hope for even greater interest."
Davis Cup: Finland organizes larger hall because of Thiem
The organizers speculated in advance with a promise from Thiem. If you played past home games in halls with space for a little more than 1,000 spectators, the association decided this time for the much larger Metro Areena in Espoo near the capital Helsinki. There, up to 7,000 fans should be able to follow the games live.
"You couldn't see too many top stars playing in Finland in the past few years," said Tiusanen, referring to the fact that Finland had always been in the Europe / Africa Group II since 2013. There is only one Challenter tournament in Tampere, a Finnish ATP or WTA tournament is missing from the tour calendar. “There is currently a little hype surrounding our team. When we found out that it was against Austria, we decided on the idea of opening the home game much bigger. ”
The Finns are currently led by 20-year-old Emil Ruusuvuori, who most recently moved into the top 300 in the ATP ranking. In Fergana (Uzbekistan) he won the first Challenger title of his career a few weeks ago.
Otto Virtanen, two years his junior, won Wimbledon's junior double title last year and also won the prestigious Orange Bowl. He was hampered by injuries this season, "but overall he's the most talented junior in Finland," Tiusanen said.
“All of these young players have potential. We are trying to support them as best we can and are curious to see how high they will make it in the ranking, ”said Tiusanen. "The Finns are happy about the new generation after Jarkko Nieminen." And two possible single games from Dominic Thiem.