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After the positive debut at the ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati against Corentin Moutet, Emil Ruusuvuori obtained an important victory against Andrey Rublev in a very tense and tense match, which ended only at the tie-break of the third set.
With this result, the Finn reached the round of 16 of the Western and Southern Open, his best finish so far in this season's ATP Masters 1000 after the quarterfinals in Miami, where Jannik Sinner interrupted his run. The youngster from Helsinki is known on the circuit for being one of the milder tempered players, a trait which also reflects some struggles off the court.
His coach, Federico Ricci, who has been at his side for many years, has expressed himself on this issue. He told: "We've worked a lot on tennis, but also on resilience and accepting the life he's chosen. Sometimes he misses his quiet life in Finland.
Every day he has a chance to improve, there's pressure and you have to stay strong, have the ability to bounce back and go through tournaments, travel, wins and losses." Ruusuvuori himself commented on his attitude on and off the court: "I'm a very aggressive player, but maybe off the pitch I'm not the most aggressive or the most sociable.
Maybe I need more aggression off the pitch to become more aggressive on the court." Ricci then recalled a critical moment in Ruusuvuori's adolescence, when he was about to leave tennis after a great disappointment in a tournament on the junior circuit: "He didn't want to play and his parents had doubts, they said: I don't know if he's ready to play so much at tennis.
He was about to drop out and I talked to them that summer." However, the young Finnish talent overcame that moment by working hard until he reached the highest levels he has now reached, with a best ranking in the top 40 (37) achieved in April this year: "There are always new challenges and things to overcome, is an endless cycle."