How Ruusuvuori Is Learning To Play Against His Personality

Three years ago, Emil Ruusuvuori played in his first ATP Masters 1000 event at the Western & Southern Open, which was held in New York that year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In just his third ATP Tour main draw, the Finn was facing American Sebastian Korda. After leading by a set and a break late in the second set, Ruusuvuori found himself in trouble in the decider.

But in a flash the Helsinki native won 20 of the final 22 points to secure the biggest win of his career and guarantee his place in the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“That was an epic match and it was actually the match that made me go to the Top 100, so it was also a big match, big win for me coming 5-2 down in the third,” Ruusuvuori told ATPTour.com. “I believe I won like 15 points in a row or something. We both have come a long way from there.”

On Monday, Ruusuvuori was again playing in the Western & Southern Open, this time in its traditional home of Cincinnati. The Finn cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Corentin Moutet to set a second-round clash with Monte-Carlo champion Andrey Rublev.

When Ruusuvuori first broke through at the tournament, he was brand new on the scene. Now he is a well-established star who reached a career-high World No. 37 earlier this year. It has been a long journey since he moved his training base to the now-closed Jarkko Nieminen Tennis Academy in Helsinki as a 14-year-old. His longtime coach, Federico Ricci, was director of the academy.

“I remember that summer, he had a bad summer. I think he lost badly in the European Championships first round it the Under 14s and didn’t want to play and his parents were questioning a little bit his commitment to it, even the commitment to join the Academy,” Ricci said. “They were like, ‘I don’t know if he’s ready to play that much tennis.’ He didn’t want to really play after the loss in the European Championships.

“He was about to quit, even picking up other sports and stuff like that. I remember talking to his parents that summer and then he ended up starting at the end of August and it started from there.”

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^{Ruusuvuori, far right, celebrates a junior title. Photo: Federico Ricci}
Ruusuvuori is the first to admit that he is not as fiery as some of his competitors, especially off the court. The Finn is one of the most laid back players on the ATP Tour.

“If you think he is shy now, he was extremely shy then,” Ricci said.

But on the court, Ruusuvuori’s game speaks for itself. He is one of the biggest ball-strikers on Tour and in recent years, he has been working with Ricci to find the right mix between his powerful strokes and more consistent play, being more selective about when to go after the ball and setting himself up to use his power. But it is not just about his physical game, according to the Italian coach.

“Of course, we’re working on a lot of things on his tennis, and on his physical [side], but also the resilience and accepting a little bit the life he has chosen, and making sure that that you get the most out of it, even in terms of enjoyment, and being really part of it,” Ricci said. “Sometimes he’s missing his quiet and easy life in Finland. And of course, here it is a lot more hectic.

“Every day, there is something on the line. Every day he has a chance to improve. You have pressure and you have to stay strong, and you have to be resilient in the way you go from tournament to tournament, trip to trip, losses to wins, wins to losses. And of course, sometimes you feel like, ‘Ah, it was so nice to stay sitting by the lake with no worries.’ You have to keep working on that, because then if you keep working on that, then it’s so much easier for me to make him improve as a tennis player.”

Ruusuvuori has learned plenty of lessons in his first few full seasons on the ATP Tour. Some of the most valuable ones have nothing to do with technique or tennis itself.

“I can’t say for everybody, but at least for me, those things that you might struggle with outside the court, you are the same person still on court,” Ruusuvuori said. “It’s a little different, but still, it has some effect for sure. So understanding that I think was big, but then also you have to work on it.

“I’m a very aggressive player, but maybe off the court I’m not the most aggressive or the most social. Maybe the person doesn’t really match [the player] in that sense on the court, so that’s something that I have to work on also off the court and maybe need a little bit more aggression off the court to become more aggressive also on the court.”

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Ricci explained that it has always been a little bit of a challenge for the Finn to “play against his personality”.

“But I think he grew into what he is, or who he is as a player. He’s also always been somebody that likes to strike the ball his own way,” Ricci said. “If he wants to strike the ball big, he strikes it big, regardless of what the other guy does. It is at times a challenge, especially in moments of perhaps less confidence and stuff like that. But we are working through it, and also working through it for him to be more comfortable.”

As successful as Ruusuvuori’s start on the ATP Tour has been, he has learned there is always a new hurdle to overcome and he continues to work hard to leap over each one.

“You always get new challenges, new things that you have to overcome, but you also learn and hopefully also get better all the time,” Ruusuvuori said. “So it’s just a never-ending cycle almost. There is no such thing that. ‘You have made it.’ It’s just constant work and that’s something that I’ve learned now in the past couple years.”