Rune's Preparation?

It was not so long ago that Rune was in China playing against Vacherot...

We have seen players struggle after going deep in China recently, like Bergs yesterday. Rune does have the luxury of having two extra days' rest, which is big! He posted a picture that indicated that he was watching Denmark - Greece in Copenhagen on the 12th (football), so he has not had many days in Stockholm to actually practice. What reassures me a little bit is the fact that he was originally not planning to play Stockholm, but came in as a "late entry". Also, he is in the race for Turin, so all the points are important for him... especially in a draw that will be weaker than the upcoming tournaments. I find the conditions really good for him (slow like Shanghai but without the heat/humidity). He has the firepower to hit through the courts, and he can make an impact on return, even against Big Servers. Fucsovics got a very easy win against De Jong; it was a clean performance from him, except for a small dip at the start of the second set (after winning set 1 easily, it tends to happen). It was much of what we have seen lately, being able to play with nice depth from both wings, pretty good defending, and good on serve / at the net. I have written about him quite much lately in my previews, and I keep describing him with the same words: solid and well-balanced with a serious mentality at all times.

I don't really like this matchup for Fucsovics; he lacks a really effective weapon against Rune. We know that Rune really dislikes strong servers or players with high tennis IQ that require him to be consistent. And now, playing indoors, with the first match of the tournament, there is not really any physical advantage to take advantage of, unless Holger is really cooked from Shanghai. Another weakness of Fucsovics is his lateral movement being exploited, and this is something that Rune excels at (spreading the court). Despite all this, we have to keep in mind that it's the first round in an ATP 250, and Rune's stats in those situations are pretty awful, mainly because he can be far too casual sometimes...