New Territory for the Young Norwegian

After a tough qualification run, he earned his Grand Slam main draw debut...

I'm not sure how he will feel, having been drawn against Opelka - a big task straight away, literally! He faced Watanuki, McCabe, and Herbert in the qualification, so at least he got to warm up against some pretty good servers - now for the final boss ;) We have seen Opelka struggle a bit against lower-ranked players in 2025, but he has gotten off to a decent start in 2026. For Budkov Kjaer, I think the fact that he struggled with two tight matches in qualification could do him some good here - he has already come through some tough moments, and while I'm sure he is eager to do well in his first GS main draw round, he perhaps could also play a bit free - what does he really have to lose here? Against Opelka, his passing shots will be tested, with how often Opelka takes the net (with his albatross-like wingspan). Budkov Kjaer has a good backhand, which is helpful since it could mean a few more successful passing shots from that wing as well - he did this well against Herbert in the previous round. Those were the positives for Budkov Kjaer. What about the negatives? Well, he will need to remain focused since a poor service game in many cases equals a lost set here. Another potential issue is that his serve could be under immense pressure against such an aggressive returner - he was quite shaky against Watanuki on his own serve in qualification...