The 57th edition of the ATP 250 Stockholm Open (now the Bybit Stockholm Open) began on Sunday at the Kungliga Tennishallen, and the first two main-draw results have already landed. Thiago Agustin Tirante edged Jaume Munar 7-6(3), 6-3, and Juan Manuel Cerundolo dispatched Swedish wildcard Elias Ymer 6-1, 7-6(4).
The venue itself is worth a moment. The Royal Tennis Hall has been hosting this thing since 1969, which makes Stockholm one of the few ATP stops where the building is genuinely part of the story. Low ceiling, tight sightlines, a crowd that knows when to clap – it feels less like an arena and more like a very well-appointed club, and the tennis tends to match.
The draw, briefly
It’s a 28-player field with €723,435 on the line and byes for the top four seeds. Taylor Fritz is the No. 1 seed, with defending champion Casper Ruud at No. 2, Lorenzo Musetti at No. 3 and Alejandro Tabilo at No. 4. Tomás Martín Etcheverry, Alex Michelsen, Ugo Humbert and Zizou Bergs round out the seeds. The entry list took a few hits – Bublik, Shapovalov, Davidovich Fokina, Francisco Cerúndolo and Darderi all withdrew – which has left a slightly lopsided draw and a couple of qualifiers in unexpectedly good spots.
Three storylines worth following
Rune’s return to the scene. Holger Rune is back at the Kungliga Tennishallen for the first time since rupturing his left Achilles in the 2025 semi-final against Humbert. He’s now ranked No. 406 and playing on protected ranking after nearly eleven months out. The encouraging part: he beat Halys and Hurkacz in Basel to reach the quarters, and says he’s pain-free. “It’s always good to look fear in the eye in some way,” he said on Sunday, “but it’s not Stockholm Open’s fault that I got injured.” He plays Bergs, the No. 8 seed, on Tuesday.
Ruud defending, on a court that suits him. Ruud won his first career indoor title here last year, beating Humbert 6-2, 6-3 while dropping just three points on serve in the entire match. He called it the best match of his season. On a slow indoor hard court, a returner with that kind of serve-plus-forehand control is a nightmare.
Humbert, back for more. The 2025 finalist is seeded seventh and opens against Vallejo. He’s in Ruud’s half, so a rematch is live if both hold up.
Slow courts
Stockholm is played on slow indoor hard courts. Indoor hard is usually where servers feast but the Royal Tennis Hall is one of the exceptions which some of the numbers from previous years can show:
- 72.1% of points won on the first serve
- 79.5% of service games held
- 0.46 aces/game
- 0.20 tie-breaks/set
A hold rate of 79.5% is modest for a hard court, and 0.46 aces per game tells you nobody is getting cheap points. Serving isn’t a weapon so much as a way to start the point, and with only 0.20 tie-breaks per set, breaks happen often enough that sets rarely reach 6-6.
Overall a pretty slow court and the ball bounce is relatively high.
In these conditions, big servers lose their edge, returners and movers thrive, and also, fitness will become an important factor.
Favorites in Stockholm?
Fritz has the serve to shorten points when he needs to, but history says this isn’t his surface profile, slow indoor hard asks him to play more balls than he’d like, and his section (Norrie or Duckworth, then potentially Rune) isn’t a gift. Ruud is the obvious fit: defending champion, best indoor record on tour last season, and a game built on exactly the patterns this court rewards. Musetti’s variety and backhand slice could be interesting in the top half, and Etcheverry is the kind of grinder who quietly makes a semi-final here.
The one to watch with a neutral eye is Rune. He won this title in 2022 beating Tsitsipas in the final, and he’s now playing the same court where his career was interrupted. A slow court that rewards patience is not the worst place for a man rebuilding match rhythm, but Bergs in round one is a real test, not a warm-up.
Read also: Best hotels in Stockholm near the event.
