ATP Brussels Preview and Draw: Goffin bids farewell in last tournament. Lehecka to go one step further this time?

The Race for Turin is heating up and there are not that many tournaments to pick up those points between now and the showpiece event in Turin. This week marks the start of a short period of indoor hard court events, beginning with three 250-level tournaments in Lyon, Almaty and Brussels respectively.

Here I will break down the main draw of Brussels looking at the main seeds, the pick of the matches that appeal to me the most and the potential stories of the week we need to look out for in particular.

This will be the eleventh edition of the European Open but only the second time it will take place in Brussels, with the previous tournaments being held in Antwerp since 2016. Felix Auger-Aliassime won the title last year, but will not be defending his title due to pulling out with a left knee injury sustained in Shanghai last week.

Notable seeds

Arthur Fils goes in as the top seed this week and he is one of several names chasing qualification into the Year-End Finals in Turin. The Frenchman indicated the pressure around qualifying for Turin being on his mind after his defeat to Botic Van de Zandschulp early in Shanghai, so we will see what shape he is in in a tournament that is a big opportunity for him. He has a bye and potentially Jaume Munar in the second round.

The 2026 season for Zizou Bergs has been a year of firsts including being the first Belgian player to ever win a main tour title on the men's side when he won the Eastbourne title and he also got the biggest win of his career by beating Carlos Alcaraz in the Shanghai Masters last week. Bergs would go on to lose Tommy Paul in the Round of 16 but there is a reason to feel confident going into his home event. Pressure will be there based on built expectation but there could be concerns around a right elbow injury in addition. Bergs opens up against Britain's Toby Samuel. Conditions and surface favours Bergs, but we will see how he reacts to home pressure here. Bergs has three wins in total at the European Open tournament and has never won back-to-back matches.

Jiri Lehecka is naturally always a threat in an indoor setting, made the final last year but also has a finalist showing when it was held in Antwerp in 2024. Allows him to execute his early ball-striking and all-court game-style to a greater level, the quicker the conditions the better for the Czech. He is drawn to face either a lucky loser or Rafa Collignon in the second round.

Stories of the week

Perhaps the biggest story of the week is that Belgian home favourite David Goffin will be playing his last ever tournament before he retires from professional tennis. Goffin has had a brilliant career including four major quarter-finals and a Top-10 ranking.

As mentioned previously it will be intriguing to see how the home players perform under the spotlight. Bergs is an obvious example, but also Alexander Blockx has made a great amount of progress. His game can benefit from an indoor hard court too as seen at the latter end of last season at the Next Gen Finals where he made the final, eventually losing to Learner Tien.

Most compelling match of the first rounds: Hugo Gaston versus Jacob Fearnley