Franco Davin and Grigor Dimitrov will embark on their first tournament together this week in Malaysia as the Bulgarian kicks off his campaign against Joao Sousa tomorrow.
It has been well documented how poor Dimitrov’s 2015 season has been, as his ranking has dropped to 19, with a win-loss record of 27-17 for the present campaign and no quarter-final showings since the Madrid Open in May. It mustn’t be forgotten that Dimitrov was dubbed as the new Federer, which is an almost near impossible tag to live up to, but at the age of 24 he has fallen way short of even becoming the next big thing in the world of tennis. Boasting only four career titles (Stockholm 2013, Queens, Bucharest and Acapulco 2014) his journey thus far has seen far more disappointments than success.
2015 has been a year of change for Dimitrov, both off the court and on the court, and after putting an end to his professional relationship with Roger Rasheed in July, he’s been waiting to make the right decision to steer his career in the right direction. He linked up with Johan Ortegren and completed some sessions with Ivan Lendl, but the former Czech star decided he couldn’t fully commit to the job and therefore passed on the possibility of leading one of tennis’ brightest talents.
So what can Franco Davin bring to the table? The Argentine has been a key figure in his nation’s golden era of tennis, leading Gaston Gaudio to the French Open title in 2004 and Juan Martin Del Potro to the US Open in 2009, two triumphs which no one could have expected. Working with enigmatic talents can be a frustrating ordeal and very few manage to get the best out of these players but Davin has worked with, perhaps, one of the most volatile players of the last twenty years in the figure of Gaudio. The French Open champ possessed a skill that you’re born with, a subtle touch that can’t be trained, but he lacked an equally important skill, which is to know how to channel that ability effectively, and that’s where Davin came into play. He managed to convert inconsistent spells of magic into consistently effective tennis.
Just like Dimitrov, Davin has also been waiting for the right moment to return to the coaching game. It is rumoured that Milos Raonic and Andy Murray both approached him, but he loyally stuck to Del Potro, until he underwent surgery for a third time on his left wrist and Davin decided he had to get back to work. According to sources near Davin, linking up with Dimitrov was a very quick process so they haven’t had time to practice together. The idea in this two-tournament trial period is to discover whether they’re on the same page in terms of how to go about redirecting his career.
Obviously miracles can’t happen in a week, and Dimitrov’s game will undergo no effects in Kuala Lumpur or Tokyo but depending on Davin’s methods he will decide whether to continue or not, and vice versa, the Argentine coach won’t stick around if he sees they’re not on the same page. But if Dimitrov has the patience to listen to Franco Davin then this will surely be a winning combination. With a proven track record and the knowledge to squeeze more out of players than they ever thought they had it is down to Dimitrov to find in Davin the answers to all the questions that right now he cannot find.
