At the start of 2016 Grigor Dimitrov looked certain to once again return to the top of men’s tennis as he confidently stated that ‘the spark was back in his game’.
Those words triggered excitement once again that Dimitrov could return to the top of his game, which took him to the semifinals at the 2014 Wimbledon championships. Sadly for 25-year-old, things have taken a dramatic turn for the worst with his French Open exit being the latest blow.
Facing Vikor Troicki in the first round at Roland Garros, the former top-10 player succumbed in five sets 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. The loss was a severe blow for the Bulgarian, who was leading Troicki by two sets to one and was a break up in the fourth. Crashing out in the first round wasn’t the most worrying sign displayed by Dimitrov, it was what he said after his match.
“I’ve lost a lot of confidence in myself,” the world No. 36 told Sport 360.
“It’s not easy to come off losing those kind of matches, those close matches. In the past years I’ve been winning those close matches and that gives you a lot of confidence and motivation and everything and overall I’ve lost a lot of that.”
The deterioration of Dimitrov’s on court mentality was clearly displayed in the final of the Istanbul Open earlier this year. Leading Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman by a set and 5-2, he had an epic meltdown on the court to hand the title to the Argentine. In fact the match was won by Schwartzman after Dimitrov produced his third racket smash, leading to him being defaulted on match point.
Dimitrov has been defaulted, and this is how the match ended………. pic.twitter.com/XA0WLDaMK2
— Stroppa Del (@stroppadel) 1 May 2016
The man once compared to Roger Federer, earning him the nickname ‘baby Fed’, now finds himself at another crisis in his career. It is not the first time this has happened, during 2015 his career was in doubt following a series of below-par results. This time round things seem different according to Dimitrov, who described the state of his game as ‘scary‘.
“I’ve been there before, but this time it’s just kind of different. Sometimes it’s scary of course, it’s just really scary. But I’m positive and happy to come out and work and work and work, that never scares me.” The 25-year-old said.
“What scares me is that I’m really not finding a way and usually I’m pretty good at bouncing back, whether it’s from a loss or something else. A lot of losses have always motivated me – just right now it’s not happening.”
The doubts of Dimitrov is something that needs to be urgently addressed by him and his team. Surprisingly, he has never seen a sports psychiatrist, however, it is becoming more evident that this is what he needs if he wishes to end his two-year title drought. Despite this, Dimitrov is still reluctant in tackling this area.
“I think I’m not there, it’s just more mentally for me when I’m alone out there on the court than outside factors. Whatever you have in your life in your life you have it, but then after you come out on the court it should be your nice place, a place that you can feel good, smile and play the game.”
Last year Sports Illustrated called Dimitrov their ‘disappointment of the year’. It is an unfortunate label that has been assigned to the Bulgarian by other notable tennis figures, most recently John McEnroe. The phrase ‘expectation is continuing to trounce achievement’ is an all too familiar line used when talking about the career of Dimitrov.
Yet again Dimitrov has reached a crisis point in his career, but this time it is unclear as to how or if he will recover. The future is uncertain for the once highly talked about tennis star.
