Grigor Dimitrov has said that he will reassess his 2018 season after his Roland Garros curse continued with a straight sets defeat to Fernando Verdasco.
The Bulgarian lost 7-6(4) 6-2 6-4 to the always dangerous Verdasco on Court one in what was a frustrating afternoon for Dimitrov. The loss means that the fourth seed’s curse continues as he is yet to reach the second week at Roland Garros, which is a surprise given his athleticism on this surface. After the match the Bulgarian explained that he will now reassess his 2018 season and takes full responsibility, “Yeah, I mean, the way things are right now, it’s a tough way to put things,” said Dimitrov.
“Obviously I really expected to play better on clay. I mean, throughout the last matches I played, even in the Madrid, Rome, Paris, all matches, I had everything to win. So absolutely my fault. I need to — I don’t know. I need to reassess that a little bit more. Every year I pretty much play well on the clay but never good enough to have a better result. But I definitely need to take some time off now to kind of reassess the whole clay court season, to be honest. I think that’s going to be the No. 1 priority for me now to kind of step out from the tennis for a little bit, try to watch some matches and sort of try to progress somehow and just get better.”
After his semi-final in Monte-Carlo, it has been a rough clay court season for the Bulgarian after back to back losses to Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori in Madrid and Rome, so this will be another obstacle Dimitrov has to overcome in his bid to become a grand slam champion. The world number five’s next tournament will be at Queens club in London on the grass courts, which starts on the 18th of June.
