LONDON: It’s hard to believe that it was 16 years ago when Grigor Dimitrov first graced his presence at Wimbledon as a wildcard.
Unfortunately, it was not a happy experience for the Bulgarian who was level at one-set all with Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn in the first round before being forced to retire hurt when down 0-4 in the third set. Over the years, Dimitrov’s standout performance at the tournament was in 2014 when he reached the semi-finals before losing a closely contested match against Novak Djokovic.
Now at the age of 34, he can still go deep at major events, having reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in his two previous appearances. His latest victory was in the second round on Thursday when he beat France’s Courentin Moutet 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
A former world No.3 back in 2017, Dimitrov has been a familiar fixture in men’s tennis for more than a decade. He has the nickname ‘baby Federer’ due to the similarity between his game and that of the Swiss Maestro. However, he was never fond of that term, which compared him to one of the all-time greats. Competing during the Big Three Era, he managed to claim nine ATP titles over an 11-year period, with the biggest of those being the Tour Finals. Now he is playing on the Tour alongside the next generation of top guns, including Jannik Sinner, whom he could play in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
“I think playing through so many generations is always the part where you can see it,” Dimitrov explained when asked how men’s tennis has evolved over the last 15 years.
“You can see the players, how they’ve played throughout the time and all that. For me, the times that I’ve really competed against the best players in the world were some years ago.
“But every year, there are going to be new players. Whether we like it or not, we have to roll forward because in our sport there’s always more and it’s always like this.”
Dimitrov is relishing his time in the sport but admits there are aspects that he doesn’t like, such as the Tour calendar and quick turnaround between tournaments.
“You can never celebrate. You don’t have enough time to celebrate yourself. Celebrate the win. Celebrate your own efforts.” He explains.
“That’s probably one of the toughest things in our sport.
“One other thing is that everything gets quickly forgotten. So you better make the most out of it.”
The reference to having little time between events is a common topic in tennis. More players have opened up about the mental toll of travelling on the Tour, including Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud.
But when it comes to the younger generation of players, Dimitrov has an interesting observation.
“Sometimes you need to do quite a few steps back to go way more steps forward,” he explained.
“Maybe the younger players are also not thinking about that because a lot of them already have a crazy amount of teams, so they feel so protected. I always say it’s like an artificial surrounding that everyone has created around them.
“It does not allow things to go in, so they’re more or less a little bit bulletproof.
“You need to have your own authority, your own voice. I don’t think it’s easy all the time, but I think you need to recognize it.”
At Wimbledon, Dimitrov will next play Sebastian Ofner on Saturday.
