One of the most graceful players in ATP Tour history, Grigor Dimitrov has never been one to focus on cold, hard numbers. That is not to say the Bulgarian’s career stats do not hold up.
On Saturday, Dimitrov defeated Juan Pablo Varillas at the Chengdu Open for his 400th tour-level win, a milestone he later acknowledged he was unaware of while completing his 6-3, 6-4 victory.
“I’m a person that loves the game and I’ve, in a way, lived for the game,” the 32-year-old told ATPTour.com. “I think this [milestone] has been something for me that was not the most ...moreimportant thing, but at the same time I try to do the right things for the sport itself. I think when you do these things and you win, it adds up.
“This is an achievement in itself. For me, I never set myself a goal to have 500 or 300 wins or whatever it is. You just never know how it is going to be, but I’ve been on Tour for 14 years now so it’s nice when you have that approval and you’ve done it yourself out there. You’ve gone out there 400 times and won, so I think it’s pretty cool.”
Grigor Dimitrov poses for a selfie with fans after claiming his 400th tour-level win at the Chengdu Open. Photo Credit: Chengdu Open.
An eight-time tour-level champion and former No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Dimitrov has come a long way since his first tour-level victory as a 17-year-old in 2009, when he upset then-World No. 23 Tomas Berdych in three sets in Rotterdam. The Bulgarian retains clear memories of that triumph and his first experience of being a winner on the ATP Tour.
“I remember everything about that day, about that match,” recalled Dimitrov, who went on to push Rafael Nadal to three sets in the second round. “About two days before that match, I was supposed to play qualies in Rotterdam, and the night before the qualies started they decided to give me a wild card and I drew Tomas. Then I saw the draw and it was Tomas, and Rafa was up there, and he’d just come from winning the Australian Open.
“That match against Tomas was crazy. I was sliding, running around. I was just being myself out there really, and I never thought about, ‘Oh that’s my first [Tour win]’ or something like that, it was just another match for me. I think this is something that at some point you need to remind yourself a little bit more.”
Still going strong on the ATP Tour 14 years later, Dimitrov hopes to use breaking the 400-win barrier as a foundation for renewed success deeper into his 30s.
“It not only motivates me to play well, but to develop more,” said Dimitrov, who lifted the biggest and most recent title of his career at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals. “I think in whatever I want next in my life as well. Tennis is not everything. The career, if you think about it, it comes and goes.
“Nothing lasts forever, especially in our sport, so use that window as much as possible, enjoy as much as possible, love as much as possible, play as much as possible and how the cards fall, you never know. The only thing I can try to do is give 100 per cent of myself.”
Regardless of what happens, Dimitrov will take some time to cherish his latest achievement in a career that has made him one of the most popular figures on Tour among players and fans alike.
“I’ve always been the type of person that never focused on [stats], but of course I’m going to rank it up there,” he said of hitting the 400-win mark. “One of my...
Surging towards the Top 20 and in the best form of his career, 2023 was going brilliantly for Jan-Lennard Struff until he lunged for a volley in Bordeaux shortly before Roland Garros.
A week earlier the German had come from qualifying to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 final when beaten by World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in three sets in a high-quality decider.
This followed a string of strong Masters 1000 efforts where, after starting in qualifying, he won main draw matches at Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo in the first half of the year. That saw the 33-year-old’s Pepperstone ATP Tour Rankin...moreg jump from 150 at the start of 2023 to a career-high 21 leading into his preferred stint of the season.
But then Struff, who plays Yoshihito Nishioka in a quarterfinal of the Huafa Properties Zhuhai Championships on Sunday, felt a sharp pain during an ATP Challenger in Bordeaux.
“I thought, ‘Mmmm, that is a strange feeling’, but I finished the match with no problems. And then, in the evening, I felt more of a problem,” he said. “When I woke up in the morning, I could not tie up my shoe laces, because I could not reach my shoes, so that was very tough.”
Struff opted to push on towards Roland Garros, where he lost in five sets to Jiri Lehecka, and then performed well in Stuttgart when beaten in a thrilling final by Frances Tiafoe. But competing in Halle a week later, the pain in his hip which had come and gone in the month prior flared again
“During the week, I was feeling more pain in doubles, and then after that I saw a doctor, thinking I would get an injection for Wimbledon. But he said, ‘No chance. You will ruin it’,” Struff said.
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He said missing Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as Masters 1000 tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati, was disappointing because he felt capable of excelling in them.
“Obviously it was a great year so far. I couldn’t have expected this, going this fast up to the Top 30 from outside the Top 150. It was crazy how fast it went. It was an amazing year,” he said. “(So) it was very hard to accept. I had had a good run and I had a feeling in these tournaments that I could play good tennis, because of the faster conditions.
“Wimbledon and the US Open, it was quite tough to see, to be seeded twice and then be out. Losing the opportunities was tough. It was frustrating.”
The World No. 23 spent more time than expected on the sidelines as a result of the hip problem but performed well in his first match back in Zhuhai when defeating Cristian Garin 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
Similarly to fellow Zhuhai Championships contender Karen Khachanov, who also missed Roland Garros and Wimbledon with injury, Struff tried to make the most of a testing situation. The right-hander did not pick up a racquet for seven weeks while completing rehabilitation but said there was also a silver lining to his time away from the circuit.
He went on a holiday with his sons and his girlfriend, caught up with his parents, headed to soccer games and drank plenty of “good coffees”. “The only problem was, when you want to play with your kids, you want to run and stuff, but I was not able to. Carrying them was not great. It was not that easy,” he said.
“But it was great to have time with them, which was fortunate, because now that I am travelling for the next three weeks in China, I won’t have much time with them. So it was bad but, at the same time, it was good to see the family.”
Struff and Nishioka have split their two ATP Tour matches in Cologne in 2020 and Paris in 2019 and the Zhuhai Championships 3rd seed is expecting a testing encounter.
“He is a tough ...
Roger Federer’s record-breaking career ended 12 months ago. The Swiss legend lifted 103 tour-level titles and faced many great battles during his playing days, competing against the world’s best in all corners of the globe year after year.
Today he no longer has the challenge of going toe-to-toe with long-time rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. However, the tests have continued to come for the 42-year-old…
Speaking at an on-court Q&A with Jim Courier at the Laver Cup on Friday, Federer gave insight into his life post-retirement and was quickly quizzed on life as a parent to four children,...more including two teenage twin girls.
“Days are long but at the same time, I feel I don’t have enough time because I pack my schedule up. Four kids will do that to you as well. I am a professional driver nowadays, organiser, logistics man. It is a test on another level,” Federer joked.
“I am just happy to be able to be allowed to live in my own house still," added Federer when asked specifically about his two teenage daughters. "They are amazing, I love them. But my god, I can’t believe who they are right now at 14. I feel like I have taught them everything and more and at the moment it is complicated but in a good way.
“I know it is going to pass, but I also like if it stays, because I like it if my girls have a strong character, so it is all good. My two cents of advice are that I am happy if they come and shout and cry at home, instead of doing that away. I know they can share all their emotions with me and I love the honesty, so it is all good.”
Federer, who has been married to his wife Mirka since 2009, has been busy since he hung up his racquet at the Laver Cup last September. In July, Federer showed the world his musical talents when he joined Coldplay on stage in Zurich.
The 20-time major winner loved the occasion and revealed it was one of his daughters who convinced him to take to stage.
“I don’t know what I was doing! I was moving my hand and smiling. I was being me but I got the invitation from Chris Martin from Coldplay,” Federer said. “He said do you want to come up on stage tomorrow. I was in Zurich at the time, I just came back from the Elton John concert. Stuff you just do when you haven’t got stuff to do anymore!
“I looked at my daughter and told her, ‘Do you think I should go on stage and do this?’ She was half falling asleep after the Elton John concert and she was like, ‘Of course papa, you only live once, of course you have to do it.’ So I was like, I’ll go on stage, I’ll do it and of course I enjoyed it. I finished on top. This was my music career. I dropped the mic and I was good.”
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Alongside parenthood and his brief music career, Federer has continued to undertake important work for the Roger Federer Foundation. The 42-year-old’s foundation, founded in 2003, supports educational projects in Southern Africa and Switzerland. The programmes focus on the improvement of the quality of early learning and basic education.
“I have done a lot with the foundation. I have just been to the UN fighting for early learning again this past Monday,” Federer said. “That is something I enjoy a lot. We finally all went as a family down by South Africa on a field trip for the foundation. That was a dream of mine since I started the foundation. We are celebrating 20 years now, so I know that will be something in my life for the next 25 years in some shape.”
Before the end of his Q&A with Courier, there was time for Nadal to make an appearance. The Spaniard, who teamed with Federer in the Swiss star's final match, popped up with a cheek...
