Grigor Dimitrov’s wait for a Grand Slam title continued after losing in the fourth round of Wimbledon.
Dimitrov had struggled for form over the past year, after tearing his pectoral muscle after leading eventual champion Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon last year.
However, after receiving a wildcard for this year’s grass court major, Dimitrov beat the likes of Matteo Berrettini and Jakub Mensik to return to the second week of a major.
Dimitrov’s run came to an end against British wildcard Arthur Fery in the fourth round, and he has now suggested if he thinks he can still win a major title.
Grigor Dimitrov states his goal will always be to win a Grand Slam
Dimitrov has reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the US Open and has been ranked as highly as world number three in his career.
However, he has not been able to go all the way to winning that elusive Grand Slam title.
In his post-match press conference after losing to Fery, Dimitrov was asked about the goals he still has in his career, as well as whether he is still trying to add new tools to his game, as he spoke about his desire to win a Grand Slam still being there.
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“I think it’s too late to add any tools right now (smiling),” responded Dimitrov. “Actually, I mean it in a nice way. I don’t want to sound like that.
“I mean, I know my game pretty well with some of my strongest parts of the game. You just need to be able to do it better for a longer period of time. In a way it’s simple as that.
“But there’s for sure things I feel that I can try to do different. I think it’s yet for me to try. I think I wasn’t able in the past months to do so because I haven’t had matches. Also physically, I’m not sure I had like a good tennis level.
“There were a lot of moving components where I knew that all I had to do is just play a basic game in order for me to get back where I’m at right now. Now I can start thinking of that next step I have to do.
“Again, of course the goal has always been for me to win a slam. That goal has never disappeared. Will I do it? I don’t know. But I think I’m giving myself chances like that today. Overall, moments like that in a slam is where it might come.
“But again, I cannot just show up and turn it on. That’s the other thing, as I’ve been saying. Yeah, I can just say that I’ll keep on trying for sure to find like an extra edge for the future, see where it takes me.”
Grigor Dimitrov agrees with what Novak Djokovic has said about playing Grand Slams
Dimitrov, who is now 35 years old, has been a professional tennis player for nearly 20 years and has dealt with many injury problems throughout his career.
Novak Djokovic has often spoken about the difficulties of playing Grand Slam tournaments at the latter stage of his career regarding his body, and Dimitrov was asked if he feels the same.
“Of course you do,” agreed Dimitrov. “I mean, the night after Matteo’s match, I went to bed at 3:00 in the morning. That’s how it is. That’s, in a way, the cards I was dealt that day. That’s what I’m saying.
“That goes to say also for my mentality, where I’m at. I just really want to make sure that I’m very present with what I do and try to overcome any obstacle that comes ahead of me.
“Again, today, I know I had to do more. I just couldn’t. That is okay. Like from that aspect, I know I’ve done everything I possibly can. But then I can say in certain moments I could have actually played differently. So you see those are two very different things.
“I just need to maybe try to find how can I find a more compact and like together line to make sure that I execute better, cut down the unforced errors, maybe try different way of serving.
“There’s a lot of things that I have to, like, look into of course from now on. Again, I feel much better than where I was like in the past months physically. I think that gives me quite a bit of confidence.
“Of course, as I said, the older you get, the more of everything you have to do. You need to not only be more selective, but you need to find a way how to practice and prepare mentally. Those two things actually go more and more hand-in-hand rather than just focusing on one thing at a time.”
Give us your one crazy prediction for the second week of Wimbledon!
Dimitrov will earn 200 ranking points for his run to the last-16 of Wimbledon, but as this is the same as he achieved last year, it will mean his ranking total stays the same.
This means that Dimitrov will remain outside the world’s top 140 and may need to play qualifying for the US Open if he does not receive a wildcard.
