By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, September 3, 2016
Grigor Dimitrov has won 10 of his last 13 matches and will face Wimbledon champion Andy Murray with a trip to his first US Open quarterfinal on the line.
Photo credit: US Open/USTA
NEW YORK—Declining confidence and dwindling results sent Grigor Dimitrov into a spiral earlier this season.
Reflecting on rebounding from near rock bottom, Dimitrov cites a major fall for prompting his rise to the US Open fourth round.
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"I fell in love with tennis again. It's simple as that," Dimitrov said. "It's not only because I've been winning matches or anything like that. It's because I started to enjoy the process again.
"I'm enjoying the work again. I'm enjoying waking up in the morning early to come to practice. I'm enjoying doing the ice baths again. I'm enjoying pretty much everything that I do."
The 22nd-seeded Bulgarian played with exuberance and patient aggression in today's 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Joao Sousa advancing to the US Open fourth for the second time in three years.
Dimitrov won 19 of 22 trips to net and hit his topspin backhand, which he sometimes forgoes in favor of the slice, with more vigor down the line.
Sometimes, one moment can change the course of a season.
For Dimitrov that flash point may have come in Toronto five weeks ago.
Two points from suffering his seventh opening round exit in an eight-tournament span, Dimitrov delivered a flick lob winner to ignite a 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-4 comeback victory over 107th-ranked Japanese Yuichi Sugita in his Rogers Cup opener.
Scraping out that win halted a horror-show run as Dimitrov went on to reach the Toronto quarterfinals. He backed it up defeating Feliciano Lopez and No. 4 Stan Wawrinka en route to the Cincinnati semifinals.
The former Wimbledon semifinalist has won 10 of his last 13 matches and will face Wimbledon champion Andy Murray for a trip to his first US Open quarterfinal on the line.
The second-seeded Murray launched Labor Day weekend working for three hours, 17 minutes to subdue Paolo Lorenzi, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
The Murray-Dimitrov match is a clash of former US Open champions: Murray won the boys' title in 2004 and captured the men's title in 2012, while Dimitrov claimed the 2008 US Open boys' championship.
Dynamic athleticism and eye-popping improvisational skills can make for electric exchanges when Dimitrov and Murray meet. The three-time Grand Slam champion has won six of their nine meetings.
Dimitrov dethroned Murray in the 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinals and reeled off five straight games surprising the second-ranked Scot, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-3, in Miami in March.
"There's going to be a lot of challenges, especially on an occasion like that, against Andy," Dimitrov said. "I mean, he's going to be ready as ever. As I said, he's just really confident right now. He's been playing extremely good tennis. He knows what to do. But in the same time, I know what to do, too."
Dimitrov's new coach, Dani Vallverdu, is Murray's former coach, and the two-time Olympic gold medalist is expecting a tight test.
"He's obviously not played his best the last 18 months or so, but definitely the last few weeks has been playing very well, getting back to a level that he's capable of playing at," Murray said of Dimitrov. "You know, it will be another tough one in a couple of days' time. I expect it to be very hard. I'll be ready for that. I'll need to play better than today if I want to win that."
Success breeds success. Dimitrov summed up the secret to his recent resurgence in two words: Winning matches.
"I think winning matches always gives you confidence," Dimitrov said. "I've won quite a few close matches, which just helps me a lot to build up and be solid when I have to.
"Today, that type of a match that I played really smart on the big points, I played good when I had to. Overall it was a decent match, I would say. But, yeah, these kind of moments really, really help you mentally when you come out and play your opponent."
There's no question Dimitrov can hit the high notes. His challenge is sustaining them. Like a virtuoso musician, Dimitrov can shred a solo but can't always concentrate long enough to play a complete song.
Versatility is one of Dimitrov's major assets. Now he's striving for simplicity at critical stages to create consistency.
"This is where the simplicity of the practice and the discipline comes in," Dimitrov said. "Especially in those moments, 30-All, deuce, breakpoint, anything like that, it's super important to, in a way, go back to the basics, go back to what you've been practicing, to the simple shots. For example, play with your big weapons, whether it's your first serve or your forehand. So these things are pretty important."