By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday March 30, 2024
Grigor Dimitrov is into his third career Masters 1000 title in Miami, and that achievement in and of itself is a milestone worth celebrating. But it’s how Dimitrov has achieved his spot in the final that makes him most satisfied.
The former World No.3 has defeated Top-5 players in back-to-back events for the first time since 2017, and taken out Top-10 players in three consecutive matches for the first time since the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals.
For Dimitrov, this consistency against the top players – being able to back up wins against them in successive matches – is what makes him the happiest.
“I think the consistency of beating top players, that to me is way bigger success than anything else,” he said on Friday night after defeating fifth-ranked Alexander Zverev to reach his second Masters 1000 final in five months.
“I mean, if you do that, you get the ranking. If you do that, things are just getting better for you. But in order to do it, it's where it all comes through. The discipline, the hard work, you know, all the dedication, the adjustment to very different players throughout that time, I mean, you need to be able to do that on a constant basis.”
Dimitrov, who will return to the Top 10 in Monday’s ATP rankings for the first time in 260 weeks (Since November of 2018), says he has been able to do that over the last year thanks to discipline and setting small goals.
“That's been happening for the past 8, 9, 12 months,” he said. “It's been difficult. I had very, very difficult matches that I have lost and that I'm in a way still pissed about. But I kept on believing, kept on doing the work.
“I think the discipline brought me to that moment. There is nothing else. I didn't deviate from my target, not even my goal. I had small targets throughout – every single week I had a target, and also to be able to put my body through all that on a daily basis was also very important for me. Every single day when I wake up and I don't have a big pain that would stop me from practicing 100 percent was already a success for me.
“So when you start putting all that together, I think it's where I'm most, in a way, most proud with. Of course competing against top players and beating them sort of back to back, it's definitely what I'm the most happy with.”