By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, September 21, 2026
Photo credit: Matthew Calvis
Grigor Dimitrov is feeling physically healthy but confesses mental fragmentation with the passing of the Big 4 era.
Speaking with Nicholas Albeck of SpilXperten at Davis Cup last weekend, former ATP Finals champion Dimitrov said life on the ATP Tour is simply not the same with the retirements of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.
The 35-year-old Dimitrov shared a conversation he recently had with Grand Slam king Novak Djokovic in which the Bulgarian said the Big 4 era was the most challenging period of his career and conceded aging on the Tour “sucks.”
“I feel the same as Novak. A part of me left with Roger and Rafa. Absolutely,” Dimitrov told Nicholas Albeck of SpilXperten. “We actually had that talk with Novak, where we talked about the challenges and the obstacles back in the day, you know that era of tennis…
“Without disrespecting any players, that era will always be the most challenging that I have ever had to face.”
“I was not only the chaser, but I was trying to conquer the most massive players all the time. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to fulfill the older you get. It sucks.”
Nine of the world’s Top 16-ranked men are age 25 or younger.
Former world No. 3 Dimitrov said the “sad” truth is he feels he’s aged out of friendships on Tour now as so many of his current opponents are from a younger generation he doesn’t really know.
“I’ll be honest with you now. The past years I have kind of distanced myself from the ATP Tour,” Dimitrov said. “Of course, I am on the Tour, but I have distanced myself from keeping up with certain trends or whatever.”
“My life has always just been about tennis. In a way, age is just a number, but in our sport the gap increases a lot. You can definitely see that, and it`s not only on the court things have changed. It is also just about interactions.
“I don`t even know everyone on the Tour now. We can laugh about it, but it`s a bit sad.”
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