Grigor Dimitrov: Federer Doesn’t Give Me Any Advice, We’re Just “Cool With Each Other” For Now
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Grigor Dimitrov has been one of the new sensations this season. The 22-year-old from Bulgaria just won the Acapulco title where he beat Andy Murray in the semifinals. He also reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open, pushing Rafael Nadal to the limit.
And under new coach Roger Rasheed and with girlfriend Maria Sharapova at his side, things have been going in one direction: Up!
Dimitrov, though, because of his playing style will be forever compared to Roger Federer. And the two are now linked by Federer’s Team 8 agency.
On Sunday, Dimitrov spoke about what it’s like practicing with the Swiss legend.
“I think we haven’t reached that level with the advice thing,” Dimitrov said. “Just been cool with each other, and obviously it’s a lot of fun playing with him, and then practicing. I must say, we had fun on court, and in the same time, we were great. I mean, we played a bit of tennis and just laughing, a bit of the racquets. Plus I have, you know, coaches, two coaches in the face of Stefan Edberg and Roger Rasheed that, you don’t want to muck around when they are around. It’s a pretty respectful field when they are on court.”
Dimitrov also talked about his recent rise and what he needs to do.
“There is a lot of work to be done, and now that I have a few good weeks coming ahead to play, I’m just excited to get on court and play my tennis,” Dimitrov said.
“I think obviously physically I was not on a good level before, and I knew that. I had problems with sometimes closing out the matches or I was always dropping when I shouldn’t. It was just there was a lot of little details that definitely has changed. I believe and I feel in my game, but I think I can sort of look at the big picture when I get time off and actually can sit down with Roger and go through everything and see what we have so far.”
Later today, Dimitrov and Ernests Gulbis renew their rivalry after splitting two matches in the last month.
“Gulbis, we all know how he plays,” Dimitrov said. “We all know how I play. We are not going to have any hidden ways when we come on court. So it’s going to be us two out there, great battle, and hopefully we can produce some great tennis.”
After his third round, in a funny moment Novak Djokovic crashed Grigor’s presser.
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