The last time when that Grigor Dimitrov reached into the final at a ATP 1000 was in October, when he reached at the Paris Masters, and he didn’t win it, he was getting better. Over the past 11 days in the Miami Open, he rose up, upsetting Carlos Alcaraz, and also when he out-lasted Alexander Zverev 6-4 in the third. Finally he was confidence again, which can be a bit odd, giving that the 32-year-old did not play well last year, here and there, but something must have happen to focus much more on the court.
However, has to face against Jannik Sinner, who is on fire, as he has only lost one match in 2024, and at the Aussie Open, he won it, when he played fantastic.
Almost four years ago in Rome, Dimintrov beat him 6-4 in the third, and it was darn close, but he was more steady at the end. Yet last year, Sinner beat him twice, in Miami, early in straight sets, and then in the fall, he pushed him back to win in three sets in Beijing.
Dimitrov has changed, again, to be real, much more, as in the start of the year, he won Brisbane, and he reached the final in Marseille. He was different.
“I think the discipline brought me to that moment. There is nothing else,” Dimitrov said, who won Cincinnati and the ATP 1000 Final in London in 2017. “I didn’t kind of 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 to practice 100% 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.”
The Italian is on the tear, winning everything, expected for Indian Wells. But here, he is again, nailing with her forehand and his backhand. He can smash it, into the corners, or down the line. He is more than an intense person. He has grown up.
“The first time I came here I made final, I couldn’t sleep the night [before],” said Sinner, who destroyed Daniil Medvedev. “The second time, which was last year, I was relaxed because I went through periods where I already [had similar] experiences. Now I’m a different player, different person. I will handle it hopefully a little bit better again.”