Dimitrov unleashes a serve.
Certain single losses are so devastating they can destroy a player’s career. Guillermo Coria never recovered from the loss to Gaston Gaudio in the final of Roland Garros despite being up two sets to love and having a match point. Paul Henri Mathieu blew the Davis Cup final in France despite a two sets to love lead on Mikhail Youzhny in the fifth rubber and has never been the same. Grigor Dimitrov suffered a similar shattering defeat in the Istanbul final two weeks ago to Diego Schwartzman. Depite being up a set and 5-2 against a 23 year old trying to win his first final it was Dimitrov who unraveled under the pressure and ultimately choked the match away 0-6 in the third set. Since that loss to Schwartzman Dimitrov lost to a player he had never lost to before – Pablo Carreno Busta in straight sets 67 36 and today he lost again 16 46 to teenager Alexander Zverev. Next week the nosediving ATP no 35 turns 25 years of age and the best days could be behind the likable Bulgarian. You wonder: have all the failures and losses to Federer Djokovic Nadal Nishikori and other players taken a toll on the former ATP no 8? Has the player who earned the nicknames “Super G” and “G Force” already unleashed his best shots and his best tennis but now the doubts have crept into his psyche that he just didn’t and just can’t get the job done at the elite level? It’s awfully hard to see Dimitrov turning it around. The ship is sinking and it’s sinking awfully fast. (Photo by Henk Abbink)
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Moskova Moskova · May 9, 2016 at 9:02 pm
I wouldn’t write him off completely yet but he needs to turn it around big time….has the talent and strokes to do it but mentally feeble at the end of the day.
Hey fed wasn’t fed from the get-go but he did turn it around – can dimi follow suit ?….prlly not.
Scoop Malinowski · May 10, 2016 at 7:40 am
mm: It’s so weird because just a few weeks ago Dimitrov scored that huge win vs Andy in Indian Wells – one of his best wins – but strangely that win did not fuel his confidence tank – Dimitrov is the biggest enigma in tennis today –
Moskova Moskova · May 10, 2016 at 8:30 am
maybe too sensitive and nice of a guy.
needs to harness his killer instincts.
Andrew Miller · May 10, 2016 at 2:55 pm
Dimitrov played well in the AO in 2014. He was playing pretty clean ball.
For me, Dimitrov went down hill(ish) when he decided not to play the WTF as an alternate at the end of 2014. He’s been slumping for the most part in the 18 months since then.
Dan Markowitz · May 10, 2016 at 3:55 pm
Scoop,
Little I saw of Sock-Goffin today, Sock was out of his league. Unless he gets hot one year at USO, there’s no way Jack is making a slam semis in the next 4 years I’d say. Who knows after that.
How about Volandri today at 34 almost beating Ferrer. The Italian with the sweet one hander hadn’t beaten a Top 10 player (Ferrer is currently no. 9) in nine years.
Scoop Malinowski · May 10, 2016 at 6:56 pm
Sock lost 46 46 to Goffin who is on the verge of the top ten – not a bad loss Dan –
Scoop Malinowski · May 10, 2016 at 7:37 pm
The problem for GD is all the players know he is fragile right now – and they will be merciless like sharks on a bloody carcass – Super G has lost respect as a player he has to regain that with a string of big wins – it’s all about respect and the sad reality is the players have no fear of Dimitrov right now – they are licking their chops ready to devour –
Thomas Tung · May 10, 2016 at 10:50 pm
Goffin is one of the steadiest players right now, with 2 SF finishes (Indian Wells, Miami) and a Round of 16 finish at Monte-Carlo. Lost to Zverev in Munich and Lucas Pouille in Madrid, but both are very dangerous, up and coming players.
Given the seemingly American allergy to clay over the last 20 years, this is no surprise (Sock claims to love clay, but that seems to be only American clay — his results on European clay so far in his career have been dismal — I FIRMLY think it’s a mindset issue, as Sock plays with heavy spin combined with high trajectory (theoretically good for clay), but is quite impatient, as if he couldn’t be bothered to run that extra ball or two down; going for an outright winner instead of hitting a heavy and offensive, but safe shot that allows him to construct the point with an extra stroke [or three]. Contrast that with Jim Courier’s attitude).
Andrew Miller · May 10, 2016 at 11:18 pm
Courier was special on dirt. Courier felt players were doping.
Moskova Moskova · May 11, 2016 at 8:52 am
yes volandri – nice one-hander and took out fed in rome one year…..but a confirmed doper with a suspension on his record. prlly mixed up in the gambling circuit too with brachialle, starace, davydenko, etc. lol 😉
Scoop Malinowski · May 11, 2016 at 8:55 am
Courier was the King of Clay for a while – wonder if any players thought Courier was doping – I don’t recall Courier ever accusing or alleging any players of doping during the 90s –
Dan Markowitz · May 11, 2016 at 1:41 pm
I’m not a big Courier fan. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s a good commentator and I like hearing him announce, but there’s always been this cockiness to him that I found distasteful when he was younger. That incident he had with Sampras in Australia where Tim Gullickson, Sampras’s coach was dying, and Sampras was losing it on the court and Courier said something snarky like, “We could finish this tomorrow,Pete.” That struck me as the height of all uncaring and poor sportsmanship.
I’m sure it was tough for Courier for Sampras to be acting that way, and he could of (I think it would have been the better move) gone to the umpire and said, “Pete’s in a bad way, maybe we can postpone this match until tomorrow,” but what he said made him sound like an insincere jerk.
I’ve had a couple of run-in’s with Courier, once at Chris Evert’s charity in Delray Beach, where I was having a good conversation/interview with Courier, and then you ask him one question that bothers him, and his comportment and civility completely change and it’s very uncomfortable.
Scoop Malinowski · May 11, 2016 at 2:37 pm
Dan: What was the question that set off the Rock? Courier is a guy who just doesn’t take any guff – he got burned I believe by USA Today early in his career and had frosty relations with journalists for years and years – I finally got a Courier Biofile at the PGA golf at the later stage of his career when he was caddying for his friend one of the players – he was cooler and friendlier outside the tennis universe – Thought he handled that Pete situation with class – he was annoyed by Pete’s distracting and pity party – it’s hard to kill a player who is crying and down like Pete was that night – I just played a good player here in Longboat Key who was whining and crying “I don’t have the head for this’ ‘I quit’ when he’d lose big points – I won eight straight sets and the ninth set he was close and when I kept it close and kept the pressure on he’d whine like that and then play great tennis – trickery and deception – then he won the set 75 in the breaker – I got distracted by all the whining and crying and then he’s play lights out which was surprising – I think Pete was doing that to Courier that night in Australia either consciously or subconsciously and Rock had trouble dealing with that factor –
sharoten · May 12, 2016 at 6:51 am
Two excellent interviews with Rafa. He’s such a thoughtful young man, especially considering all the fame and fortune and notoriety he deals with.
https://t.co/tG141tE06W
https://t.co/o9VW877hB4