2024-04-17 19:45:18
The best Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov gave an interview to Australia Tennis Magazine Dimitrov. In it, the current world number 10 talks about the discipline and what he is really after at this stage of his career.
The Bulgarian believes that the successes on the field help him appreciate everything outside the game.
“I think at the stage I’m at in my career, every year that goes by I appreciate more and more everything that I can do not only on the court but in life,” he admits.
Getting back into the top 10 didn’t happen by magic, and Grigor Dimitrov has been aware of how to change certain things in the way he works to achieve what he is doing now. Together with his coach Daniel Valverde, the Bulgarian relies on his strengths and learns to prioritize certain aspects that affect his performance, such as mental health or nutrition. This allows him to maintain a good consistency from the end of last year until now. “The discipline, the hard work, all the dedication, adapting to a lot of different tennis players during that time… You have to be able to do everything consistently, which is what’s been going on for the last eight, nine, twelve months and it’s been difficult. I’ve had very, very difficult matches that I lost, but I continued to believe,” reveals Dimitrov.
Bulgaria’s first racket also admits that at the beginning of his career, the respect and admiration for the big names in tennis such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic may not have allowed him to find the balance he enjoys now.
“I would say that tennis uses the same language as life, it teaches you. Discipline is freedom whether you play a match or not. A lot of the things I do now are just a way of life. There are so many things that are connected and I don’t take them for granted at all. It didn’t help me much when I had to race against them, and I think I had to learn that a little more over time. I remember thinking, OK, I’ve got to learn to separate those things and put them in another department,” Dimitrov continues.
“It’s very interesting for me to witness in a way three eras in which I played and even tennis players from much earlier. I’m in a unique and very fortunate position to be able to compete with each of them,” he continues. .
However, the former world number 3 must look to the future he can imagine, living only day by day and without great pretensions. “One thing I’ve learned not only in sport but even outside is that we only have the moment in front of us. I’ve been in the top 10 before, I’ve been No. 3 in the world. It’s all been great, don’t get me wrong, but now I have different needs, I have different battles to fight. The only thing I know is that I conquer them step by step. At the end of the day, things will go in the right direction,” concludes Grigor Dimitrov.