Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

At the start of this year, young Grigor Dimitrov said that he was ready to reach the top 5 and possibly win a major.

In the first week in January, he was about to face the 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in Brisbane and he said that he was just as good as the Swiss was. But on court, Federer was calm and lethal, while Dimitrov was all over the place. Federer crushed him 6-2, 6-2 in the semis and after that, the Bulgarian not only was unable to reach the top 5, but he slid and now he is ranked No 28.

He went backwards.

“At some points, a few doubts have come into my head and even though I’m working, sometimes I’ve just felt down,” Dimitrov told the ATP. “Even though I was working, I still didn’t have a good perception of myself. I was like, ‘OK, I’m working hard but nothing is coming, nothing is paying off’.

But that’s part of the game and right about now I’m starting to understand what happened to me this year and all of the mistakes I made. In a way, as negative as it has been, I think it’s good that everything happened to me that way. I’ve experienced both worlds now. One day you’re Top 10 – I was No. 8 in the world – next day I was No. 28. So it’s a great contrast for me and I’m looking at things in a different way right now.”

In 2015, Dimitrov had 33 wins and 22 losses – not bad for the 24 year old. In the fourth round at the Australian Open, he reached the fourth round and he was fairly close against the now No. 2 Andy Murray, but fell in four sets. But he didn’t go deep for a long while, reaching the quarterfinals in Monte Carlo and Madrid. He lost in the first round of the French Open, the first round at Wimbledon, and the second round of the US Open. In the fall, he went 5-4, losing against the better players such as Tomas Berdych, Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer.

Dimitrov is hoping that he will turn himself around in 2016, but this year, he was mentally confused.

He is now coached by Franco Davin, who used to work with Juan Martin del Potro.
“I wish I could say it’s only been character building for me this year, but too many things happened” he said. “The main thing on and off the court was structuring a team, which is one of the toughest things. I think that took a lot out of me.  When things are not in place, I tend to get a little bit impatient and I just want to do what’s right for me. In doing so, I felt like I neglected my game a lot with the way I’ve been practicing and the way I’ve been doing things. I can only blame myself for that and no-one else… I feel like I’ve got the spark again and I’m feeling motivated, which is a pretty good feeling.”

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.