Grigor Dimitrov - ATP's Next Big Thing?
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Bulgaria's holding out for a hero
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Because we never get tired of hearing about the next big thing (that’s a joke), feast your eyes on Bulgarian 19-year-old Grigor Dimitrov, who won his second straight ATP Challenger event yesterday, claiming the crown at Bangkok and moving up to No. 146 in the world (a jump of 44 places).
Dimitrov has got the whole story down pat – he first held a racket at three, started playing at five and moved to Paris as a teenager to play at Patrick Mourtaglou’s Tennis Academy.
He also gets compared to Roger Federer a lot. No pressure there, Grigor.
With the win at Bangkok, Dimitrov has won 22 of his last 23 matches. In 2008, he reached the quarterfinals of the juniors at the French Open then won the junior crown at Wimbledon, not dropping a set in the process. He went on to win the junior crown at the US Open before officially turning pro.
In 2009, Dimitrov upset Tomas Berdych in Rotterdam and pushed Rafael Nadal to the brink of elimination before losing 5-7, 6-3, 2-6. He went three sets with Gilles Simon (then No. 8) later that year, but missed a chance to shine at Wimbledon due to a knee injury.
His road has been fairly bumpy in 2010 until lately, when he won the challenger title in Geneva, then following it up at Bangkok. He’s currently the highest-ranked teenager on the ATP Tour.
If Dimitrov continues on his rise up the rankings, he’ll threaten to eclipse Viktor Krum as the most famous male Bulgarian sportsman of all time. Krum led Bulgaria to the finals of the 1994 Quidditch World Cup, catching the Snitch to end the match even though Ireland won the title.
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Posted by
Nick on
9/20/2010 1:24:25 PM
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