10 Things You Didn’t Know About Grigor Dimitrov

By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: Paul Gilham/ Getty

(June 26, 2012 ) -- The 21-year-old Grigor Dimitrov has long been considered one of the most promising youngsters on the ATP tour. On Tuesday he proved once again that he’s worthy of that type of consideration when he put in a command performance to take down 32nd-seeded Kevin Anderson in four sets. Dimitrov will next play Marcos Baghdatis for a spot in the third round. (Draw: Wimbledon Men's Singles)

While we sit and wait patiently for the breakthrough that is almost certain to come at the top level -- Grigor's assembled his share of impressive streaks at the Challengers btw -- here’s ten things you might not know about the world No. 69.

1. He’s a Wimbledon champ: Dimitrov won the boys' event in 2008 without dropping a set, then won the US Open junior title a few months later before focusing his sights on the pro game later that season. He also reached the world No. 1 ranking as a junior.

2. He might be in love with Serena Williams (or she might be in love with him): In 2011, Fox Sports reported that the then-20-year-old was seen taking a romantic stroll with Serena Williams in Paris. Here’s what Dimitrov said when pestered about his, um, friendship with Serena this year in Miami. “What do you want to know? No, I'm kidding. No, she's a good friend of mine. She came after in the locker room -- not in the locker room, the fitness room to congratulate me. It was very nice of her, yeah.”

3. He knows he’s no Federer: Many a talking head has compared Grigor and his style of play to that of the 16-time Grand Slam champion that many feel his game resembles. Dimitrov doesn't let that get to his head. “It’s great to hear -- I can hear this all day, put a ringtone on my phone or whatever, but that won’t win any matches,” Dimitrov said last year at Wimbledon. “You can’t compare the greatest player of all time to a dude that is 64 in the world. It’s impossible.”

4. On that note, Federer, Jr. is not the nickname. It's "Grisha."

5. He’s a huge fan of music. Watch this video of him getting tips on DJing from duo Crossfader Kings. In exchange, he gives them a hitting session. And he's a fan of Lil Wayne.

6. The gentleman prefers brunettes.

7. Dimitrov has a bigger head than Federer. Federer and Dimitrov play with similar racquets, with Grisha's slightly larger than Roger's: Dimitrov plays with the Pro Staff Six.One 95 BLX, while Federer plays with the slightly smaller Six.One BLX 90. (The numbers 90 and 95 refer to the square inches of each racquet head.) And yes, he's pretty "in love" with it...

8. His dream car is a BMW. Dimitrov doesn’t currently have a car, mainly because he’s holding out for the BMW X6M, color black.

9. Dimitrov is now coached by Patrick Mouratoglou. He formerly worked with Peter Lundgren, a one-time coach of Marat Safin and Roger Federer, then began to work with Australian coaching legend Peter McNamara until parting ways with him at the end of 2011 to begin working with Frenchman Patrick Mouratoglou. Dimitrov also trained at the Mouratoglou Academy in Paris as a teenager.

10. Dimitrov was once fined for shoving an official in Helsinki. In 2010, after losing in a challenger to Ricardas Berankis, Dimitrov shoved an official off-court and launched into a tirade regarding calls that were made during the match. He was fined $2000 Euros for the incident, and later apologized saying “It was a mistake what I did, and I have really learned from it. I should not have done it. I will never do anything like that again, or even think about doing anything like that.”