Javier Sanchez

Updated Saturday, March 30, 2024-20:32

  • Carlos Alcaraz A confession in the face of a temporary defeat: "I felt like when I was 13 years old"

In her autobiography

Unstoppable: My life so far

, published in 2017,

Maria Sharapova

already warned about the problem that would later sink the career of her ex-boyfriend,

Grigor Dimitrov.

«Grigor is called to be the next

Roger Federer

, he has a lot of potential. His tennis is fantastic. The way he punches, how he slides...he's capable of doing incredible things. He has a gift, but also a curse. Not only should he win, he should do it beautifully. Either I play perfect or I don't play. Either he is amazing or he gets eliminated. “That is holding him back,” the Russian warned precisely. In the following seasons, Dimitrov, then a fantastic young man, champion of the 2017 ATP Finals, even number three in the ranking, disappeared from the elite. From successor to the Big Three to being out of the Top 50. From unforgettable semi-finals against

Rafa Nadal

at the Australian Open to being completely forgotten. What happened?

A shoulder injury or severe Covid are the simplest explanations. The real reason for his crisis is in Sharapova's book: his gift was a curse. Those comparisons with Federer because of his style - especially because of the one-handed backhand - did him no good.

Now, at 32, Dimitrov is back. This Sunday he will play the final of the Miami Masters 1000 against

Jannik Sinner

(not before 8:00 p.m., Movistar) and tomorrow he will once again be among the 10 best tennis players in the world, a milestone that he has not reached since 2018. In the semifinals against

Alexander Zverev

he completed a remarkable performance, but in the quarterfinals against

Carlos Alcaraz

he displayed an extraordinary, precise, brilliant game. It was not the Dimitrov of before, it was a better Dimitrov.

Simplicity, reason for its improvement

Confirmation of his return to the top. Last fall he already announced it, with a semifinal at the Shanghai Masters 1000 and a final at the Paris Masters 1000, where he lost against

Novak Djokovic

, but this spring he has certified it. In the second line that is behind Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and

Daniil Medvedev

, the figure of him appears, the only thirty-year-old in that group. At Roland Garros he never shined, but on the upcoming clay court tour he is equally a candidate for everything.

And all thanks to making it simple. For several years, Dimitrov was blocked in a game that sought preciousness and, far from physical plenitude, the best tennis players on the circuit almost always beat him. Before defeating Zverev in Miami, he had lost against him seven times, for example. But last season he brought back his two coaches from the beginning, the Venezuelan

Dani Vallverdu

and the Englishman

Jamie Delgado

, and they all agreed on a game plan: first serves, dominance with his forehand and sliced ​​backhands. No more tricks, no more inventions, no more problems. Dimitrov no longer wants to win like Federer, he just wants to win.

«Now I want to win or lose on my own terms, not on others. I have returned to being a player aware of his own weapons and thus I control my emotions better. "I have regained confidence in my tennis," analyzed the Bulgarian in Miami when asked about his resurrection. «Maybe a lot of the public didn't remember me, but I feel like I never left. I had a bad time? Yes, I had a bad time. Did I have many ups and downs? Yes absolutely. I'm not ashamed of it, but I never gave up tennis," Dimitrov also claimed, warning of what is coming. At his age, his career is not just the past, with that brilliant 2017 as the highlight, it can also be the future. His plans are to play "between six and eight years" and who knows what he can achieve. Those comparisons with Federer no longer make him bitter. Freed from his curse, now only his gift shines.