THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2025

Grigor Dimitrov

Press Conference

G. DIMITROV/S. Ofner

6-3, 6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Grigor, nice win this afternoon. If you could just sum up the match for us today.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Thank you. Yeah, very good match. Yeah, great match under the conditions. Obviously it's tricky when it's very swirly. But yeah, I felt good. I felt good throughout the whole match. Played well, kept my shots in a very good level. Serve was also working very well.

So I think all in all very happy with the performance.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Two quick things. One is how close to 100% do you feel physically right now?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: About there, I would say. I don't want to put a number to it just because, you know, every day things, they vary. I don't want to be saying, okay, listen, I'm at that level.

At the moment I feel great. I'm pain-free. I've done quite a sufficient amount of work before the tournament began.

As I say, overall every day has been positive. I feel like I'm building off that, which makes me I think not only happy, but excited for what's to come.

Q. Secondly, given the troubles you've had over the last year or two physically, are you able to go into matches not thinking about your body now? Because it must be a little traumatic to think of the times when it's kind of let you down in matches.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Of course. Yeah, good point. I think that's why you have everybody around you, all your team, to keep you -- in a way to keep you honest with whatever is going on with your body.

You know, the amount of scans and MRIs and X-rays, whatevers that I've done throughout this amount of time, it confirms where you're at, but it's always ultimately you're the one that gets to that point of thinking or not thinking. It's a very fine line, to be honest with you.

Some days it's inevitable just because you wake up and you feel something. But this is also a place where I'm entering in my career that I have to accept the fact that there's going to be something every single day. So I live with it, and I'm okay with it.

As long as I've gone to work, match, tennis tournament, or whatever it is, and I've done 100% of myself, then I've done my duty.

Q. Are you someone who watches back highlights of their matches, like on YouTube, that sort of thing? If and when you do, do you think they give a kind of accurate reflection of the match, or are you ever, like, Oh, I remember hitting a great shot, and that's not on it, or I played better than this?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: I like to watch sometimes. Not all the time. Definitely not all the time. I think also the game has changed so much, so I try also not to go too far back of my highlights (laughing). It's just sometimes it's to feel good, watching to feel good.

I mean, now there's so much more of information you can get. I think ATP provides quite a bit of information in terms of stats and all that. I think this is what the coaches need the most, where are we at. I believe everybody is playing great tennis. More or less everybody is kind of on the same level.

Then sometimes the match is decided by a few points here and there. So I think my preparation has a different way to prepare I think more so than I would say the upcoming players. My way of doing it now, it's more of how I'm going to prepare physically and mentally because I think, to certain extent, I never really -- even in the past I was never really that bothered of my, like, tennis overall. Even if I didn't play for a while, I still felt I'm going to do okay with the game. But it's just more now is how I'm going to position myself to play the game.

Q. And that's changed? During your career, there's now more video and highlights available and that sort of thing?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah. I mean, you see, like, I think percentages of, let's say, serve, return, tendencies. I think all these things, we all have. We can all see it.

I think as a player, it's good to have that knowledge, but I always try to -- honestly, I always try to minimize everything because I think too much information, for me personally, it doesn't really work.

Q. From a technical point of view, your one-handed backhand, it's becoming more and more rare at the highest level in the tour. We have Musetti now, who had a great breakthrough in terms of ranking. Stefanos is struggling. Do you feel alone sometimes doing this somehow vintage shot? How do you understand the great strengthness and the weakness of that kind of shot? Because you can spin more, but of course, you have some troubles sometimes returning. How do you manage it in this faster and faster tennis?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Just like life. Ups and downs, man. Same thing. The backhand with one hand is the same thing over and over again. Once you hit it, it feels like jackpot.

Listen, I think over the course of the next years we will see it less and less. That's just how it is. The tennis has sped up so much. Everybody is hitting harder, stronger, off both wings. There's not enough time.

But for me, I'm always forever going to be a one-handed guy, whatever I say. I'm so biased that it's probably the worst question to ask me.

You can still capitalize on that, I always say. Of course, there are many strengths, especially on grass court. I would say being able to hit a decent slice on grass court sets you up right away with the next shot. Whether it's you still have to hit another backhand or run around and hit a forehand. That's that.

I still believe there is that. Everyone keeps saying it's a lost art of it. But it's not really that lost because if you manage to navigate that, let's say, wing for a one-hander, you'll be able to get ahold of it. It is more difficult, of course. Do you have to work way more with your body? Yes.

But, again, on the other side, it has its pluses. So it's really I think up to the player to understand their wing, especially off the backhand with one hand.

Q. Players with a smaller budget rather take a physical trainer with them on tour than an experienced tennis coach. Also because they rely on their own tennis experience. Do you think that that's smart?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Meaning if they cannot afford to have somebody with them you mean?

Q. Yeah. If they have to choose because of financial aspects.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Between a tennis coach and a fitness coach?

Q. Exactly.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: I think that particular question, I would say, is very personal. I think it depends where you're at in your career, meaning even if you are upcoming.

You need to also be realistic of what is it that you need right now the most. I think, of course, you always need to have the two things. It's just how it is given in our sport.

I, for one, have been very I think fortunate throughout the years, of my upcoming years, to have that support on multiple occasions, yes. But, still, we always looked at it as a team, meaning we always looked at it what do I need the most right now. I was always going off that feeling the most.

I think at times it's way more important for you to be alone with a fitness coach rather than being with a tennis coach because that's the important part right now that you need to do. I remember there was a time some years ago where I traveled with no coach for over a year, and I had a great result. I've seen both sides of the coin on that.

Q. And you had a fitness coach with --

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Actually, I had nobody with me, now that I think about it. Yeah, I just had my physio, and that's all I had.

But it was a different time, different place, so I think I'm not the best example for that. It's, as I said, very important for the player to understand their strength and weaknesses at the stage where they're at in their career. I would say this is probably more important than anything else.

Then you structure all else around that because you cannot only go off what I'm telling or somebody else. You need to carve your own path. Whatever worked for me, doesn't mean it's going to work for you. That's why I always say, you always have to look in your side of the net.

Q. What are your thoughts about your next opponent, and what do you appreciate most about his game and his climb?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: I mean, I'm here to play. I'm here to play. As I said, I feel great. After three matches to be where I'm at physically, really gives me a good, yeah, positive and upbeat way to get out there and play my game.

That's all I want is to put myself in those type of positions, to, yeah, get out there and play against these guys right now. This is in a way the most important thing for me.

I've put a lot of work prior to the tournament. I had to make some decisions that, you know, it put me in a very good spot, I think. Yeah, will it be an easy match? No. If you are asking me that, definitely not. I don't expect that either.

But, yeah, I'm just looking forward to it. That's that. There's not much on that end.

Q. What do you appreciate most about Jannik's game?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Well, what's not to appreciate, if you think about it? He's been the best player in the world, especially over the course of the last year and a half, two.

You can appreciate his consistency, I would say, the most on the court and being able to execute without a single doubt in his game. So I think that's enough (laughing).

Q. I'm just wondering, the matchup on grass with Sinner, do you see it as a different kind of challenge compared to the previous matches that you have had with him? Do you favor yourself a little bit because of the grass?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: I mean, also, the grass is very different right now. If you would have asked me a couple of years ago, maybe it was a bit faster, and I would think, yeah. At the moment, as I said, everybody is playing good on grass, and the grass evens out the game a little bit. I would say this year especially.

But, again, in the same time I know what want to do out there. Favoring, not favoring... it can go either way. That's why I don't need and want to think that way because for me it's more of the excitement of checking out my capabilities and the work that I've put in, the plays that I've tried, the hours that I spent on the court. That's to me way more valuable right now than the rest, I would say.

Q. Does playing the world No. 1 in a Grand Slam tournament feel more sentimental to you than playing world No. 1 ten years ago?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Good question. I don't know. I think, of course, it's the slams that you always want to do well, you want to win, and you want to push yourself the most.

But again, this particular match for me, with all due respect, I don't rate it as "wow" match. It's just another day for me to perform, you know? As I said, it's been difficult six, seven months for me. I put a lot of work. I've struggled a lot. That match has meaning for myself more so than anything else.

But do I want to put any bigger occasion to it? No. I think I'm very content with what it is. As I said, I've put quite a bit of work. I'm very positive at the stage where I'm at. Again, physically is probably number one thing that I really need the most, and it's there right now.

The rest is having fun. I mean, this is important. We're in the second week of Wimbledon. Let's have fun.