Grigor Dimitrov is enjoying himself in 2024 so far, with the Bulgarian currently on 29 wins and 10 losses.
The 33-year-old also has one title to his name, having kicked off the year in superb style by winning the Brisbane International.
Dimitrov headed into the competition as its most prolific player with 23 main-draw singles wins, having lifted the trophy in 2017.
Securing success in Australia this time around was no mean feat, with the former world number three coming up against Holger Rune.
A hard-fought 7-6(5) 6-4 win over the world number eight was, however, secured at the Pat Rafter Arena.
Grigor Dimitrov relives his Rafael Nadal nightmare
Dimitrov hasn’t exactly kicked on quite the way he would have hoped since that win, having fallen at the third round at the Australian Open shortly after.
The shock loss to Nuno Borges will have left him hugely disappointed, but it falls well short of another defeat in the competition to Rafael Nadal all the way back in 2017.
“The match that torments him the most is a five-set loss to Nadal in the Australian Open semi-final seven years ago,” as per The Athletic.
“Even now Dimitrov can’t understand how he didn’t win, to the point that he misremembers what actually happened.
“In Dimitrov’s telling, ‘I was 4-2 up in the fifth,’ but he wasn’t – the closest he got was two break points at 4-3 which would have left him serving for the match. Both of which were saved not by Dimitrov mistakes, but by Nadal playing out of his mind.”
Dimitrov noted: “The match with Rafa took me seven or eight months to get over. I often felt like there were invisible powers that tipped it over.
“I was 4-2 up in the fifth and played an amazing… there was no way I could lose the match, and yet I lost the match.”
What does the future hold for Grigor Dimitrov?
Dimitrov will never forget that 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 meeting with Nadal in Australia, with the Spaniard going on to lose the final to Roger Federer in another five-set thriller.
It was a nightmare defeat for the Bulgarian, but 2017 remains his most successful season, with four titles going his way.
His current focus will now be going as far as possible in the next Grand Slam of the year at Wimbledon, which gets going next month.
The 33-year-old, who made it to the quarter-finals of the French Open before losing to Jannik Sinner, took to Queen’s in preparation.
But the third seed could not make it beyond the round of 16 on the grass, losing 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to Sebastian Korda.
American ace Tommy Paul eventually won this year’s tournament, with Frances Tiafoe and Coco Gauff reacting to the success.
A run to the semi-finals of Wimbledon was secured by Dimitrov all the way back in 2014, with the world number 10 surely keen for another lengthy run in London this time around.
Unfortunately, however, he does have some tough memories from the competition thanks to the unstoppable displays of Federer.
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