Between them, Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov have won just three tour-level matches this year.
The Aussie and Bulgarian have both struggled with injuries and look unlikely to challenge for titles any time soon.
But they have an excellent opportunity to return to winning ways at the upcoming Mallorca Championships.
The draw has been kind to both players, giving Kyrgios and Dimitrov a chance to add to their win tallies in Spain.
Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov will play qualifiers in their first-round matches at the Mallorca Championships
The two wild cards, Kyrgios and Dimitrov, will play qualifiers in their opening matches.
Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov’s potential 1R opponents
- Zachary Svajda – ATP #69
- Damir Dzumhur – ATP #105
- Adam Walton – ATP #91
- Antoine Ghibaudo – ATP #300
- Abdullah Shelbayh – ATP #296
- Jamie Mackenzie – ATP #917
- Marc Polmans – ATP #360
- Alex Molcan – ATP #101
- Murphy Cassone – ATP #292
Kyrgios, the world number 899, and Dimitrov, the world number 169, stand far better chances of beating those listed above than some of the stronger players on tour who directly qualify for ATP Tour main draws.
Now, that’s not to say they are guaranteed a win, far from it, but if they can’t reach the second round here in Mallorca, they will have some real questions to answer.
Looking ahead to the second round, Kyrgios would meet the second seed, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The Spaniard reached the quarter-finals of Queen’s this week and will be spurred on by his home crowd in Mallorca.
Dimitrov, on the other hand, would play the sixth seed Corentin Moutet or Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics in round two.
If Kyrgios and Dimitrov were to win their second-round matches, they would meet in the quarter-finals.
They have met four times previously, and it’s the Bulgarian who leads their head-to-head, 3-1.
Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov’s head-to-head record (1-3)
| Match | Winner | Loser | Score |
| 2018 Australian Open – 4R | Grigor Dimitrov | Nick Kyrgios | 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 |
| 2018 Brisbane International – SF | Nick Kyrgios | Grigor Dimitrov | 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 |
| 2017 Cincinnati Open – F | Grigor Dimitrov | Nick Kyrgios | 6-3, 7-5 |
| 2015 Indian Wells – 2R | Grigor Dimitrov | Nick Kyrgios | 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 |
The stakes wouldn’t be quite as high as their Cincinnati Open final clash nine years ago, but both players would surely give it their all with a place in the semis up for grabs.
There is a long way to go before then, though, and both players will now wait to see which qualifier they will face in the first round.
Will Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios play singles at Wimbledon?
Neither player was ranked high enough to qualify for the main draw directly, so they needed wild cards.
Dimitrov was given a wild card, having led the eventual champion Jannik Sinner by two sets to love when he suffered an injury 12 months ago, but Kyrgios wasn’t quite so fortunate.
Men’s singles wild cards
- Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
- Jacob Fearnley (Great Britain)
- Arthur Fery (Great Britain)
- Jack Pinnington Jones (Great Britain)
- Toby Samuel (Great Britain)
- Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland)
- Felix Gill (Great Britain)
- Harry Wendelken (Great Britain)
The 2022 finalist wasn’t given a singles wild card, although he was offered a spot in the doubles draw, where he will play alongside Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik.
Kyrgios would surely love to make a deep run in doubles and prove that he deserved the singles wild card.
This year’s Wimbledon Championships begin on Monday, June 29.
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