Grigor Dimitrov explains hiring rival after tearful retirement that left him in hospital | Tennis | Sport
Grigor Dimitrov has enlisted another coach after giving his team an overhaul following his tearful injury retirement at Wimbledon. The former world No. 3 led Jannik Sinner by two sets to love at the All England Club last summer, but picked up a pectoral injury and was forced to retire. He didn’t play again for months, and during his injury layoff, he parted ways with coach Jamie Delgado.
The Bulgarian has since revamped his team, bringing Xavier Malisse in at the beginning of the season. And Dimitrov has now enlisted former world No. 3 David Nalbandian, who he faced earlier in his career. Nalbandian remains the only man to beat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the same tournament, taking them out on his way to the 2007 Madrid title.
Nalbandian and Malisse also know one another well from their playing careers, and Dimitrov is happy to have two retired players and former rivals in his corner. “I knew them separately, and it also helps when you’ve played against them a few times,” the current world No. 44 told ATP Media.
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“It’s nice when you can relate to someone that you have played. They have been retired for over 10 years, but it’s also not that long ago. At the beginning, when I got into conversations with them, we really started to see things similarly and I could relate to them in terms of the timing of their careers, injuries, game plan, thoughts, and all of that.
“In a way, it happened so naturally. Right now, we are still finding our footing, because it’s very new for all of us, but things are very clear of what needs to be done and how we want to tackle the game.”
Dimitrov and Nalbandian only faced off once on the tour, with the Argentine winning in Queen’s in 2012. Dimitrov has a 2-1 winning record over his other coach, Malisse. Nalbandian’s first week in the Bulgarian’s corner didn’t quite go to plan, as Dimitrov lost to Terence Atmane in the first round of Acapulco this week.
But the 34-year-old is looking forward to continuing his relationship with the former world No. 3 as the season goes on. Dimitrov previously spent three years with British coach Delgado, but knew he needed a change when he was sidelined at Wimbledon and even ended up in hospital after injuring his pec.
“I had to change things up, whether I liked it or not. It was more of the work that I had to do for myself, more from a mental point of view. I had to change a lot of things and that played a little mind game with me,” he explained.
“It’s normal, though, and I’m trying to find the silver lining. I’d never really been injured or experienced being away from the sport for that long, so it was extremely new.”
