Grigor Dimitrov slowly stepping out of Roger Federer’s shadow

Last year, the French newspaper L'Equipe brought their crystal ball out and tried to gaze into the future to see the men who could be occupying the top five positions on the ATP rankings in May, 2018.
Unsurprisingly, at the No 1 position was the precociously talented Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, a man who has been anointed for greatness since the time he won the junior Wimbledon and US Open crowns in 2008.
"Grigor Dimitrov is the new Roger Federer," Peter Lundgren, who was the Bulgarian's coach, said at the time. "He is better than Federer was at his age. Grigor has got all the strokes. He has the serve, the slice, topspin, everything."
Lundgren was Federer's coach when the Swiss won his first grand slam title, the 2003 Wimbledon, and oversaw his first 10 ATP World Tour titles. So the Swede knew what he was talking about. But those predictions have yet to come true.
Dimitrov is 22 now and has yet to reach the last four of a grand slam tournament. His best at the majors is a quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open this year. In 14 other visits to grand slam tournaments, he has reached the third round once.
By the age of 22, Federer already had won three of his 17 grand slam singles titles and reached No 1 in the real rankings. Still, comparisons persist. Dimitrov is often called "Baby Fed" – a tag that the Swiss and the Bulgarian dislike.
"You know, all the comparisons, I think that I definitely want people to stop with that," Dimitrov told CNN's Open Court show last year. "I thought it was really cool at the beginning, but with time, I've realised what I am, and I think that's eventually what everyone will see."
For people to see that, Dimitrov will have to start doing better at the grand slam events. He has been climbing the rankings steadily over the past two seasons and, with three titles in 2014 including the Queen's crown on Sunday, has reached a career high No 13.
"My results are now getting better, step by step," Dimitrov said earlier this year. "Better late than never, as people like to say.
"After some of the results this year and hopefully even better results in the future, people will stop saying that [comparing him to Federer] and be like, 'Whoa, this is Grigor, that's him now.' This is what I want to hear."
That opportunity might come as early as this month. Wimbledon and grass suits his game better than any other surface and if he can hold it together physically for a fortnight, Baby Fed could finally be his own man.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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