Grigor Dimitrov on US Open retirement: ‘It’s a combination of everything’ | ATP Tour

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Dimitrov on US Open retirement: ‘It’s a combination of everything’

The Bulgarian was forced to retire against Tiafoe

September 04, 2024

Grigor Dimitrov’s bid to reach a fourth semi-final and first since 2019 ended in disappointment on Tuesday at the US Open, where the former World No.

The player from Bulgaria was trailing 3-6, 7-6(5), 3-6, 1-4 when he went to the net. After the match, Dimitrov shared the details of his retirement.

“I think it’s a combination of everything,” said Dimitrov, who won a grueling three-hour, 39-minute, five-set match in the previous round against Andrey Rublev. “It is clear that my recovery plan is slower than before. I mean, I heard a few things before the game. The game. It’s just a game, and I need to keep my head up.

“Like I said, I just need to re-examine a little bit about some things that I can change. Maybe it could do a little better. And physically the way I was preparing myself. But again, given all the conditions from Montreal until now, I wasn’t sure that I would be able to do as well as I wanted to do. And, that’s what I’m saying, I’ll take this quarter-final any time.”

Dimitrov went out in the third round in Montreal and then lost his opening match in Cincinnati. He also returned to New York and reached the second quarterfinals of the season (Roland Garros).

However, physical problems have plagued Dimitrov in the latter stages of the majors, with the 33-year-old again retiring in the first set during his fourth-round match against Daniil Medvedev at Wimbledon.

Dimitrov is keen to learn from his setbacks but revealed that it is a psychological test.

“It’s not easy, I tell you that. “But if you’ve done certain things a certain way throughout your career, I think a lot of times outside of tennis really humble you in a very different way,” Dimitrov said. “That’s why when something like that comes up, I definitely take it and feel pain about it, I have to. I don’t want to just brush it off.

“I put it aside, but I also have a lot of fun ahead of me. I’m going to come home, and try to relax a bit… I’m headed to Asia to finish the year. You see, if you put it that way, of course you want to be here and fight for the trophy, but there is always a bright future in that sense.

“So I’m going to get hurt? Yes certainly and rightly so. But I don’t want to just put it aside. I want to take a look at myself and everything that I’ve been going through, these past three, four weeks and see the integration and the reduction. What can I improve, what could I do better, what I need to do.”

Dimitrov leaves New York in contention to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time since winning the prestigious year-end event in 2017. The nine-time tour leader is 10th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, 470 points. behind eighth-ranked Alex de Minaur, who is the last qualifier to play Jack Draper in the US Open quarterfinals on Wednesday.