A year ago, Grigor Dimitrov left Wimbledon's Centre Court on a stretcher, his pectoral muscle torn, forced to retire against Jannik Sinner while leading by two sets. Many assumed it was the end. The Bulgarian was thirty-four, seriously injured, and tumbling down the rankings.
Twelve months on, Dimitrov is back on that same Centre Court. Ranked 146th in the world, entering on a wildcard, he has just beaten Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3 in three hours and thirty-two minutes. A five-set battle that only he seems capable of producing.
The road back began in obscurity. Knocked out in qualifying at Roland-Garros, withdrawing from the 2025 US Open, Dimitrov endured the darkest stretch of his career. For the first time since 2012, he dropped out of the top 100 in April 2026. "You fought something for so long, and maybe you were fighting the wrong pain," he reflected after beating Berrettini.
To rebuild, Dimitrov made a bold move. He brought Jamie Delgado back into his coaching setup and recruited David Nalbandian, the former Argentine rival turned coach. This unlikely duo stripped down the Bulgarian's game to rebuild it around one principle: enjoy the process. "I'm falling in love with the process again," Dimitrov says with a smile that had been absent for too long.
On court, the results speak for themselves. The one-handed backhand, Dimitrov's aesthetic signature, has recovered its fluidity and depth. His serve, long a weakness, has gained consistency through the work with Nalbandian. Against Berrettini, trailing two sets to one after dominating the opening pair, he found the reserves to prevail in a decisive fifth set.
At thirty-five, Dimitrov has nothing left to prove to anyone, except perhaps himself. "When you have a racquet in your hand, everything is possible," he says. His next opponent will be , the local wildcard who also survived a five-set marathon.
Two survivors will meet on the London grass, united by the same story: men who refuse to surrender.
